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SWIFTAIR - Occussi-Ambeno's Airship Express Service.

           

SOUVENIR MAIL

Swiftair Corporation uses modern, safe, and fast high-tech airships filled with helium, an inert gas that will not ignite. It is 100% safe for airship flight. Swiftair's fleet of five zeppelins operates regularly within Occussi-Ambeno and also runs less frequent international links. Airships are ideally suited to delivering mail, passengers, and supplies to isolated outposts, where the ships can hover to transfer cargo.

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Need more information? e-mail Swiftair at info@swiftair.zzn.com

 

SOUVENIR PHILATELIC MAIL:

From the earliest days of letter post and stamp collecting, people have delighted in creating tangible souvenirs of their epic experiences, and among experiences, surely there are few that can beat a flight in an airship!

Letter carried by balloon from the siege of Paris, 1870.    Berlin to Russian icebreaker thence to San Francisco, 1931.     Italy to Sao Paulo, Brazil, via zeppelin.    Austria, 1929.

The earliest known balloon mail are letters from citizens of Paris in 1870, when the city was under seige by the Prussian army. Letters for the distant provinces and foreign lands were stamped or inscribed Par ballon monté (via mounted balloon) and launched upwards in hot air balloons to hopefully drift with the wind and land in non-enemy territory. Although some balloons were captured, quite a lot of mail got through safely, and today, these are highly prized by airmail collectors and philatelists. They are known as ballon montés after the cachet applied. Recognising the important historical antecedent, Swiftair Corporation included this text when we designed our first airmail label. This label is on self-adhesive yellow vinyl.

The first airmail label, published by Swiftair and issued free at Occussi-Ambeno Post Offices.      Liechtenstein issued this stamp in 1936.      Greece issued this stamp in 1933.

The intention was that the label should read Air Mail in four languages, and for the French and German versions, the appropriate text was chosen. Two later editions of this sticker were done in red and turquoise on invisibly-gummed paper. The German text reads Airship Mail, which leads us to the next important phase of which souvenir mail is found: the era of the giant zeppelins, run as a commercial fleet by the German firm Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmBH in the early 1900s. Many countries issued stamps depicting zeppelins,

This Russian stamp shows a zeppelin above a route map.        Occussi-Ambeno issued this 30 cents stamp in 1983 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first human flight by balloon.      The U.S. navy airship AKRON is shown on this stamp from Dhufar.

and much mail was carried from country to country, always with rubber-stamped cachets applied on board to indicate this transit. Although not scarce, zeppelin flight envelopes are very sought-after, and represent an important part of the history of aerophilately.

A special stamp from Liechtenstein in 1979 shows a zeppelin over Vaduz in 1931.  Tuva 1936 Jubilee of Independence, 25 kopek, showing a dirigible over the steppes.  This Russian stamp shows the Graf Zeppelin over Moscow.   Germany issued this 4 mark stamp in 1933 for the Chicago flight.

Today, Swiftair continues the tradition by having on-board Post Offices on flights, and all mail carried is datestamped on receipt. As Occussi-Ambeno vessels, the Swiftair in-flight Post Offices operate as part of the Occussi-Ambeno Postal Ministry, and so they sell regular and commemorative Occussi-Ambeno stamps and also provide registration facilities.

Cyrenaica zeppelin airmail stamp.  The red airmail sticker has invisible gum.       

Should you wish to have some letters carried on a flight, suitably cacheted and bearing Occussi-Ambeno stamps, and then carefully delivered to you where ever in the world you are, we can offer a special service for obtaining such mail. Contact the Swiftair Customer Inquiry Office for service, or mail can also be arranged thru any Occussi-Ambeno Embassy or Consulate worldwide. Or you can arrange service with the Post Office of a country our airships call at.

Germany, 1930 South America Flight, 4 marks.        Registered mail ettiquette used at the on-board Post Office on the Malatesta.    

Cost for such a letter is $10 for airmail, or $15 for registered airmail. We always use several attractive current stamps on the envelope. We recommend you supply your own envelopes, already addressed.

1978 minisheet from the Central African Empire features an airship.      Friederichshafen to Rio de Janeiro by zeppelin.     Danzig to Rome.

Want to join the Zeppelin ring?