Description:
1926 (Dec 7) Switzerland-South Africa registered cover carried by Walter Mittelholzer & Hans Hartmann in the Dornier seaplane CH-I7I with Airmail 1fr tied 'ZÜRICH/28XI26/FLUGPOST' d/s, 'Zürich 3 Bahnhof' R label & illustrated '[Seaplane] 1926 NOVEMBER/SCHWEIZER AFRIKAFLUG' cachet alongside addressed to "Capetown poste restante", 'ALEXANDRIA/R10/FOREIGN/13DE26' transit d/s and returned with South African tri-lingual 'UNCLAIMED' cachet, fine condition. Plus contemporary photograph of plane on the water at Kisumu, Kenya dated "2.1.27" with sunken wreck of DH50J 'Pelican' being salvaged in foreground after crash-landing three days earlier. This was the first flight of a seaplane down the coast of Africa; most of the 160kg mail was for intermediate stops & conveyed onwards by ship from Naples; very few covers were carried over the full route to South Africa.
Quantity : 2
Symbol : C
Grade : A
Categories: Stamps & Postal History > TOM FROMMER PART II - Famous Pilots & Famous Flights