9 September 1911
Published in Windlesora 28 (2012)
©2012, WLHG
My father told me how excited he was at the age of 11, as he watched a flying machine land somewhere near Windsor Castle. It was the first United Kingdom Aerial Mail.
The flight was arranged by Major WG Windham, (later Commander Sir Walter Windham), who in February 1911 was in charge of the first official air post from Allahabad to Aligah in India. He came home and organised the United Kingdom flights which were conceived as part of the celebrations for the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary and became known as the Coronation Aerial Post.
In London, some 12 major stores such as Harrods, Army and Navy Stores, Gamages, Selfridges, Arding and Hobbs etc. and Hendon Aerodrome had special red aerial post boxes measuring 4 feet by 2 feet. Only mail posted in these boxes would be flown. This was collected by special vans painted green, and delivered to the Western District Post Office for postmarking.
The first flight was on 9 September when Gustav Hamel left Hendon in high winds at 4.58pm and landed at Windsor at 5.13pm, a total of 15 minutes with a following wind at an average speed of 105 miles per hour. The landing was arranged to take place by the East Terrace at the Castle, but because of the high winds, he landed in Windsor Great Park near Shaw Farm.
Fifteen-year-old Harry Hessey (earning 15 shillings a week as a messenger boy) got on his bike and rode off to receive the bag of mail, which he took to Mr A’Vard, Postmaster of Windsor, asking if he could please keep a signed waybill as a souvenir of this very historic moment.
Three air machines were used, Bleriot land 2 and a Farman Biplane. here were four pilots engaged. Three were Clement Hugh Greswell, EF Driver and Gustav Hamel. The fourth was Charles Hubert, who crashed his Farman Air Machine on take-off at Hendon on the second day, broke both legs and could take no further part. He damaged his machine so badly it could not be used again.
16 flights were arranged between Hendon and Windsor between 9 September 1911 and 16 September 1911, but because of bad weather and a pilots’ strike some flights were extended until 26 September. The strike was on 20 September when the Airmen refused to fly in support of Charles Hubert, who had not had compensation for his injuries. He eventually received £500. There were also four flights from Windsor to Hendon. The first was scheduled for Saturday 16th, and over 5,000 people turned up at the Review Ground in Windsor Great Park, but the weather intervened again and it was put back to Sunday 17th. Again, over 5,000 people turned up to watch.
Some of the profits from the venture were used to endow a bed, known as the Airman’s Bed, in the King Edward Ward of The King Edward VII Hospital in Windsor to celebrate the Coronation. A brass plaque was placed behind the bed, which was to be used for any cases of air accidents. There is also a brass tablet on the Long Walk railings commemorating the flights.
Collecting the Memorabilia
At an early age, I was encouraged to collect stamps and used to spend all my pocket money at the little Windsor Stamp Shop at 44 Thames Street, Windsor, owned by Sydney Lewis. One day I was in the shop when one of his staff brought in a collection of memorabilia of that 1911 Aerial Post Flight. There were postcards signed by the pilots, photos and letters sent all over the world. They had been the property of Sir Frederick Dyson who was Mayor of Windsor at the time of the flight. I was fascinated and after haggling (my early days of negotiating) he agreed to let me buy the collection at the huge price of £45. This was far too much for a young fellow, but he did agree to let me buy it over a two year period. I paid it off by growing plants and selling them to Woolworths and other shops in Windsor, and by doing many odd jobs.
Since then, I have been intrigued with all the historical and philatelic information of the Aerial Post and began to realise the enormity of the problems of organising the first official mail-carrying flight.
One of the initial difficulties was that the law forbade an increase in postal charges. This was overcome by printing special airmail envelopes and cards which were sold, not in post offices, but in major shops and stores. The public would attach their own stamps and the profits would go to King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor.
The postcards were printed in blocks of 30 and as printing was not as sophisticated as it is today there were minor imperfections and this enabled collectors to place exactly where a postcard came within a sheet. The aim is to reconstruct a complete sheet.
Both envelopes and postcards were printed in violet for VIPS and the rest were printed in various shades of brown, green, and scarlet. At one time the organisers ran out of printed envelopes and had an emergency print on blank envelopes, normally these are called ‘Flip Embossed’. Postmarks were numbered 1-4 from Hendon, 5 and 6 from Windsor. No. 1 used only for VIP postage.
Many companies took the opportunity to use the occasion to market their goods with advertisements including Schweppes, Coleman, The Gramophone Company, Brown Brothers, Punch, Arding & Hobbs, Black and White Whisky and The Windsor Chronicle. Some of these are very rare.
The flights from Hendon to Windsor carried about 115,000 covers, and the four flights from Windsor to Hendon had approximately 10,635 covers.
There is so much for the collector to find, such as printed invitations, programmes, timetables, waybills of dispatch, bag labels, bundle labels, printed parking tickets for motor cars and carriages, photographs, leaflets, newspaper cuttings, and lots more.
Since those early days, I have been to many auctions and have exhibited my collection many times, I have also started a worldwide web site http://www.ucollect2.com [29/10/2024, site no longer live] where a large collection of Windsor Aerial Post can be seen.
Windsor Local History Group 