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The world's first airmail service took off in Allahabad, India
Pigeons and post were never the same again after a fund-raising venture to build a hostel took off on February 18, 1911, from Allahabad. In just 13 minutes, as thousands gathered at the parade ground in Allahabad cheered, the world's first official airmail was delivered at Naini.
The flying machine was carrying a cargo of historic importance -- 6,500 letters. It was a demonstration flight for an exhibition in which French aviator Henri Piquet was participating. The exhibition was organised to ``advance'' the knowledge of Indians about the airplane and flying.
Piquet's Humber-Sommer biplane was one of the two machines being displayed by Englishman Walter Windham at the exhibition. It was Windham who conceived the idea of the first aerial post during his stay in Allahabad. He was invited by the United Provinces government to participate in the annual commercial and cultural exposition at Allahabad and bring planes and pilots for thedemonstration. A request from the chaplain of the Holy Trinity Church in Allahabad changed Piquet's afternoon test flight into a historic event. Windham reminisced later: ``The respected clergyman... asked me if I could help him to raise funds for his new hostel, and it occurred to me that this could be done by inaugurating an aerial post.''
Windham even designed the special postmark for the event showing the silhouette of a biplane flying over the mountains of Asia and cut at the insistence of the government in the Postal Works, Aligarh. No stamps were used.
For the event, the postmaster general of the United Province, Sir Geoffrey Clarke, and the director-general of the post office in India granted approval for mail to be officially received.
The public was invited to deliver stamped and addressed mail to the chaplain enclosing either six pence or six annas with each letter as a contribution to the hostel fund. For safety and convenience, the distance travelled by the plane was restricted to fivemiles. The biplane crossed over to the left bank of the Yamuna before landing near the jail in Naini town on the outskirts of Allahabad. The mail was turned over to the postal officials for surface transport to destinations all over the world. After this milestone, it was only in 1929 that the first regular airmail service between Karachi and Delhi began.
When Tata Sons Ltd established the first Indian airline in 1932, they also started a weekly airmail service. The service operated between Karachi and Madras via Ahmedabad, Bombay and Bellary.
Most of the events in India's aerial post history happened after Independence. In 1949, the Night Airmail Scheme was launched, revolutionising the mail delivery system.
