Bremen Postcards

I saw several Paquebot references in other threads, and finally looked a little harder
in my collection. I found the two Bremen postcards shown below (Front
and Back). Sorry for the condition, but they were glued into Grandma's
collection.

By the way, one of the covers is actually FROM Grandma to her special
daughter. I hope that I get the opportunity to create some special
items like this for my kids.

Actually, one is NOT a Bremen cover, but rather a Bremen postcard, but
you get the picture.

Did you notice the catapult-flight marking???

Partime, nice cards that are made better by the fact that at least one of them is a part of your family history. Thanks for sharing.

Doug. I did see the marking, but didn't know it was catapult until
you pointed it out. I guess this means that it was actually launched
from the Ship? Pretty neat.

MHC. Thanks. Always finding more items in my collection as I go
through and try to catalog. Polly was her eldest and was institutionalized
at a very early age and stayed there for the rest of her life. I think
that Grandma tried to keep her interested with a letter here, a postcard
there. I've found a few letters to her, but all were pretty simple.

I did a little more searching once I realized that this was a Catapult
Cover. Wikipedia says the Maiden Voyage of the Bremen was July 16, 1929
and the post card is dated July 17, 1929 so this should be from the
Maiden Voyage, and hence the first catapult flight from that ship. Wow!
Thanks again for noticing Doug.

Catapult flights are cataloged somewhere, just like First Flight covers, and as you might guess, some are quite rare. If you check rates for postcards, you will see that these required considerably more postage; it was an expensive luxury-service.

Acknowledgement to Blair RCSD about 6 years ago.

(Hence links may now not work)


Looking Back #183 -
Catapult Mail Options


Catapult Mail - Mail carried by an aircraft catapulted from a ship at
sea.
By the late 1920s aircraft had undergone considerable development,
but were not yet powerful enough to fly non-stop across the oceans.

Experiments were therefore carried out by mounting aircraft on the
decks of passenger liners, and dispatching them by catapult several
hundred miles before the ship reached her destination. In this way
it was possible to deliver the mail at the terminal port rather more
rapidly.
The first catapult mails were those flown from the French Liner
Íle de France, on the North Atlantic run, in 1928 and 1929.


http://www.hgitner.com/img/zeppim/f...929_6648.jpg


But the best known were those from the German liners Bremen
and Europa introduced in 1929-30.


http://www.shipsonstamps.org/Topics.../bremen2.jpg
http://www.stampauctionnetwork.com/F/87/166.jpg
http://www.hgitner.com/img/zeppim/1566.jpg


http://www.mayoph.com/images4/06c252.jpg
http://www.mayoph.com/images4/06c253.jpg


In 1933-4 the German Government experimented with an airmail
service across the South Atlantic, using a ship, the Westfalen, as
a halfway refuelling base. Planes were catapulted from this vessel
on several occasions.


http://www.steelnavy.com/images/200...estfalen.jpg
http://www.century-of-flight.freeol...ages9/32.jpg
http://www.historyofaircargo.com/im...mage-037.jpg


Most items of catapult mail can be identified by special cachets
applied prior to the flight.


- R. J. Sutton 6th edition revised by K. W. Anthony
The Stamp Collector's Encyclopaedia
Published 1966

2010 price

As a collector of Bremen commercial mail, I can assure you that non-philatelic catapult mails is not common. Most of the catapult covers for sale (currently anywhere from $50-$95) are festooned with non-essential markings and are purely philatelic.

Very nice, and thanks for sharing the scans and info!

I re-read this post and saw the remark about the first catapult mails
from the Ile de France. Well, I found this item in my collection, but
cannot see any special marking except the typewritten note on the front.
Can this be confirmed as real?

In a catapult catalog (which I don't have), the date and the type of receiving postmark would probably confirm that it was genuine, especially since it was routed through Paris on its way to London; that would not ordinarily happen.

OK, I found one more Katapult item in my collection, also from a Bremen cruise. Only a part piece (front only), but lots of interesting stamps.