Etiquettes, marked ‘par avion’ (‘by airplane’), are often attached to letters to instruct mail carriers that airmail is required. These aren’t stamps, but labels.
The first recorded airmail delivery by a lighter-than-air craft was in 1784, when American, John Jeffries, dropped four letters from his balloon as he passed over London.
A combined effort between the Indian government, in a Britishbuilt aircraft, flown by a French pilot, became the first official airmail flight in a heavier-than-air craft in 1911. For decades, lighter- and heavier-than-air crafts vied for aerial supremacy, with mail being delivered by both on an ad-hoc basis.
It wasn’t until the 1920s that regular, official airmail services were established, and not until 1929 that the Universal Postal Union codified the rules for airmail. These early services often utilised…
