Sweden's First Air Mail Stamp - Philatelic Database

Today most mail is routinely being sent by air, as this is the fastest way of transporting it from one place to another. However, it did take quite some time for airmail to be generally accepted. In the early days of aviation, the flying machines often met with accidents that consequently made them very unreliable as far as regular postal communications are concerned.

Around 1910 there were several enthusiastic young Swedish aviators organising demonstration flights throughout the country. There was a strong interest in this new aspect of travel and several experiments were realised to prove the feasibility of air transport.

in late August 1912 the Stockholm daily, Dagens Nyheter, printed a special air mail edition that was carried by plane from Stockholm to Uppsala. The experiment was a success. The plane was piloted by Olle Dahlbeck, a man who had put forward the idea to improve the distribution of newspapers by using aeroplanes. In spite of the success of the Dagens Nyheter experiment however, it was many years before aeroplanes were commonly used to transport newspapers to Sweden’s more distant parts.

Sweden’s first airmail stamp

In addition to piloting planes during air shows, Olle Dahlbeck wrote books and articles about flying. In his writings he suggested that aeroplanes should be used to speed up the delivery of mail. The organisers of the Children’s Day in Stockholm liked the idea and decided to organise Sweden’s first air mail in connection with festivities in late September 1912. They decided to carry out the flight on September 21 and Dahlbeck was hired for this purpose.

September 21 was a Saturday and the weather was excellent. Early in the morning the mail sacks were loaded onto the plane and Dahlbeck was ready to start at 8 am. Unfortunately a gust of strong wind forced the Bristol plane into ditch and the propeller was smashed. The damaged plane had to be repaired and could not be used for the mail flight. But Dahlbeck also owned a Sommer monoplane, which was taken to the airfield. At 5.30 pm the plane lifted and Dahlbeck flew to the nearby Jarva field where he dropped the two sacks of mail (reportedly comprising some 20 kilos). The mail was taken to the Tureberg post office where the covers were backstamped before entering the regular mailstream.

Olle Dahlbeck

On the following day there was to be a second air mail flight. The idea was to make a repeat of Saturdays successful flight dropping the mail at Jarva. Thousands of spectators had assembled to watch the plane take off. Everything went as planned, but when the plane had not returned after some 15 minutes people realised that something had gone wrong. In fact, soon after lift-off the engine ceased functioning and Dahlbeck had to land in the sea. Luckily a sailing ship was located nearby and the plane was towed to a wharf to be repaired.

The mail carried on this second flight had of course been damaged by sea water. It was decided to organise yet another flight, as the September 22 mail had been unsuccessful. This third attempt took place on September 26, 1912. This time Dahlbeck used the Bristol machine, but due to bad weather the flight was very short. He just flew around the airfield and then landed. The mail was taken to the Riddargatan Post Office where it was backstamped.

In preparation for the first air mail, the organisers had ordered the printing of 10,000 special stamps. The Centraltryckeriet in Stockholm printed them in sheets of 64. They were sold for 60 öre each, which included ordinary postage. Mail to foreign destinations needed two stamps. Ordinary postage stamps were apparently added by the organisers.

A special cancel incorporating the text “Sweden’s First Air Mail’’ was also made. It was generally used to cancel the postage stamp only and the airmail stamp was often left uncancelled. Some 3,000 stamps were used on cards and letters.

In 1937, 4,800 airmail stamps were overprinted to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the first air mail delivery. This leaves us with only some 2,000 mint copies. Today an unmounted mint copy is valued at about AUS$140 as are the 1912 covers. The 1937 issue exists only on flown covers and such a cover can be had for about AUS$50 as many were produced by the stamp dealers of the day.

The stamps are unofficial and hence unlisted in the malor catalogues. However, they are listed in the Swedish Facit specialised catalogue. The 1912 airmail organised by the Children’s Day Committee was a way of collecting funds for that organisation and its summer camps.

However, earlier in 1912 aeroplanes had been used to deliver mail in Sweden, so the Children’s Day covers were not Sweden’s first airmail, strictly speaking. It seems the organisers were not aware of this fact. The Children’s Day stamp was Sweden’s first airmail stamp and the September flights were the first time when large quantities of mail were carried by plane.

Published by kind permission of the Editor of “Stamp News Australasia“.