COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA continued...

18 July 1935 (AAMC.514a) Mascot - Sydney Last flight of the "Southern Cross" cover with special vignette and signed by Hubert Wilkins (the forrmer owner of the plane) and Charles Kingsford Smith; very few exist.

Additionally, flown 18 July 1985, the 50th Anniversary, on a helicopter flight from Mascot to Richmond; one of only 8, signed by the pilot, dick Smith and all others onboard. [see reverse of cover].

The Last Flight of the "Southern Cross" 18 July 1935 (AAMC.515) a cover (#30) carried from Mascot to Richmond, with special vignette showing the route the aeroplane had followed around the world; signed by Charles Kingsford Smith, Mary Kingsford Smith, P.G. Taylor, John Stannage and all other personnel on board.

THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE "SOUTHERN CROSS": A complete IMPERFORATE proof sheetlet of four of the round-the-world-route-map vignettes designed by Ernest Crome. (AAMC: 516f).

Provenance: From the estate of Ernest Crome.

2 August 1935 (AAMC.520a) Sydney - Tennant Creek flown cover, carried and signed by the pilot, J. Chapman on a Survey Flight for Australian Transcontinental Airways. [Believed to be one of 6 flown to each port-of-call.]

29 April - 4 May 1936 (AAMC.601) Adelaide - Cootamundra cover, flown and signed by C.J. "Jimmy" Melrose in his Heston Phoenix "Billings" on a Goodwill Flight to the eastern states in association with the South Australian Centenary. The three covers to Cootamundra, together with three covers addressed to Sydney, were the last covers carried by Melrose before he died in the crash of his aircraft, near Melbourne on 5 July 1936. Melrose was the youngest, and only solo flier to finish the Melbourne Centenary Air Race in 1934. He was only 22 years old when he died.

22 May 1936 (AAMC.602h & i) Mt. Isa - Townsville, and return, Airlines of Australia Ltd cacheted covers carried on their first survey flights over this route. (2 covers). Rarely seen.

October-November 1936: In association with her solo record flight from England to New Zealand (AAMC.639-41), Jean Batten signed and dated a cover commemorating her election as an "Honorary Member of the Air Mail Society of N.Z." on 25 November 1936.

17 March 1937 (AAMC.709) Sydney - Townsville - Sydney flown cover, signed by the pilots involved in the search for the Airlines of Australia Stinson aircraft, which had crashed at Lamington Plateau; Frank Neale, the pilot of the D.H. Dragonfly, has also signed the cover, one of only 6 that he carried.

April-May 1937 (AAMC.714k) Brisbane - New Delhi "Coronation Day" flown cover, with special handstamps, and signed (verso) by the solo-pilot, Mrs. H.B. (Lores) Bonney.

12 May 1937 (AAMC.732a) R.Graham Carey souvenir postcard for the Coronation Motor Show (Melbourne) signed "R. Graham Carey", fine unused, Cat. $250.

COMMERCIAL MAILS VIA PAN AM: A June 1937 cover (rated at 4/8 per ½oz) flown by Qantas to Singapore, Imperial from Singapore to Hong Kong and Pan Am Clipper from Hong Kong via Manila to HONOLULU; on an exhibit page together with a July 1937 cover from Geneva, which was flown by Pan Am from San Francisco to Honolulu. (2).

EARLY ANSETT AIRWAYS FLOWN COVERS: 30 August 1937 (AAMC.758a & b) Melbourne - Broken Hill and return, flown covers signed by the pilot, V.C. Cerche, Reg Ansett and the others on board; both covers cancelled on return and departure; also, 4 October 1937 (AAMC.768h) Melbourne - Narrandera and return flown covers, both signed by the pilot, Alec M. Bayne. (Total: 4 covers).

AIRMAIL EXHIBITION, MELBOURNE: Four registered covers (AAMC.768bb) dated 7 Oct. 1937 from the Air Mail Exhibition Post Office, each bearing the special Registration label and a Airmail Exhibition perforated label in a different colour; all adressed to the same recipient in Kew, with arrival backstamps. (4).

12-16 November 1937 Airlines of Australia DC3 Goodwill Demonstration Flights: a Melbourne - Sydney flown cover (AAMC.773c, one of 12) signed by Major Bertrandias, Keith Virtue, Arthur Affleck and W.S. Reid; together with a Sydney - Adelaide - Perth flown cover (AAMC.773d, one of 12) signed by Keith Virtue. (2 covers).

JIM BROADBENT'S RECORD SOLO FLIGHT TO LONDON: 18 April 1938 (AAMC.804) Darwin - London flown cover; cancelled on departure and arrival; signed by the pilot (one of only 10) on the occasion of record solo flight time of 5 days, 4 hours.

31 July 1939 (AAMC.875) Melbourne - Wau flown cover, carried aboard a Boeing 40B bi-plane, signed by the pilot, Ray Parer and cancelled on arrival.

MORNINGTON ISLAND PARACHUTE MAIL DELIVERY FLIGHTS BY QANTAS: 1939 (AAMC.887), 1941 (AAMC.936), 1942 (AAMC.950 & 951), 1943 (AAMC.970 & 971), 1946 (AAMC.1089), 1947 (AAMC.1132), 1948 (AAMC.1199), and the TAA delivery flight for 1949 (AAMC.1234); all signed and with the colourful adhesive vignettes, where relevant. (10 covers). Cat.$1,550.

17 April 1940 (AAMC.898a) One of only six covers carried from Sydney to the ship, RMS Queen Mary, for the Sydney Morning Herald. The aircraft was an Aeronca VH-ACH; the cover is signed by the pilot, A. O'Hara, and Captain R.B. Irving, the Commander of the ship. 

Queen Mary left New York on March 21, 1940, bound for Australia via the Cape of Good Hope. Once down under, the ship would undergo a major refit to turn her into a troopship. The liner reached Sydney on April 17, a voyage of some 14,000 miles made at an average speed of 27.2 knots. Once in Australia, Queen Mary was taken to the Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Co. pier to undergo its transformation. When the workmen were finished, Queen Mary could take 5,500 passengers.

3 October 1940 (AAMC.911b) A Registered cover carried on the QANTAS Survey flight from Sydney to Dilli, via Darwin and Koepang; signed by the pilot, Captain R.B. Tapp in the Flying Boat "Corinna". [Ex. Tom Frommer, and endorsed by him verso,"12 flown"].

17 January 1941 (AAMC.912) Australia - Dilli, Portuguese Timor, flown cover carried on the inaugural QANTAS flight via Dili to Singapore; with censorship cachet and signed by the pilot, H.B. Hussey.