AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH, AEROPHILATELY

Lot 617		Estimate: $400 Great Britain 1911 (9 Sep) First United Kingdom Aerial Post Service postcard, inaugural day of event, addressed to Sydney but paid only for internal use, hence taxed 1d (Australian Postage Due removed). Sender mentions 'This is the first P.C. I have sent by Air Ship [sic]'. Very scarce to Australia
Lot 618		Estimate: $400 Great Britain 1911 (14 Sep) First United Kingdom Aerial Post Service postcard, penultimate day of event, correctly rated 1d for transmission to Melbourne, scissor-cut below stamps (almost a disaster). Very scarce to Australia
Lot 619		Estimate: $350 1930 (19 Mar) advertising cover for The Hotel Alexandra from Melbourne to Rhode Island, USA, endorsed 'U.S. Air Mail from San Francisco' franked 1d and 3d KGV cancelled 'LATE FEE/MELBOURNE' cds, prepaying the surface mail rate plus 1d late fee, and additionally franked with the US 1928 5c Beacon Airmail tied by manuscript pen line for US air mail postage. Roughly opened flap and some minor creases, but a fine commercial example of the service permitting the prepayment of US air mail postage from Australia
Lot 620		Estimate: $100 1932 (18 Jan) registered airmail cover from Darwin to Brisbane bearing KGV 2d for letter rate and 6d Airmail (3d registration fee + 3d airmail surcharge), attractive item for Northern Territory or usage collection
Lot 621		Estimate: $100 1935 and 1941 inwards covers from USA by very different means, earlier by sea to UK, thence airmail (Imperial Airways IE341 service), latter all-the-way by transpacific Pan Am Clipper service (FAM 19/Flight 32), censored Perth. Attractive duo, the earlier particularly scarce, an attractively franked uprate of 5c airmail stationery envelope (2)
Lot 622		Estimate: $150 Great Britain 1935 (26 Jan) airmail cover (roughly opened at base) London to Melbourne carried by QANTAS/Imperial service Flight IE309, which force landed at Surabaya in Dutch East Indies on Feb 4 due to broken exhaust pipe, confirmed by Melbourne arrival backstamp (Feb 9), very few recorded of this near calamitous event, ex Perry
Lot 623		Estimate: $100 Great Britain 1935 (22 Apr) airmail cover (opened three sides) from Caird Hall, Dundee to Sydney carried on QANTAS/Imperial service Flight IE335 which suffered oil tank damage at Akyab, Burma May 4, confirmed by Haymarket arrival backstamp (May 10), ex Perry
Lot 624		Estimate: $150 Great Britain 1935 (1 Nov) airmail cover from London to Sydney, carried QANTAS/Imperial service flight IE389, which service was aborted owing to weather conditions in Mediterranean, necessitating transfer of mail to S.S. 'Calitea' from Brindisi to Athens, where air service recommenced to Alexandria. A little known major interrupted flight of which few examples are recorded. Confirmed by Sydney arrival backstamp (Nov 16). Ex Perry
Lot 625		Estimate: $1,000 Great Britain 1936 (21 Aug) cover London - Melbourne carried QANTAS/Imperial Airways Flight IE473, departed London following day, delayed five days due to 'Horsa' overshooting Bahrain at night by 100 miles and landing in desert 60 miles south of Salwa Wella. The aircraft was found 40 hours later, and mail and passengers were flown out by R.A.F. Mail to join IE474-75 flights. The so-called 'Desert Incident' with only three of four covers recorded. Some cover trauma, Melbourne backstamp smudged
Lot 626		Estimate: $200 Great Britain 1936 (22 Sep) airmail cover (typically singed) from London to Melbourne carried on QANTAS/Imperial 'Athena' (Flight IE482) which caught fire at New Delhi Sep 29, owing to engines being started by oxygen bottle rather than compressed air. Confirmed by Melbourne arrival backstamp (Oct 7)
Lot 627		Estimate: $250 Realised Price : $220 1938 KGVI 1/4d rare solo franking on 1940 (26 Aug) registered airmail cover from Sydney to Bombay, censored at Sydney but not opened on arrival in India (boxed 'NOT OPENED BY/CENSOR'), backstamped Sydney (3) and Bombay (1/1d half oz. airmail + 3d registration fee)
Lot 628		Estimate: $120 1941 (22 Feb) cover from Sydney to USA bearing Kangaroo 2/- (2) for Clipper rate via NZ, carried on Pan Am FAM19 service Flight 16, which suffered engine failure between Noumea and Canton Island, necessitating return to Noumea, also 1941 (2 Dec) cover from Melbourne to USA, similarly franked for Clipper service, the intended flight cancelled owing to Pearl Harbour attack (2)
Lot 629		Estimate: $1,000 Great Britain 1974 (16 Nov) cover to Wanneroo WA carried aboard ill-fated VC-10 airliner hijacked by PLO at Dubai on November 21, very fine strike of rare 'DELAYED EN ROUTE/-AIRCRAFT HI-JACK-' applied at Perth