Airmail goes Airborne Nearly a century back, it was the Kumbh where the world got its first Air Mail in 1911. All this thanks to Frenchman Henri Piquet………
The Kumbh over the years has been a matter of divinity, spiritualism, pride and great reverence for India and the world over. If one side of the story is about Sanatan Dharm or Dine Ilahi, the other side is about some really startling historical facts or trivia.
If the Kumbh is about Hitler reining fear during World War 2, if it is about the Maha Kumbh seeing the worst ever stampedes, then there are positives too.
The Kumbh is known to have been a place where the first Air Mail started. This happened over 101 years back.
Historically, the Allahabad and the Mahakumbh are of great relevance. If the world at any point got an Air Mail it was due to this very Kumbh in 1911.On February 8, 1911, French pilot Henri Piquet loaded a sack of 6500 cards and letters and flew away in a two seater bi plane.
The flight was made to Naini and it reportedly lasted barely 13 minutes. Though it flew a mere five miles but it did create history.
This was the world’s first official airmail. Among the many letters sent ere the one written by Motilal Nehru to his son Jawaharlal Nehru and some addressed to England’s King George V.
The flight happened when a grand exhibition was happening. The idea of the Airmail was the brainchild of British commander Walter G Windham. The British commander was reportedly approached by the chaplain of Allahabad’s Holy Trinity Church to help raise funds.
The idea which was then conceived for the money, was the AirMail. Many might ask how was this going to help, the idea was simple. This was to not only generate money, but it was also to help publicize the exhibition and also set an example of rapid and safe transportation of mails.
Hence, the idea of the world’s first official airplane mail was born. Those interested in availing the service were asked to send their mail addressed and stamped to the chaplain of the Holy Trinity Church.
The payment for the service was a basic six annas as donation. The funds collected were to go for the new hostel building of the Church. A condition however was set that cards or letters weighing less than one ounce was to be accepted.
Since the occasion was ceremonial, these letters were addressed to people all over the globe. It is believed when the flight was made thousands were present to witness the site. They viewed the take off from the polo ground and the landing at Naini junction.
It is said, when Piquet descended, there was no crowd to greet him. He merely handed over the mail bag to the only post office official present there and returned to Allahabad. Piquet himself is believed to have noted that he flew on a Sommer bi-plane with a rotary Gnome engine of 50 horsepower at the speed of 60 miles per hour at a height of 120-150 feet. In an interview given to a magazine he had said, he flew over the Ganga and was sure he would make it.
The interview was given before he died in 1974 at the age of 86.
However in terms of the airmail, the Allahabad flight was not the only one made in the year of 1911. This very year the first “quasi – official” airmail flight was conducted by Fred Wiseman. He was one to do a flight carrying three letters between Petaluma and Santa Rosa in California. Many sources though call this the first airmail flight.
Meanwhile, 1911 is also a relevant year for the world getting the scheduled airmail post service. This reportedly took place between the London suburb of Hendon, North London, and Windsor, Berkshire, on September 9, 1911.
Interesting however is the fact that the Airmail did not come into existence in two days time. A large number of experiments were carried out, following the hit and try method.
The idea of the inception of airmail came from the natural idea of sending mail via a pigeon, which was often called pigeon mail. But experiments on this revolutionary idea started when the first mail was sent by an air vehicle on January 7, 1785. This was sent on a hot air balloon from Dover to France
The mail was reported to have been carried by Jean – Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries. The letter written too was a unique one. The letter was written by American loyalist William Franklin to his son William Temple Franklin who was serving in a diplomatic role in Paris with his grandfather Benjamin Franklin.
Similarly Jean Pierre Blanchard had carried a letter on January 9, 1793 from Philadelphia to Deptford, New Jersey.
Jean-Pierre Blanchard carried a personal letter from George Washington to be delivered to the owner of whatever property Blanchard was the one to make the first delivery of air mail in the United States.
The first official air mail delivery in the United States took place on August 17, 1859, when John Wise piloted a balloon starting in Lafayette, Indiana with a destination of New York. While he had to land in Crawfordsville, the mail was sent by train.
Balloons also carried mail out of Paris and Metz during the Franco-Prussian War (1870), drifting over the heads of the Germans besieging those cities. Zeppelin mails have also been part of the experiments on AirMail.
The Ardh Kumbh is months away, but facts like these which are closely associated with the event and its history makes India and Allahabad proud. In totality, if the larger picture of the largest fest in the world is one of numbers, Shahi snans, the varied mendicants, the preparations and weird rituals and tales coming out of Prayag, it is also about history and trivia.
The Kumbh in Allahabad happens once in 12 years but tales around the Kumbh have been there and in future too will remain.
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