Today in Postal History
Indo China to France
March 28, 1932
This ratty cover has a good excuse for its
condition.
It was rescued after an airmail accident on March 28, 1932.
The cover was en route from Saigon to Marseille
on Cie Air Orient.
The seaplane AJNN piloted by Pommereau left Saigon on March 18.
The flight was delay between Corfu and Naples by bad weather.
As a matter of prudence, the crew brought the
plane down at Cotrone
(now Crotone) on the Mediterranean Coast on the sole of the Italian
'boot.'
During the storm that followed, the seaplane broke its moorings
and was driven onshore.
The mail got soaked and the plane was damaged.
Italian officials would not let the plane proceed and a relief flight,
AJLJ piloted by Remy, was sent to continue the flight.
When the mail arrived in Marseille, it was
stamped COURRIER ACCIDENTE.
The letter was backstamped March 31 on its arrival in Paris.
This cover lost what appears to be two of its
stamps as a result of the watersoaking.
The remaining stamp is a 1922-23 15 cent orange and black (Scott 110).
The rate was 66 cents with 60 cents for the airmail fee and 6 cents for
postage.*
The printed return address indicates the cover
was posted in Phnom-Penh in Cambodia.
There are two CDS, presumably, Phnom-Penh.
There is a PAR AVION airmail etiquette on colored paper and a Saigon
Marseille inscription.
There is also the faint remains of a PAR AVION | JUSQUA MARSEILLE
handstamp.
The Jusqua Marseille means "as far as Marseille."
This indicated that the letter would be sent by air to Marseille and on
to Paris via surface mail.*
*Thanks to Paul Barsdell for the added
information on the rate and the Par Avion handstamp.