Description
WWII Australian-British military mail in Palestine / last empire-wide airmails: 8 JUNE 1940 airmailed green honour envelope (by J.D. & Co., Apsley) from BASE P.O. B.W.I. (Sach-K53; Advance Base Post Office, JERUSALEM) to SOUTH YARRA Australia, franked 60m per period air mail rate for bi-weekly eastbound (to SYDNEY) mail service via Imperial Airlines (as of 18 Oct. 1939 until 10 June 1940, replacing the previous "All Up" Empire Service ended 3 Sept. 1939), using Mandate pictorals & tied by strike of Base Post Office postmark whose dateline appears "8(?) JU 40". Passed censor #1071 in Palestine; torn open at top - a few pieces missing from top edge. Rare period mail: although postmark date unclear, it pre-dates 11 June suspension of the revised Empire air mail service (following Italy's entry into the war); from July 1940 military mail used British franks. Proud notes that at this time British military mail was carried both by British and foreign carriers. The Advance Base Post Office moved to GAZA as of August 1940.