AUCTION_PLUGIN_SKU_LABEL: 80181

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Description

WWII British military mail in Palestine / 1st 'horseshoe' routed post- Empire Air Mail: 12 JUNE 1940 airmailed green honour envelope from FPO 121 (Jaffa Road, JERUSALEM) to NUNEATON, tied by British airmail etiquette & franked 60m using 12x 5m Mandate pictorals (scarce multiple franking) per the Imperial Airlines/BOAC air mail service rate - here applied on the new 'horseshoe route' service following Italy's entry into the war (midnight between 10-11 June - eg. the day before), the suspension of the Ala Littoria Italian air service/Mediterranean air route in total & cessation of the Empire Route airmail service on 11 June; tied by 7x strikes of the FPO's postmark: here transported on the route's first flight (WS1) leaving SYDNEY on 19 JUNE by air via TIBERIAS on the 27th or CAIRO on the 28th, to DURBAN South Africa, arriving there 1 July - and then by sea to UK (mail from this 1st flight is known to have reached the UK/Scotland on or around 25 JULY); passed censor #1042 in Palestine. Although the horseshoe route came into effect on 19 June, the paid airmail postage here would have qualified this cover to be carried on the next available air service. Key World War II postal history item.