AUCTION_PLUGIN_SKU_LABEL: 80419

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Description

September 1950 TWA flight mail seized in Egypt: 15 SEP 1950 airmail commercial cover on business stationary from NEW YORK to HAIFA, meter franked 50c; this cover was carried on board a TWA flight which departed ROME on 18 September with 14 passengers and scheduled to arrive at LYDDA the same day, however due to engine trouble the plane was forced to land in CAIRO (reference: Maariv p.1 20-09-1950) where the Egyptian authorities seized and censored the mail on-board, and refused to release it (as of the 20th the flight itself still hadn't arrived at its destination). On board were c.21 bags of mail originating from New York, Boston, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Rome (and possibly also London); eventually some of the seized mail was returned - except for a single known an Italian-originating cover recently discovered, all the known returned mail has been of US origin, as here: opened & resealed using K-type-C Egyptian censor label & tied by K-Type1 (#53) Egyptian censor on front. This cover was subsequently resent to Israel and was received on 7-03-1951 in HAIFA (backstamp), making this the latest known received (resent) mail from this flight exceeding Kibble's latest known date of 1 March. Torn open at back & slit open at top, but complete; vertical fold at center. Rare mail.