The regular Pan American Airways trans-Pacific service between Auckland and San Francisco started on 20 July 1940 shortly after the regular trans-Tasman service between Australia and New Zealand on 30 April.
The airmail route via the Mediterranean closed in June 1940 when Italy entered World War II meaning that the route via New Zealand and the USA was now the only airmail route between Australia and the UK. It was also used for some airmail from India.
Australia - NZ - UK
This cover was flown from Australia to the UK. It is postmarked in Sydney on 20 November 1940. There is no backstamp, but a manuscript on the back states that it was received on 26 December. The cover has the cachet California Clipper which was applied at Sydney from September 1940.
The two red dots under BY in the censor tape show that the cover was opened by the censor in Sydney.
BOAC had started a service between England and Lisbon in June, and so the route between Australia and the UK was:
- trans-Tasman to New Zealand by TEAL,
- trans-Pacific (FAM 19) by Pan Am from New Zealand to America,
- US airmail from San Franciso to New York,
- trans-Atlantic from New York to Lisbon by Pan Am,
- Lisbon to England by BOAC.
The postal rate from Australia to the UK was 5/10 which was less
than the New Zealand - UK rate of 6/3.
The reason was that the quantity of mail from Australia
was sufficiently large for closed bags to be made up
while mail from New Zealand had to be sorted in San Francisco
and so had an extra handling charge.
(From September, closed bags were also made up from
New Zealand and the
rate was reduced from 6/3 to 5/9.)
Australia - NZ - USA - Canada
Although the rate from New Zealand to both the USA and Canada was 4/-, the rate from Australia to Canada was 3/11 although many covers were franked with 4/-.
This censored cover is postmarked Melbourne on 2 December 1940 and is addressed to Toronto. It is properly franked at the 3/11 rate.
The censor label has three red dots to indicate that it was done at the Melbourne office.
India - Australia - NZ - UK
The closure of the route through the Mediterranean and the introduction of the Horseshoe Route had greatly increased the transit time of mail between India and the UK. A solution was to fly mail from India to Bangkok on the main BOAC/Qantas Eastern Route and then on the BOAC feeder service from Bangkok to Hong Kong. It could then be flown across the Pacific by PanAm on the FAM 14 route via the Philippines.
An alternative route was by BOAC/Qantas to Australia and then trans-Tasman to New Zealand and from there on the PanAm trans-Pacific FAM 19 route to San Francisco. From there it was flown across America before trans-Atlantic via Lisbon as described above. This cover was flown on that route. It is postmarked 1 June 1941 and has the routing instructions India - Auckland - England.
It has postage of 3 rupees, 4 annas and 12 pies which is equivalent to
53 annas.
The air fare to the UK on this route was 52 annas, having been
increased from 49½ annas on 23 May [3].
Last flight before Pearl Harbor
The postal rate from Australia to the USA was 4/- and so the cover is correctly franked.
There is a red number 2 on the left of the censor tape indicating that it was opened by the censor in Sydney. An interesting point is that the censor tape has been cut back so that it does not obscure the stamp on the left. At first glance, it appears that the stamp is on top of the censor tape.
The cover is postmarked 18 November 1941 and was flown from Sydney to Auckland on 23 November. It was then flown on the last flight from Auckland to San Francisco on November 25.
The flight arrived in San Francisco on 30 November. The cover is addressed to a company in Richmond, Virginia. It appears that this company recorded the arrival of mail which explains the date of 3 December on the front.
Although there was one more flight to New Zealand, the clipper did
not return across the Pacific, but instead returned to the USA via
Australia and Africa.
The trans-Pacific route was considered too dangerous after Pearl Harbor.
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All scans were made by the author.
Information on this page is taken from:
[1] Australia and New Zealand to Great Britain (Wartime
Services, 1939 - 1945) by
O.R.J. Lee
The Aero Field, 1961,
[2] Wartime interruptions to air mail routes, W.H.Legg,
Air Mail News, vol 47 no 185, pp46-53, May 2004, published by
the British Aerophilatelic Federation.
[3] Wartime Airmails from India, J Brown,
Air Mail News, vol 45 no 178, pp115-118, August 2002, published by
the British Aerophilatelic Federation.