Airmail link to world born 73 years ago

AIRMAIL was, in 1938, still a novel idea in New Zealand. After a long struggle, airborne mail delivery between the main centres had only really started two years earlier, and was still yet to catch on fully – and so, of course, international airmail was barely even on the radar.

So it is no surprise that, when it touched down in Auckland in December 1937 on its first mailcarrying flight, Pan American Airways’ Samoan Clipper caused such a storm of excitement.

The voyage of the graceful flying boat, which flew to Auckland across the Pacific from San Francisco, was a long and dangerous one.

Because the aircraft had been designed for short distances, it had to hop from island to island, some of which were fundamentally unsuitable for seaplanes, while others were so low that they were easy to miss in the masses of ocean.

‘‘The afternoon was most perfect, with a cloudless sky and a mere trifle of wind,’’ reported The Evening Post, and thousands of Aucklanders turned out to watch the seaplane arrive.

Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage came to greet the crew after it landed in the Waite- mata, with a welcome that ‘‘was given from the bottom of the hearts of New Zealand people’’.

A few days later, news that the first international airmail trip was about to head out of town sent locals into a mail-writing frenzy. There was a slight delay in departure because of a storm, and by the time the aircraft finally took off on January 2, 1938, the mail load on board had swelled from a predicted 15,000 items to 25,000. This was supposed to herald the start of a new airmail link between New Zea- land and the United States – and it eventually did – but soon afterwards disaster struck.

Shortly after taking off from Pago Pago on January 11 on its return trip to New Zealand, the Samoan Clipper had engine trouble. Deciding to return to the island, the crew dumped fuel to make the landing easier – tragically, the fuel caught fire. The plane exploded, killing the seven on board.

It took until 1940 for airmail to become a regular event in New Zealand.

Photo: NATIONAL LIBRARY/REF NO: 1/4-048844\G Flying boats: The Samoan Clipper and Imperial Airways Centaurus at Mechanics Bay, Auckland, in the last week of 1938.

Postmarks: First Pan Am airmail 1938, Auckland to US. From Auckland on January 2, to American Samoa on January 1, Honolulu onjanuary 3. There the mail was transferred to a Martin 130 flying boat and arrived in San Francisco on January 6. The cover on...