1926 Inaugural Airmail Flight Cover Lindbergh CAM 2 L15

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This lot is an original First Flight airmail postal cover from the inaugural airmail flight from Chicago to St. Louis and back. It is signed by A.C. Roessler, a famed cachet artist and philatelic authority. Roessler often used the pseudonym A.C. Roe. The cover is in the style of Albert Gorham and has a Scott C-7 airmail stamp. The color of the obverse cachets is magenta. Condition: AU. The Chicago to St. Louis route is known as CAM 2, i.e. Contract Airmail Route 2. This cover was sent on the 2nd northbound leg from Springfield, IL and is postmarked 4:30 PM on April 15th, 1926. It is catalogued in the American Air Mail Catalogue as L15. Circular cachets like the one on this envelope were added at each stop on the route for envelopes leaving from that point. A different cachet with a reference to Abraham Lincoln was used for mail originating at the Springfield, IL stop by special request of the Springfield postmaster. This cover has a lot going for it, i.e. it was flown on the inaugural air mail flight, is signed by A.C. Roessler, and has a double cachet. The pilots on the flight were Charles Lindbergh and Philip Love. Lindbergh was the Chief Pilot for this route and personally flew all southbound mail. Philip R. Love carried all northbound mail from St. Louis but Lindbergh picked up Springfield and Peoria consignments. Love is reported to have followed Lindbergh's plane closely and to have stopped at Springfield and Peoria in anticipation of heavy mail loads. While Lindbergh did not carry St. Louis mail, this is properly collectible since he was the Chief Pilot responsible for the entire route. A third plane piloted by Major C.R. Wassall also flew from St. Louis to Springfield planning to assist with mail loads from that point north. Such assistance was not needed and he returned to Lambert Field. Lindbergh and the Robertson brothers spent the winter of 1925-26 preparing for the CAM-2 airmail operation, scheduled to begin the next April. Their contract with the Post Office called for five round trips between Chicago and St. Louis each week, with mail stops in Peoria and Springfield, Illinois while enroute. Lindbergh took charge of surveying the 278 mile route and setting up flight and postal operations at the four landing fields. He also selected and prepared 9 additional emergency landing fields, one about every 30 miles. To help him fly the mail route, Lindbergh hired two of his Army flying buddies, Phil Love and Thomas Nelson. This cover is from the Barry Friedman collection of Charles Lindbergh Memorabilia. We'll be regularly offering items from the collection, amassed over a 40 year time period. Many of the rarer items will be offered as well as in other catalogued auctions. We'll begin sequentially with the inaugural airmail flight and the covers will follow in date order. Most of the covers offered will have a special story to tell as Barry is first and foremost a researcher and historian. Over the next year we will be offering first-day covers, first flight covers, rare photographs of various stops including stereoscopes, albums, crash flights including an album of photographs taken on location during the 1931 China survey, brochures of the dedication of various Lindbergh fields, tickets to the goodwill stop banquets, anniversary flights, stamps of all countries with reference to Lindbergh, memorabilia from various flights, actual blanket used by Raymond Orteig, Lindbergh 50th anniversary material, menus from various celebrations and goodwill tour stops, original published photographs from various newspapers, magazines including an original Time magazine with Charles Lindbergh as their first man of the year, original advertisements, and various Lindbergh tokens and medals. To provide some background on Barry Friedman and his collection, we offer a write-up by Joe Levine of Presidential Coins and Collectibles for a catalogue that included items from Barry's collection: "Barry Friedman is a builder – a builder of businesses and a builder of colle... read more

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