An aerogram, aerogramme, aérogramme, air letter or airletter is a thin lightweight piece of foldable and gummed paper for writing a letter for transit via

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

, in which the letter and

envelope An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card. Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a shor ...

are one and the same. Most

postal administration This is a list of postal entities by country. It includes: *The governmental authority responsible for postal matters. *The regulatory authority for the postal sector. Postal regulation may include the establishment of postal policies, postal rate ...

s forbid enclosures in these light letters, which are usually sent abroad at a preferential rate. Printed warnings existed to say that an enclosure would cause the mail to go at the higher letter rate. The use of the term ''aerogramme'' was officially endorsed at the 1952

Universal Postal Union The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to t ...

Postal Union Congress The Postal Union Congress is the main international meeting of the Universal Postal Union, used to discuss various issues affecting international postal services, such as legislation, the political climate, and other strategic issues. The first cong ...

in Brussels."The Evolution of the Postal Service in the Era of the UPU" by Jamie Gough in ''

The London Philatelist ''The London Philatelist'' was first published in January 1892
by

imprinted stamp In philately, an imprinted stamp is a stamp printed onto a piece of postal stationery such as a stamped envelope, postal card, letter sheet, letter card, aerogram or wrapper.Carlton, R. Scott. ''The International Encyclopedic Dictionary of Ph ...

indicating the prepayment of postage. As such, this meets the definition of being

postal stationery A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related servi ...

. However, some countries such as

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, sell unstamped aerograms. Unstamped aerograms are referred to as ''

formular The term formular (often spelled formula) is an adjective applied to envelopes, cards and aerograms, etc., produced by postal authorities or to their specification, but bearing no imprinted or embossed stamp or other indication of prepayment o ...

'' aerograms and can be issued by either postal authorities or by private companies. Senders are required to write their name and address on the reverse.

History

Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Evans first saw the air letter form in Iraq, whilst touring the Commands after his arrival in the Middle East theatre. It had been introduced into the Iraqi postal service in 1933 by the then Inspector General of Posts and Telegraphs, Major Douglas William Gumbley CBE DSO Royal Engineers. The original form, on thin paper sized 124 mm x 99 mm, greyish in colour, with bluelined framing and with the designation legend on the front. It had an embossed effigy of

Faisal I of Iraq Faisal I bin Al-Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi ( ar, فيصل الأول بن الحسين بن علي الهاشمي, ''Faysal el-Evvel bin al-Ḥusayn bin Alī el-Hâşimî''; 20 May 1885 – 8 September 1933) was King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria ...

and was printed by Bradbury Wilkinson. The aerogram was largely popularized by its use during the Second World War (1939–45). Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Evans,

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

, Assistant Director Army Postal Service Middle East Force (MEF), proposed that a lightweight self-sealing letter card that weighed only 1/10 oz (2.8 g) be adopted by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

for air mail purposes. He recommended its use to

Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achieving rapid promo ...

, the Secretary of State for War during his visit to the Middle East, in late 1940. By January the following year, General

Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded ...

, the Commander-in-Chief, MEF was told by Eden that "Your Assistant Director Army Postal Services may forthwith introduce an Air Mail Letter Card Service for the Middle East. Use British stamps from all countries, including Egypt.". On 1 March 1941, the

air mail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

service between the Middle East and the UK was started, using a combination of

British Overseas Airways British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

s and military transport. The private nature of the air letter ensured its popularity among its users and that popularity, with its lightness, brought about its continued use as the civilian air letter (aerogramme) and the British military "bluey". (see

British Forces Post Office The British Forces Post Office (BFPO) provides a postal service to HM Forces, separate from that provided by Royal Mail in the United Kingdom. BFPO addresses are used for the delivery of mail in the UK and around the world. BFPO moved from its o ...

for further information). The aerogramme cost 6d to send anywhere in the world from 1943 to 1966, increasing to 9d until the decimalisation of British currency in 1971, then increasing gradually to 45p (decimal), 18 times the introductory price, in 2006. On 29 April 1947, the US introduced a 10 cent ''Air Letter'' Sheet. The same imprinted stamp with the propeller plane was used until updated with a jet airliner image in 1958. The US issued a total of 25 aerograms until 1999.Undersander, Dan, Ed.; ''Catalog of the 20th and 21st Century Stamped Envelopes and Wrappers of the United States'', Third Edition, UPSS, 2011. . The production of United States aerograms has ceased.

Linn's Stamp News ''Linn's Stamp News'' is an American weekly magazine for stamp collectors. It is published by Amos Media Co., which also publishes the Scott ''Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue'', the Scott ''Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Co ...

in late 2006 reported that the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

had announced as the supply of aerograms on hand at post offices were exhausted the stock would not be replenished. It quotes David Failor, Postal Service executive director of stamp services as explaining, "Demand for these has been next to nothing for the past five years." With the decline in postal communication, aerograms have been withdrawn by various postal services. Royal Mail in the United Kingdom discontinued the aerogram in 2012. they were still provided by

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...

. Historically, as the aerogram was the least expensive form of international postal communication, users often went to extreme lengths to make best use of the space available including writing in different colours, in different directions, and printing on the sheets minimising font size and margins.

References

External links

Letter Post Manual
(Universal Postal Union, Berne, 1985). Sets out U.P.U. regulations applicable to aerogrammes.

Army Postal Services (1939–45) – origins of Aerogram (Wayback Machine archive)
Aerogramme Society website
A comprehensive source on aerogram related topics. (archived)

Illustrations of all mint and used Cuban aerograms.
Collection of aerogrammes
{{Authority control Airmail Postal stationery Philatelic terminology

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links