(#163923) ROCKET AIRPLANE FIRST AMERICAN FLIGHT NOVEMBER 24, 1935 FROM GREENWOOD LAKE, N. Y. TO HEWITT, N. J. ... [caption title]. Rocket Mail, F. W. Kessler.

ROCKET AIRPLANE FIRST AMERICAN FLIGHT NOVEMBER 24, 1935 FROM GREENWOOD LAKE, N. Y. TO HEWITT, N. J. ... [caption title]. Brooklyn, N. Y. F. W. Kessler, 1935. Small broadside, printed on one side only. The broadside, printed on white paper stock, is accompanied by a revised version printed on blue paper stock, as well as two printed postcards (one addressed to Donald A. Wollheim) announcing the postponement of the 24 November 1935 rocket mail flight. This ephemera is accompanied by a tear sheet from STAMPS, 5 October 1935 with a full-page description of the 22 September 1935 rocket mail flight, with a handwritten marginal note by Wollheim noting that the "spectator" mentioned in the article was "me! As assistant engineer, not spectator!" "Hermann Oberth suggested using rockets for mail in a 1927 letter, and he lectured on the topic at a meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt in June 1928. The lecture caused many experimentalists to expect the use of rockets for mail as inevitable ... Friedrich Schmiedl launched the first rocket mail (V-7, Experimental Rocket 7) [on 2 February 1931] with 102 pieces of mail between the Austrian towns of Schöckl and St. Radegund. Several other launches by Schmiedl occurred through 1932, and similar experiments occurred in several other countries, usually subsidized by philatelists ... One of the first [probably the first] successful deliveries of mail by a rocket in the United States was made on 23 February 1936, when two rocket airplanes that were launched from the New York side of the frozen Greenwood Lake landed on the New Jersey side, less than 100 yards away." - Wikipedia. These broadsides and postcards issued by aerophilately specialist F. W. Kessler refer to this 23 February 1936 flight which was postponed from 24 November 1935 to rebuild a "vital" part of the rocket. This was not the first attempt in America to fly rocket mail. Although both rockets exploded, some mail was recovered from America's first rocket mail flight which took place at Holmes Airport, Astoria, Long Island, NY, 22 September 1935, conducted by "chief engineer" William S. Sykora who built the rockets, assisted by Donald A. Wollheim. The tear sheet has old folds, the two broadsides have mailing folds, but all pieces are in fine condition. Accompanied by a envelope with Kessler return address addressed to Wollheim postmarked 25 November 1935. (#163923).

Price: $250.00

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