When India created history by world's first airmail 100 years ago

Around 5 PM on February 18, 1911, 23-year-old French pilot Henri Pequet loaded a special mail bag with a limited number of 6,500 cards and letters on a two-seater bi-plane stationed at a polo field in Allahabad and soared into the evening sky.

It all took just 13 minutes for the flight of hardly 15 kms to and fro and the mails dumped at Naini Junction to create history where letters were transmitted by air for the first time in the world

The letters were all transmitted to the respective destinations by surface mail (by road or by ship or by train) as was the normal practice. Some of the letters were addressed to the monarach George V and these are found even now at the Buckingham Palace.

Pequet, who had signed a contract with British company Humber for demonstration flights, had to carry a compass instrument tied to his lap and the mail bag was accommodated just at the edge of his seat.

Since the occasion was something special and as it was witnessed by elite of the region letters were addressed to people all over the globe. Some letters emanating from the senior British officials were also addressed to the monarch, George V and these are found even now at the Buckingham Palace.

Similarly, Motilal Nehru addressed a letter to Jawahar who would later be the country's first prime minister. Jawahar was then pursuing higher education at the Cambridge in the UK, says Trichy-based aviation enthusiast P Soundararajan.

In a subsequent interview to a magazine, Pequet had mentioned that he had flown the machine just at a height of 120 to 150 feet from the grounds  and he was actually rather doubtful when he had to pass over the holy river of Jamuna.

He had also recollected about the herds of buffalos that baffled him and with his Sommer bi-plane with a Rotary Gnome Engine of 50 HorsePower he had to restrict the speed to less than 100 km per hour.

The first airmail flight was part of a large industrial exhibition being held at Allahabad that year. The idea came from a British military commander (later knighted) named Walter G Wyndham.

It was the British who conceived the postal services first in the world by coming out with the first stamp on May 6, 1840. And it was the Americans who flew in the air for the first time in the world. (1906/1908 by Wright Brothers)

But it was the Indians who transmitted letters by Air for the first time in the world and the historic event took place at Allahabad on February 18, 1911, notes Soundararajan

The venue of agriculture and industries fair called U.P. Exhibition staged at the Polo grounds and the authorities in order to garner more gate collection displayed two flying machines at the exhibition grounds.

U.P. was United Provinces as it was called in those days from the present Uttar Pradesh and some British officials imported aircraft through ship in knocked down condition and reassembled them at the exhibition grounds for the general public to have a look at it.

Wyndham, the promoter of the specific event approached the postal authorities and with their consent arranged to transmit some mail bags in the flight when a Christian Mission (Tinity Church) came forward to sponsor the actual flying of the aircraft over the exhibition grounds. The objective was to construct a Hostel for Youth elsewhere in Allahabad.

The Surveyor General who was also CEO of the postal readily obliged for the mail bags transmission and also made approval for the issuance of a special cachet to commemorate the occasion.

The special cachet/post-mark were in a circular shape with inscriptions of "FIRST AERIAL POST" and "U.P. EXHIBITION ALLAHABAD". The specially designed die also featured a line drawing of an Aircraft hovering above some mountains and for the uniqueness of the occasion the post marks were applied with Magenta ink instead of the conventional black color.

The organizers were very keen on the light weight that could be carried by the Vintage Aircraft and with careful calculation only a limited number of letters namely 6,500 were allowed inside the special mail bag loaded in the aircraft.

On the historic day of February 18, 1911 as witnessed by thousands of people at the exhibition venue (since it synchronized with the Kumba Mela year the crowd was said to be even one lakh plus) the special aircraft took off from the exhibition grounds at 17.30 hrs, crossed the river Yamuna and landed at a place called Naini Junction alongside the compound wall of the Central Prison in the outskirts of Allahabad.

To symbolize the rare event, the postal authorities destroyed the special circular die produced for the occasion so that the sense of rarity and uniqueness were adhered.

Among the 6,500 letters carried in the historic flight 40 precious letters were there which featured a photograph of the aircraft along with the aviator and also tagged with the autograph of Piquet.

Philatelists have come out with details of the ordinary letters, registered mails and as well the 40 post cards as recorded in the documents of the postal department.

Soundararajan said many a research had been done on the episode and it was recorded that the date of the flight had to be postponed because of the fact that landing site had to be pruned by removing thorns and shrubs enabling the flying machine to land safely without puncturing the tyres.

It is said that at the intervention of the senior officials gathered  at U.P. Exhibition grounds the prisoners of Naini obliged to spruce up the site for making it as a good tarmac.

Pequet died in 1974 at the age of 86 in his native place in France and the French Government is now issuing a special postage stamp in his honor.