Plane crashed, mail survived!

Many airplane accidents and crashes occurred in history. But what happened with the mail, the covers and the postcards that was on those planes?

Let us tell a story of one of these…

The following cover departed from BOMBAY FOREIGN 1936.1^st, India with a final destination to Sussex, England. The cover made a transit stop in ALEXANDRIA. Then changing plane departed for a second transit destination to Brindisi, Italy with the hydroplane SCIPIO.

The flight initiated but the flying boat had engine troubles and had to make a forced landing in Mirabella Bay in Crete, Greece. Attempting this landing a sudden cross wind swung the plane around, it crashed and sank in a few minutes. Two passengers were killed in the crash and one was seriously injured. The 38 postal bags were recovered and dried.

All covers canceled with the 2 line cancellation “DAMAGED BY SEA WATER”.  The stamps are missing on nearly all covers. Very few are known today. One of them is the following… This cover is currently for sale on eCharta!

An exciting paper survival history in 1936!

KO for eCharta