1930's zeppelin flights: Ostseefahrt

24.9.1930 Helsinki

A very nice letter sent from Helsinki to Berlin, Germany 24.9.1930. The letter has a faded Friedrichshafen cancellation on the opposite side of the letter. The violet special cachet of the zeppelin flight is clear and sharp but shows a lack of ink. The rate of the flight (20 marks for letters and 10 marks for postcards) covered the flight on the zeppelin and it's continued delivery to the recipient. However, if the letter or postcard needed to be flown to the recipient from Friedrichshafen, the sender needed to provide additional air mail surcharge. The letter below is correctly rated (20 marks franked by the special stamp of the flight) and would have been sent to Berlin via rail.

A letter sent from Helsinki to Stockholm, Sweden 24.9.1930 in the first and only zeppelin flight to Finland. The letter has a correct "Friedrichshafen" arrival cancellation on the opposite side. The violet special cachet of the flight is usually rather faded from the lack of ink that fading is evident on this example. The rate of the flight (20 marks for letters and 10 marks for postcards) covered the flight on the zeppelin and it's continued delivery to the recipient. However, if the letter or postcard needed to be flown to the recipient from Friedrichshafen, the sender needed to provide additional air mail surcharge. The letter below is correctly rated (20 marks franked by the special stamp of the flight) but lacks an air mail surcharge (that would have been two marks to Stockholm). As no air mail surcharge is paid this letter would have been delivered by rail to Stockholm.

A very nice postal stationery sent from Helsinki to Freiburg, Germany 24.9.1930 in the first and only zeppelin flight to Finland. The postcard has a clear Friedrichshafen cancellation of the more rare bigger variety. The violet special cachet of the zeppelin flight is clear and sharp as opposed to the normal rather faded look of the cancellation. The rate for postcards was 10 marks and as the sender had provided the needed one mark air mail surcharge, the postcard was flown to Freiburg (via Stuttgart and Karlsruhe airports as is indicated by the two airport cancellations). Correct rate. The postal stationery with one mark was also just issued that same year when Finland was transitioning between the M1917 and M1930 definite series so it's also an early use of the postal stationery.

A letter sent from Helsinki to Freidrichshafen, Germany 24.9.1930 in the first and only zeppelin flight to Finland. The letter has a correct "Friedrichshafen" arrival cancellation on the opposite side. The violet special cachet of the flight is usually rather faded from lack of ink and the letter below has a rather typical cachet. The rate of the flight (20 marks for letters and 10 marks for postcards) covered the flight on the zeppelin and it's continued delivery to the recipient. The cover below has a correct rate. The sender has attached a "Par avion" air mail label to the cover but as the letter would have reached it's destination upon arrival to Friedrichshafen there really is no apparent reason to it. Perhaps the sender didn't realize that the zeppelin flight did not need the label as the air mail travel was guaranteed automatically.

A letter sent from Helsinki to Stockholm 24.9.1930 in the first and only zeppelin flight to Finland. The letter has a correct "Friedrichshafen" arrival cancellation on the opposite side. The violet special cachet of the flight is usually rather faded from the lack of ink but this letter has a clear and and quite nice cachet. The rate of the flight (20 marks for letters and 10 marks for postcards) covered the flight on the zeppelin and it's continued delivery to the recipient. However, if the letter or postcard needed to be flown to the recipient from Friedrichshafen, the sender needed to provide additional air mail surcharge. The letter below is correctly rated (20 marks franked by the special stamp of the flight) but lacks an air mail surcharge (that would have been two marks to Stockholm). Therefore the postal officials in Germany have crossed over the "Par avion" notification and have forwarded the letter to it's recipient with regular mail. The special cachet of the flight was instructed to be positioned in such a way that it does not touch the stamps but it clearly touches one stamp in this case.

A letter sent from Helsinki to Glaurus (Switzerland) 24.9.1930 in the first and only zeppelin flight to Finland. The letter has a correct "Friedrichshafen" arrival cancellation on the opposite side. The violet special cachet of the flight is usually rather faded from the lack of ink but this letter has a clear and and quite nice cachet. The rate of the flight (20 marks for letters and 10 marks for postcards) covered the flight on the zeppelin and it's continued delivery to the recipient. The letter below is correctly rated (20 marks franked by the special stamp of the flight). Postal officials were instructed not to cover the overprint with a cancellation but this letter's Helsinki-cancellation slightly touches the overprint text. Similarly the special cachet of the zeppelin was instructed to be positioned in such a way that it does not touch the stamps but it clearly touches one stamp in this case.