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 th ...

, 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 (message), letter or Greeting card, card. Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one o ...

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 agency, regulatory authority for the postal sector. Postal regulation may include the establishment of postal ...

s forbid including items inside these light letters, which are usually sent abroad at a preferential rate, and enclosing items may 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, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations and facilitates a uniform worldwide postal system. It has 192 member states and is headquartered in Be ...

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 con ...

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 indicating the prepayment of postage, which 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 Newspaper wrapper, wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage ...

. However, some countries, such as

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, sell unstamped aerograms. Unstamped aerograms are referred to as '' formular'' aerograms and can be issued by postal authorities or 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 Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi (, ''Fayṣal al-Awwal bin Ḥusayn bin ʻAlī al-Hāshimī''; 20 May 1885 – 8 September 1933) was King of Iraq from 23 August 1921 until his death in 1933. A member of the Hashemites, Hashemite family, ...

and was printed by Bradbury Wilkinson. The aerogram was largely popularized by its use during the Second World War (1939–1945). 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 the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

, 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 Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

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 politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achi ...

, 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

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

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 ...

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 simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

had announced that 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.

Japan Post Holdings is a Japanese publicly traded Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is mainly engaged in postal and logistics business, financial window business, banking business and life insura ...

announced its aerogram service would end on 30 September 2023. , they were still provided by

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation and also known as AusPost, is an Australian Government-State-owned enterprise, owned corporation that provides postal services throughout Australia. Australia Post's head office is loca ...

and Hongkong Post. 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