First flight covers

John Maloney

It has only just now occurred to me the strangeness of first flight covers.
They are mailed from US town A to US town B which could be near to or far from the sender. But the plane or Zeppelin goes somewhere else with your mail, then your mail goes on to the address on it in Town B. The stopover could even be international.
So, the mail gets sent to the stopover city, then mailed back to the intended destination. There is only one air mail stamp on it, but it really is mailed twice. Can this still be done? Could I address a letter to Florida but write "via Rochester, NY and have it travel that route?

Phil Merrill_

Just like self-serviced FDCs. You send the FFC with stamp affixed in another envelop to whoever is handling the cachet. They open it, get the enclosure cacheted, postmarked and on the airplane. The receiving post office puts it into the normal mail stream to come back to you or whatever address. So, between both envelopes used to get it there and back, it was paid for twice.

John Maloney

Thank you, Phil.