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Pan American Airways (Pan Am) inaugurated transatlantic air mail service under scheduled contract (Foreign Air Mail FAM 18) in 1939. This collection consists of a letter from Kathryn Schieferecke to her two children, Laurence and Bernadine, sent through the New York postmaster. Mrs. Schieferecke arranged for the letter to be flown on the first transatlantic airmail flight operated by Pan American Airways (Pan Am).
Pan American Airways (Pan Am) inaugurated transatlantic air mail service under scheduled contract (Foreign Air Mail FAM 18) in 1939. The first flight was made on May 20, 1939 by the Boeing Model 314 Yankee Clipper (NC18603) from New York to Marseilles, France. The pilot was Arthur Earl Laporte. Kathryn Schieferecke was the postmaster for Lenora, Kansas. In May 1939, Schieferecke was hospitalized and her two children were temporarily in an orphanage in Abilene, Kansas.
NASM.2015.0021
Schieferecke, Kathryn
1939
Patrick Wilder, Gift, 2015, NASM.2015.0021
0.05 Cubic feet (1 folder)
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of a letter from Kathryn Schieferecke to her two children, Laurence and Bernadine, sent through the New York postmaster. Mrs. Schieferecke arranged for the letter to be flown on the first transatlantic airmail flight operated by Pan American Airways (Pan Am). In the letter, dated May 4, 1939, Mrs. Schieferecke encourages the children to keep the letter because it might be valuable someday. The envelope has been stamped on its left side of the front with a blue cachet showing a Boeing Model 314 Clipper in flight over the Statue of Liberty and the words, "United States of America, Trans-Atlantic Air Mail Service, First Flight FAM 18." There is a New York postmark on the front, and a Marseilles postmark on the back flap.
Collection is in original order.
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Pan American Airways (Pan Am) (USA) Foreign Air Mail (FAM 18) First Transatlantic Scheduled Airmail Flight Flown Letter, Accession NASM.2015.0021, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Air mail service
Aeronautics, Commercial -- Freight
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Philately