In our collection we have many examples of the "Airgraph" the original "V-Mail" used by Canadian and British servicemen. We also have examples of the original form used, and many come with their original envelope. As usual envelopes don't tend to survive, but the few that do, in our collection anyway tend to be marked postage paid. A Mr.E.H. Keeton produced a detailed catalogue "Airgraph", published in January 1987 by the Forces Postal History Society And from the horses mouths: From the Postal and Courier Services web site for the British Army http://www.tafsc.com/PostalHistory.htm The Airgraph was invented in the 1930's by the American photographic company, Eastman Kodak Company inconjuction with Imperial Airways (now British Airways) and Pan-American Airways as a means of reducing the weight and bulk of mail carried by air, but its commercial use was postponed due to the outbreak of the war in September 1939. The following year the Minister of Transport and a Director of Kodak, Lt Col Moore-Brabazon RFC, put forward the idea that Airgraphs could be used to reduce both the bulk and weight of mail travelling between the Middle East Forces and the United Kingdom. The Army Postal Service and the GPO jointly investigated the possibility of using Airgraphs, their investigation lead to a service being set up between England and Egypt in 1941. 70,000 airgraphs were sent in the first batch and took three weeks to reach their destination. Kodak had offices Cairo that were capable of processing airgraph negatives, but it was not until the appropriate equipment arrived from America that their Cairo office was able to photograph airgraph forms and for the Army Postal Services to provide a return service to the UK. The service was then later extended to Australia (1943), Burma (1942), Canada (1941), Ceylon (1944), East Africa (1941), Italy (1944), India (1942), New Zealand (1943) and South Africa (1942). In the war zones the whole operation was co-ordinated by the Army Postal Services. Completed Airgraph forms were collected and distributed by the Field Post Offices. The use of the Airgraph was not rationed and its postage was set at 3d. Although the Airgraph proved to be immediately popular its use was limited because of size and lack of privacy, so when sufficient aircraft capacity became available its use declined in favour of the air letter From the Canadian Postal Museum at the Canadian Museum of Civilization http://www.civilization.ca/cpm/chrono/chs1920e.html In November 1941 [in Canada], "airgraph message service" is inaugurated. Messages from friends and relatives to members of the Armed Forces in the United Kingdom can be photographed and flown overseas. The initial postal rate is set at 10 cents. At first, an airgraph can only be sent to the Armed Forces overseas. In November 1942, the service is expanded to include airgraphs from personnel of the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, and British and Allied Armed Forces serving in Canada to their families and friends in the United Kingdom. In July 1942, airgraph message service becomes available to civilians in the United Kingdom. In July 1945, airgraph service is discontinued between Canada and all other countries. And finally from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum web site: http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/museum/1d_V-Mail.html# Staying in touch with family and friends stationed overseas was just as important in World War II as it is in current military undertakings. Fast, free, and difficult for the enemy to intercept, victory mail (or "V-Mail") played the same role 60 years ago that email is playing today in keeping lines of communication open between loved ones. Later to become "V-Mail" when adopted by the United States, the Airgraph Service was first developed by the British Post Office in response to the Italians closing of the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea to Allied forces. Seaborne traffic was rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope. This 12,000 mile detour could mean delays of anywhere between three and six months for mail destined for British soldiers stationed in the Middle East and the Far East. Alternatives to the route around the Cape were considered, eventually settling on transport by aircraft-however, space in any aircraft was extremely limited. Microphotography was deemed the best solution to the problem of space The United States adopted the Airgraph Service, renaming it "victory mail" or "V-Mail," on June 15, 1942, and it was in use until April 1, 1945. Where it had taken up to a month for standard mail delivery by ship, V-Mail delivery could take as little as twelve days or less using aircraft. Air transport also had the added benefit of minimizing the likelihood of enemy interception, although censors still insured that any potentially useful or damaging information was deleted from all messages. One final benefit was that letters could never be "lost in the mail"-with serial numbers on the forms and originals held on file, any message that was lost in transit could be reproduced and sent to the addressee. A person who wanted to send a letter by airgraph or V-Mail would obtain the standard, pre-printed form from the local post office or five and dime store on request. The form contained space for a letter of about 100 to 300 words, the address of the serviceman or -woman to whom the letter was to be delivered, the address of the sender, and a circular area for the censor's stamp of approval. Once the message was written, the form was to be folded and sealed. It then made its way to a processing center where the form was re-opened and fed through a machine that photographed the letters on 16mm film. A continuous roll of this film (100 feet long by 16mm wide) could hold up to 1700 messages and, with the metal container it was housed in, weighed 5.5 oz (154g). A sack of mail holding the same number of regular letters would have weighed 50 lbs. (22.5kg). When the V-Mail reached the destination, it was sent to a local processing facility that reversed the process, printing photographs of the letters to be sent to the intended recipient in a three inch by four inch envelope. Carol Reid Collections Manager, Archives Canadian War Museum 1 Vimy Place, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1R 1C2 www.warmuseum.ca tel: (819) 776-8661 fax: (819)776-8623 e-mail: [log in to unmask] ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . 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