T. Lee-Elliott’s wings
Air mail labels, or etiquettes, were first issued by the Post Office in August 1920. From May 1930 to December 1937 a pane of air mail labels was bound into some stamp booklets.
Air mail panes were the same size as stamp panes and contained two air mail labels (three for the Silver Jubilee issue), and a stub with an inscription showing air mail information, generally rates for some of the main air routes. The inscription changed periodically as air routes evolved, but always referred to the free Air Mail Leaflet for further details. Two label designs were used, both of which included “BY AIR MAIL / PAR AVION”. The first design had the text enclosed in a rectangular box, the second featured T. Lee-Elliott’s “wings”.
This first pane was issued in May 1930 in 3s booklet BB24 Edition 191. During 1930 and 1931 air mail panes were included in 3s booklets only.
Sometimes the inscription was changed part way through a booklet edition, thus different panes may be found in the same booklets. BB24 Edition 202, for example, occurs with either air mail pane Type 1 or Type 2 (the words “GULF PORTS” having been removed).
The inclusion of air mail panes in stamp booklets was discontinued at the end of 1937, although air mail labels in sheets remained available at the Post Office.
Position of the Air Mail Pane
It was arranged in 1930 for the air mail pane to occupy one of two positions according to the advert insets available, either (1) the air mail pane should be the first inset in the booklet if an advert inset were available to go between it and the first pane of stamps; (2) otherwise the air mail pane should be the last inset in the booklet.
In July 1934 this arrangement was modified such that when the air mail pane could not occupy position (1) above, it should follow the first pane of stamps, in front of the first advert inset.
In October 1934 this arrangement was modified again to accommodate Ford’s blotting paper such that for booklets with this inset, the air mail pane would always follow the first pane of stamps. This arrangement was not followed for the Dubarry adverts, which seem to revert to the July 1934 rule.
Printed by Waterlow
Air mail panes were included in some 3s and 5s booklets printed by Waterlow (BB24, BB34). Panes were positioned after the front cover, or before the back cover depending on the number of advert interleaves available.
Type 1
“Persia and Gulf Ports”
Date: May 1930
Booklets: Block Cypher
Series 3: BB24 191-202(part)
Type 2
“Gulf Ports” deleted
Date: October 1930
Booklets: Block Cypher
Series 3: BB24 202(part)-211
Type 3
“East Africa”
Date: March 1931
Booklets: Block Cypher
Series 3: BB24 212-215
Type 4
“E. Africa” and “S. Africa”
Date: July 1933
Booklets: Block Cypher
Series 3: BB24 259-266
Series 5: BB34 4
Type 5
“S. Africa”
Date: November 1933
Booklets: Block Cypher
Series 3: BB24 267-271
Series 5: BB34 5
Type 6a
“Malaya”
Date: April 1934
Booklets: Block Cypher
Series 5: BB34 6
Printed by Harrison
The first air mail pane in Harrison 3s and 5s booklets was similar to the final Waterlow pane but in a darker blue. It has the same inscription in a slightly larger font. Air mail panes were included in some 2s booklets from July 1934.
Type 6b
as Type 6a but in deep blue
Date: March 1934
Booklets: Block Cypher
Series 3: BB26 274-279
Series 5: BB35 7(part)
Type 7
A new graphic design by Theyre Lee-Elliott, who also designed the Imperial Airways Speedbird logo. Printed in black and blue, with the inscription in black. At the same time, the position of the pane was changed, being after the front cover, or after the first stamp pane depending on the number of advert interleaves available.
“Malaya”
Date: July 1934
Booklets: Block Cypher and Photogravure (Intermediate Format)
Series 3: BB26 280-288, BB27 289-290
Series 4: BB15 291(part), 293(part)
Series 5: BB35 7(part), 8
Type 8
“Australia”
Date: February 1935
Booklets: Photogravure (Intermediate and Small Formats)
Series 3: BB27 291-293
Series 4: BB15 291(part), 292, 293(part)-297, BB17 305-306(part)
Series 5: BB36 9, BB37 10(part)
Type 9
Silver Jubilee — as Type 8 but with three labels
Date: May 1935
Booklets: Silver Jubilee
Series 3: BB28 294-297
Series 4: BB16 298-304
Type 10
“Australasia”
Date: July 1935
Booklets: Photogravure (Small Format)
Series 3: BB29 298-312
Series 4: BB17 306(part)-337, 338(part), 339(part)
Series 5: BB37 10(part)-13
Type 11
“Hong Kong”
Date: June 1936
Booklets: Photogravure (Small Format) and King Edward VIII
Series 3: BB29 313-319, BC3 320-329
Series 4: BB17 338(part), 339(part)-353, BC2 354-380
Series 5: BB37 14-15, BC4 16-17
“AIR MAII” variety
There was an error in the inscription on one of the air mail panes in the sheet. ‘AIR MAIL’ in the third line of the last paragraph was printed as ‘AIR MAII’. The error occurred in booklet position R7/1 (or R4/4 if the sheet was inverted).
Type 12
no countries listed
Date: June 1937
Booklets: King Edward VIII and King George VI
Series 3: BC3 330-332, BD21 333-338
Series 4: BC2 381-385, BD11 386-398
Series 5: BD23 18
Summary
| Type | Date | Series 3 | Series 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 1930 | 191-202* | — |
| 2 | Oct 1930 | 202*-211 | — |
| 3 | Mar 1931 | 212-215 | — |
| 4 | July 1933 | 259-266 | 4 |
| 5 | Nov 1933 | 267-271 | 5 |
| 6a | Apr 1934 | — | 6 |
| Type | Date | Series 3 | Series 4 (2s) | Series 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6b | Mar 1934 | 274-279 | — | 7* |
| 7 | July 1934 | 280-290 | 291*, 293* | 7*-8 |
| 8 | Feb 1935 | 291-293 | 291*, 292, 293*-297, 305-306* | 9-10* |
| 9 | May 1935 | 294-297 | 298-304 | — |
| 10 | July 1935 | 298-312 | 306*-337, 338*, 339* | 10*-13 |
| 11 | June 1936 | 313-329 | 338*, 339*-380 | 14-17 |
| 12 | June 1937 | 330-338 | 381-398 | 18 |
* pane was in part of this edition.
Air Mail Notices
Air mail panes were discontinued at the end of 1937 and replaced by a notice on the front of the first interleaf. The upper paragraph of the notice referenced air mail to Europe and certain Empire countries, the lower paragraph referenced most other countries.
Type 1
“Surcharged” at the beginning of the lower paragraph
Date: Nov 1937
Booklets: King George VI
Series 3: BD21 339-343, BD22 344-345
Series 4: BD11 399-412, BD12 413-416
Series 5: BD23 19-20
Type 2
“Surcharged” deleted
Date: May 1938
Booklets: King George VI
Series 3: BD22 346-354
Series 4: BD12 417-446
Series 5: BD24 21-22
Type 3
no stop after “AIR”
Date: Nov 1938
Booklets: King George VI
Series 3: BD22 355-368
Series 4: BD12 439-478
Series 5: BD24 23-26
Type 4
simplified
Date: Oct 1939
Booklets: King George VI
Series 3: BD22 369-377
Series 4: BD12 479-508
Series 5: BD24 27-29
Series 7: BD13 1-2, 4-7
Series 8: BD25 1
In Series 7 and 8 the notice was no longer on the first interleaf, and was then discontinued.
Air Mail Label Booklets
Books of air mail labels were available free of charge at post offices. They contained panes of four air mail labels of the same design but slightly smaller than those in books of stamps. The covers and interleaves promoted air mail services and Imperial Airways.
Types A-D
Air mail booklets Types A, B, C and D, circa 1931-1934.
Type A: stapled, cream card (rare with African overprint in red)
Type B: stapled, cream card (most with African overprint in red)
Type C: stapled, white card:
C1: India 7 days, Cape Town 12 days
C2: India 6½ days, Cape Town 11 days
C3: India 7 days, Cape Town 10 days, coded P.25B
Type D: stapled, white card:
D1: India 7 days, Cape Town 10 days, coded P.25B
D2: India 5 days, Cape Town 9 days, coded P.25B
D3: India 5 days, Cape Town 8 days, coded P.25B
Types E-H
Air mail booklets Types E, F, G and H, with the T. Lee-Elliott design, circa 1935-1936.
Type E: stapled, white card, coded P.25B
Type F: stapled, white card, coded P.25G
Type G: stitched, white card, coded P.25G
Type H: stitched, white card, coded P.25G