V-mail

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The V-Mail-System (for Victory-Mail ) or Airgraph-System was an airmail service of the American and British armed forces during the Second World War.

The first route between Cairo and London opened on April 21, 1941. The originally British system was adopted by the American forces on July 15, 1942, under the new name V-Mail. Airgraph and V-Mail were used until they were discontinued at the end of the war and were expanded to include new routes and countries.

method

Large quantities of the messages from overseas written on special forms were reduced to microfilm , transported by air freight and then enlarged close to the recipient and delivered by post. The enlargement on special, lightweight photo paper was approximately 1/4 the size of the original message. In the case of the form, the folded message carrier also served as an envelope (see aerogram ), the simple envelope of the enlargement had a viewing window.

The narrow film reels (16 mm, 100 ft.) With the letters reduced to the size of a fingernail made it possible to handle large quantities of mail by plane economically, even over long distances and in times of war, which is not possible or is only possible with disproportionately greater effort given the weight and volume of regular mail would have been. The post censorship and Allied defense also spared it the search for microdots and invisible inks. However, there were complaints about the reduced space in the form for the actual message compared to the regular letter.

According to a National Postal Museum bill , the system reduced 37 mail bags containing approximately 150,000 letters (one side each) weighing 2,575 pounds (1168 kg) to a single shipment weighing approximately 45 pounds (20.4 kg).

The system, which is very time-saving in comparison to ship and land transport, was complemented by airmail, but the volume of regular mail remained higher. Theoretically, transport losses could be replaced by the filming.

literature

  • Around the mall. In: Smithsonian Magazine. March 1994, vol 24:12, p. 16.
  • V-as in Victory Mail. In: Smithsonian Magazine. May, 2004, p. 38.

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