Balloon mail
Balloon mail refers to the carriage of a piece of mail by balloon. In the simple variant, there are folded letters , letters or cards with a sender that are sent from unguided balloons with an unknown destination. For philately , regularly labeled and franked items are of interest, which cover the first part of their way in a manned balloon and are handed over to the post office for further forwarding at the point of landing.
Due to their dependence on wind conditions, balloons were never an option for regular mail delivery.
Undirected balloon mail
The simple variant is a card with the name of the sender, which is transported by means of an unguided balloon filled with hydrogen or helium . There is no specific addressee and most of the balloons are not found. In this respect, balloon mail is very similar to message in a bottle . The unknown finder is asked by the sender of the balloon mail to inform them by normal mail about when and where the balloon was found. Such balloons are often released in the context of a balloon flight competition. The winner is the participant whose balloon has flown the furthest.
Small balloons filled with helium can travel considerable distances. For example, a balloon launched by the Austrian Oskar Haberlandt on November 22, 2008 flew from Wildon , Austria to Mirenki ( Republic of Chuvashia ) in Russia. That is a distance of 2321 km. Altogether, Haberlandt has reached 38 countries in Europe with his balloons from Austria in a series of tests since 2003. Of the more than 28,000 balloon postcards launched, just under four percent got back to the sender (as of March 2009).
In addition, balloon mail has been used repeatedly to distribute information and propaganda materials, especially for the population in countries with dictatorial governments, as balloon mail can be launched outside the sphere of influence of these governments and can travel a few hundred kilometers in good wind direction.
Philatelic balloon mail
Balloon mail letters and cards have philatelic significance as so-called whole items, which are regularly franked and addressed, a first item (mostly) transported by manned hot air balloon and then transported further by regular mail. Such balloon mail flights take place on special occasions, appropriately designed forms receive special stamps. "25 years of Christmas balloon mail from Christkindl" is numbered approximately consecutively and was also stamped with the data after the balloon ride: Free balloon D-ERGEE VI, start: December 1, 1985 12:08 pm, maximum height 550 m, distance 1.5 km, Landing place, time, pilots.
Known Postal Uses
Franco-German War
During the German siege of Paris between September 23, 1870 and January 28, 1871, the French postal administration took advantage of the 65 (or 67) large manned postal balloons and also small unmanned balloons (each with a special name), mainly at night respective wind conditions increased in order to maintain postal traffic with the province. This was the only way to get letters out of the besieged city. A total of around 2.5 million letters with a total weight of 10 tons were sent.
The special, pre-printed balloon envelopes made of thin paper were 10 cm × 7 cm in size. When filled, they could not exceed a weight of four grams and had to be franked for France (and Algeria) with 20 centimes or with normal postage abroad. They had an address, and after the balloon landed in areas unoccupied by the Germans (if they were reached), the letters were forwarded by normal mail. Occasionally, however, mail bags were also dropped as ballast during the balloon flight. So many of the letters reached their destination late and with long detours. Some balloons also carried carrier pigeons that were able to bring small messages back to Paris.
First World War
From the First World War , some balloon posts were released from the Austrian fortress of Przemyśl, which was besieged by the Russians . But there were only unmanned small gas balloons to which the packages with the mail items were attached.
literature
- Manual dictionary of the postal system ; 2nd Edition; P. 81
- Heinrich von Stephan : History of the Prussian Post from its origin to the present. According to official sources by H. Stephan, Royal Prussian Postal Council. Publishing house of the Royal Secret Upper Hofbuchdruckerei (R. Decker), Berlin 1859; World mail and aviation ; Julius Springer Berlin 1874; P. 50 ff.
- Veredarius : The Book of the Universal Mail . Development and action of the post and telegraph in world traffic; 3. Edition; Herm. Meidinger, Berlin 1894
- Postamtsblatt 1871 (non-official part); P. 397 ff.
Individual evidence
- ↑ P. Glaschke: Trajectories of rubber balloons in balloon competitions: theory and application . In: Cornell University . 2011. arxiv : 1103.2126 .
- ↑ Concise dictionary of the postal system; 2nd Edition; P. 81
- ↑ Concise dictionary of the postal system; 2nd Edition; P. 81
