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Painted in oils on canvas. 1999. 450mm x 600mm. Selected for the 1999 ‘Aviation Paintings of the Year’ Exhibition. The original painting is now in the personal collection of H.M. The Queen at Windsor Castle. |
‘Postman Gustav’Gustav Hamel, in his Bleriot monoplane, approaches Windsor carrying the first ever UK airmail. It is just after 5pm on Sunday 10th September 1911. Organised as part of the celebrations to mark the Coronation of King George V, the service was planned to carry mail between London and Windsor over just a few weeks. The mail comprised pre-stamped souvenir envelopes and postcards, sold in advance through some of the principal London stores and, for the return flights, from the offices of the ‘Windsor Chronicle’. Flying arrangements were in the hands of the Graham White Company, operators of the Hendon Aerodrome, who had hired four pilots. Two were flying Bleriots and two were flying Farman biplanes. The service was planned to start on Saturday 9th September but difficult weather conditions caused it to be postponed and it was nearly 5pm on the following day before Gustav Hamel was able to make the first flight. It took just 15 minutes and he carried one bag containing about 1,000 items of mail. The following day the team of pilots was reduced to three, when one of the Farmans crashed soon after take-off, the pilot unfortunately breaking both legs. Despite this setback, 37 bags of mail, containing over 100,000 items, were carried from Hendon to Windsor on 16 flights on ten different days between 10th– 26th September. On 17th and 18th September four mail-carrying flights, with some 10,000 items, were made from Windsor to Hendon . _____________________ |
