$25.00 CAD
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1929 first flight covers with cachets, one for Fort McMurray Alberta to Wrigley N.W.t. , the other for the return flight Wrigley to Fort McMurray,
In 1929, Edmonton was the main staging point for all northern aviation. Mail was sorted there, then shipped to Fort McMurray for loading onto WCA aircraft heading up the Mackenzie River system.
Fort McMurray to Wrigley
On front of envelope cachet ‘CANADA AIR MAIL First Regular Official Flight FORT McMURRAY TO WRIGLEY’ Image of ski-plane flying over muskox below
Postmarked ‘EDMONTON ALTA Nov 26 1929’ on 5 cent Airmail stamp. On back postmarked ‘WRIGLEY N.W.T. Dec 22 29’
Wrigley to Fort McMurray
On front of envelope cachet ‘CANADA AIR MAIL First Regular Official Flight WRIGLEY TO FORT McMURRAY’.
Postmarked ‘WRIGLEY Dec 22 1929 N.---’ on 5 cent Airmail stamp. On back postmarked ‘EDMONTON ALTA Jan 10 30’.
All sent to address in Syracuse USA.
The Story of the First Official Airmail Flights to the Arctic - 1929
The tender for airmail service closed June 7th, 1929 but was not signed until November 25th. Once the contract for Airmail Service to the Mackenzie River District was awarded to Commercial Airways Ltd., of Edmonton Alberta plans were soon in place.
All the mail for these flights was carried by train from Edmonton to Waterways on November 26th and the First Flight Covers were pre-canceled at Edmonton dated November 26th.
Over the next few weeks a variety of flights were taken from Fort McMurray starting December 10th, in some cases mail was carried by Dog Team to some communities off the regular airmail route (for example Rae and Herschel Island) but the awarding of this contract meant there was no more dog team or water transport contracts for mail service.
From December 10th through December 20th mail was carried to communities in Northern Alberta (Fort Chipewyan and Fort Fitzgerald) and the South Mackenzie District (Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, Hay River, Fort Providence and Fort Simpson). On December 21st two planes left Fort Simpson but had to return due to bad weather and left again on December 22nd for the run down the Mackenzie River to Wrigley, Fort Norman, Fort Good Hope, Arctic Red River, Fort McPherson and to Aklavik on December 27th.
On December 30th the return flights started and the final leg to Edmonton was flown On January 3rd by Wop May & Cy Becker and accompanied by Guy Rocke the Postmaster from Fort McMurray, Tim Sims of Canadian Wright Ltd., mechanic Casey van der Linden, Ted Watt of the Edmonton Journal & Postal Superintendent Walter Hale.
http://www.wopmay.com/current/adventures/airmail.htm
