Flights

Vatican Flights: First, Specials, Zeppelins and Others

What are Vatican Flights?

At the opening of the Vatican City Post Office on August 1, 1929 the first air mail letter were accepted. Very few covers were carried on First and Special flights in the early days. The full franking was done with Vatican City stamps. The Italian Postal Administration, however, either carried on its own planes, or had to compensate foreign postal administrations for the air mail in-transit and therefore claimed from the Vatican Postal Administration, payment for the air mail flight. In order to facilitate the accounting, the air mail fee was paid in Italian Air Mail stamps.

Later, when an agreement was established for air mail transportation originating in Vatican City with Italian and foreign postal authorities, full franking with only Vatican City stamps was permitted. The Vatican issued the first airmail stamps on June 22, 1939. From the Aero Philatelist Annals Vol. XVIII No 2, October 1970

A few of these flights are listed below.

Date	Description	Price
August 2, 1929	First Flight to Genoa since Post Office Opening full franking in Vatican stamps (Sassone #157) 162 flown	$100
September 9, 1929	Special Flight to Genoa full franking in Vatican stamps 79 flown	$100
December 10, 1929	First Flight to Tunis mixed franking in Vatican and Italian stamps (Sassone #164b) 55 flown	$100
January 17, 1930	First Flight to Castelrosso mixed franking in Vatican and Italian stamps with special triangle cachet (Sassone #173h) 98 flown	$200
12 March 1930	FDC Italian Airmail C11 Roma - Genova / Torino mixed franking in Vatican and Italian stamps Sassone #187a	$85
January 16, 1931	Special Flight to Venice Mixed franking in Vatican and Italian stamps on special Balbo card 12 flown	$75
January 16, 1931	Special Flight to Cagliari Mixed franking in Vatican and Italian stamps on special Balbo card 41 flown	$75
January 16, 1931	Special Flight to Valona Mixed franking in Vatican and Italian stamps on special Balbo card 76 flown	$75
March 31, 1931	First Flight: Berlin to Rome full franking in German stamps	$70
April 1, 1931	First Flight to Berlin mixed franking in Vatican and Italian stamps (Sassone #235d) 48 flown	$200
June 11, 1931	First Flight to Valletta, Malta mixed franking in Vatican, Italian and Malta stamps 56 flown	$175
June 12, 1931	San Marino C2 FDC Flight to Vatican mixed franking in Vatican and San Marino stamps	$75
March 8, 1932	First dispatch Tripoli- Vatican Mixed franking with Libya and Vatican City (#J3)	$65
May 2, 1932	First Flight to Leningrad Mixed franking in Vatican and Italian stamps (Sassone #289m) 10 flown	$400
June 5, 1932	Special Flight: 50th Anniversary of death of Garibaldi Vatican to Sardinia Mixed franking in Vatican and Italian stamps (Sassone #297a) 25 flown	$100
June 5, 1932	Special Flight: 50th Anniversary of death of Garibaldi Sardinia to Vatican Full franking in Italian stamps (Sassone #298a)	$100
May 31, 1933	S pecial Flight: Vatican to Berlin Full franking in Vatican stamps 48 flown	$75
July 22, 1935	First Flight to Asmara, Eritrea Mixed franking in Vatican and Italian stamp (Sassone #383a) 39 flown	$150
April 6, 1937	First Alitalia Flight to Paris, France Full franking in Vatican stamps Flight of the Rome - Milan - Paris with special postmark (Sassone #453a) 44 flown	$100
April 6, 1937	First Alitalia Flight to Brussels Belgium Full franking in Vatican stamps Flight of the Rome - Milan - Paris with special postmark, then to Brussels 6 flown	$200
July 23, 1937	First Overnight Flight to Nice, France Full franking in Vatican stamps 19 Flown	$150
March 19, 1940	First Swissair Flight to Locarno, Switzerland Full franking in Vatican stamps (Sassone #525a) 19 flown	$400
May 1, 1940	First Flight to Lisbon, Portugal Full franking in Vatican stamps, 4 issues 25 flown	$100
April 5 - 6, 1946	First Transatlantic Roundtrip Flight Rome to New York to Rome double card 75 flown	$15

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