Aerogrammes

This is a term officially adopted by the Universal Postal Union Conference which was held in Brusels in 1951 to denote special letter sheets which were printed on lightweight paper intended to be sent by airmail. Due to thier weight areogrammes (or Air Letter Sheets) can be carried cheaply and the saving is passed on to the sender in the form of reduced postage rates compared to that normaly charged for air mail.

Although officially reconised in 1952, the air letter sheet was around in Britain 11 years earlier. These were specially printed sheets which were issued in July 1941 as an economy measure during the Second World War.

The first sheets were inscribed PRISONERS OF WAR AIR MAIL and their intended use was the sending of short messages to prisoners being held by the Germans or Japanese. Due to this intended use the inscription was printed in these two languages also. The sheet bore an imprinted design of the current King George VI 2½d stamp.

In 1942 the use of air letter sheets was extended to the armed forces. The sheets were printed in grey-brown and bore an imprinted impression of the 1½d stamp. This was the special reduced rate permitted to service personnal at the time.

After the war, a modified form of the forces air letter sheet was introduced. This was printed in pale-brown and required the addition of an adhesive stamp to pay the mail fee. (This was 2½d at this time).

Air letters for civilian use were introduced in June 1943. These were printed in grey and bore an imprinted impression of a 6d stamp. This rate for air letter sheets remained unaltered until 1967 when it was increased to 9d.

see also Airgraphs