Edited by Marc Parren
Printed by Herts. & Beds. Printing Ltd.
© Copyright Malta Study Circle 2000
ISSN 1365-0726

I am sorry that this Summer edition of Melita is reaching you only at the end of the season nearing almost Fall. At the end of May I had a bout of malaria fever which hit me rather hard. During one week I was hospitalised. For the first time in eighteen years of travelling on a regular base to West Africa, this time just for a fortnights visit to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the parasites really knocked me down. For quite some time I felt like having batteries with unbelievable low energy levels. Fortunately this is all over now.

The way our member David Ball unravelled the ‘Damaged by Sea Water’ cachet mystery impressed a good number of our members as they congratulate him with a fine work of investigations. Well done David!! I hope we will see more of such type of contributions in future. I think Arthur Moyles enquiries on a 18^th century letter of one of the Chevaliers gives us some more insight of the French dominance at the Knights of Malta at the time and their background.

I am very glad to see that our Study Circle attracks a good number of new members the last couple of months and I hope they will enjoy the Newsletter and to meet them in person at our regular meetings.

The last week of October I will visit Malta and Gozo and I hope to meet many of the resident members there. Just drop me a line in case you are interested and we will see how we will work out a rendez-vous. The last time I was on the Islands dates back to 1984 so I look forward to a renewed meeting.

Marc Parren

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Mr. Parren,

This is the first time I am writing to you and I hope it will not be the last. I have carried out a substantial amount of research work on the Postal History of Malta and especially about the least pleasant of work

namely where there are substantial cancellers of the same type involved deciphering them one from each other and relying on a substantial statistical evaluation of data, while using the necessary scientific methods

available before any decisions are taken. In this regard, I have examined a substantial number of cancellations of the MLC-1 type and of the MALTA

type - both MAL-11 and MAL-12 and I am now revising all the VALLETTA cancellers from VAG-2 to VAG-33 series. In this regard, I have used both

MSC and the recently published Proud classification and I shall now and in future quote both classifications for ease of reference.

I now refer to the latest Newsletter published Vol. 15 No. 1 and in particular to page 5 under heading "Joseph Scicluna" who referred to the MLC-1d datestamp as being sent from London on the 30th August 1856. This is not correct and the MSC publication referred to is incorrect. There were

two different datestamps with a smaller diameter (26 mm.) than the MLC-1b and c series. One was sent from the GPO London on the 23rd June 1855 (GPO

Proof Book Vol. 12 p. 213) - this I classify as MLC-1d or D5. The other was sent on the 30th August 1856 (GPO Proof Book Vol. 8 p. 143) - this I classify as MLC-1e or D6. They vary principally between the top distance between the word "MALTA" which is 18 mm in [MLC-1d; D5] and 20 mm in [MLC-1e; D6]. While Proud records use of D6 I have found no evidence of its use and would like to see the evidence before I accept proper use. Because of the confusion resulting from recording only one canceller in this range, and without the use of good transparencies taken directly from the GPO London Proof Books, and also without the use of good quality lenses with

graticule scales attached, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between cancellers of the same type. Well, I have been carrying out such an exercise and so can confirm that the mark displayed by Joseph Scicluna is an [MLC-1d; D5]. It is the earliest date recorded. I have examples dated AU 30, 1856; DE 6, 1856; NO 4, 1857; MY 24, 1880 and DE 20, 1882. Examples I have seen in the 1856/57 region and in the 1880/1883 region have always resulted to be [MLC-1d; D5] and not D6.

While on the subject, the latest date of use of [MLC-1c; D4] is AP 7, 1858 and the earliest use of the canceller that replaced it, namely [MAL-11a; D7]

is AP 14, 1858. I have 25 examples of [MLC-1c; D4] so far ranging from NO 9, 1846 to AP 7, 1858. Two of these bear error in their slugs. One has the date '1818' instead of '1853' and reads "NO 15, 1818" while the other has the year '187' instead of '1857' and reads "AU 16, 187" I have carried out extensive revision of the "MALTA" cancellers which replaced the [MLC-1]

series, namely the [MAL-11] series and I shall report on these at a later stage.

With best regards

Chev. Dr. Anthony J. Abela Medici

Dear Marc,

I refer to the report by Joseph Sciluna of the MLC-1d datestamp with an earlier date which apparently precedes the sending of the datestamp to Malta. This is an old chestnut which was nailed down in the early 1980s but still keeps coming up. The simple answer is that there were TWO datestamps which are both rarely seen and as we only have one in the Handbook everybody assumes that theirs is the one shown.

The first to be sent to Malta on 15^th June 1855 and has a short bottom extension of the letter L in Malta. This is the one that is generally seen in use around 1855 and 1856 but has been seen up to the 1880s. The sending of this to Malta was not known when the Handbook was written.

The second was sent to Malta on 30^th August 1856 and has a long extension to the bottom L of Malta. This has been recorded in use from 19^th November 1856 up to 20^th June 1883. It is actually the rarer of the two and tends to be seen in the later rather than earlier period. Exactly why it was used at odd times late on is not clear. This is the datestamp we knew about when the Handbook was written.

The logical step is to list the first as MLC-1d and the second as MLC-1e. Both are listed in the recent Proud book on Malta.

Yours sincerely

A. B. Bannister

Dear Marc,

Thought this by-product of research might amuse or even stimulate our readers.

From John Wingate's (1991) book 'The Fighting Tenth; The Tenth Submarine Flotilla and the Siege of Malta' published by Leo Cooper states for OCTOBER 1942 circa page 228:

It was reported that in the prevailing conditions the Maltese were hoarding anything of value from condensed milk to silver tea-pots causing an acute shortage of the current silver currency.

Tom Lancaster, First Lieut. of H.M.S. Una; ‘Postage stamps now had to used; on the dghaisa taking me across the harbour (Marsamxett) the fare (6d) was paid by half a shilling stamp, cut diagonally’.

A new collecting interest?

Kind regards

David Ball

Dear Marc,

I am attempting to record all village postmark covers and cards in existence. To do so I need firm reports from all members, if possible with a photocopy of the original, of all such covers and cards they hold. The results will be published fairly shortly as a Study Paper so that everybody is aware of the truest possible position regarding these items. The details of the owner WILL NOT be shown in the Paper but all other details will. The Study Paper will cover not only the true villages such as Attard and Hamrun but also the Branch and Sub Post Offices where they used Type 1 datestamps i.e. RAB-1, COS-1, VIC-1, MIG-1, NOT-1 and the periods covered are from 1885 to date.

Please send all details to Alan Bannister, 1 Torfrida Close, Crowland, Peterborough PE6 0LW (Tel. 01733-211097).

Dear Marc,

I am keen to exchange information about air mail flights to and from Malta during the period 1940-1943 and would be pleased to hear from anyone else researching this area. I am also keen to obtain information about the Navy Base censor in Malta towards the end of the war – does anyone know if any records have survived?

With best regards,

Sincerely

John Daynes

Dear Marc,

I would like to put out a request to any of our members who may be willing to do some research on the printing records of the DelaRue and others between 1904 and 1925. The National Postal Museum, London, cannot help me with research. This will be the only way to complete the Table [presented in the Handbook & Study Paper Feature] and so answer most of the outstanding questions of Study Paper 27. This paper could then be completely re-written.

Thanks for all the work you put in the newsletter!

Regards

Brian Franklin, 8 Titania Way, Meadowridge, Cape Town 7806, RSA

At present I am investigating censorship regulations during the Suez Canal Crisis of 1956. The Handbook mentions that military censorship took place in Malta but the information is scant. I would like to request all members to send me photocopies of covers and articles related to the Suez Canal Crisis of Malta but also of France, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel and the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) at the time. In a forthcoming Newsletter I hope to report on my findings which I started at the Public Record Office after acquiring a censored RAF cover at Malta. Any information is valuable.

Marc Parren (Editor)

HANDBOOK & STUDY PAPER FEATURE

A.J. Cox has a mark in blue of a so far unknown shipping line ‘PRINCE LINE, Ltd. Ü MALTA Ü ’ used on a postcard to England and postmarked Valletta 22 September 1910 (Fig. 1). The message mentions ‘Written to me at Hull Go Massey & Co Prince Line Agents about Oct. 1^st.’ Can anybody comment?

Brian Franklin provides us with an update on the King George V, 1914-22 printings in the Table at the next page. The update for Study Paper 27 has been made up from information received from Messrs. Denis Littlewort and Peter Fernbank but is NOT complete. They were researching other aspects of stamp printing, hence the incompleteness of what Brian has so far.

Two new blue self-adhesive registration labels have been reported by Geoffrey Davis (see Study Paper 46 and N/L. Vol. 14 No.11 pages 190-1).

The Postal Diary 1999 of Anthony Fenech was especially useful to Geoffrey as it mentioned the opening of a new sub post office at Mqabba on 3 May 1999. On receipt of "Melita" he wrote to this new SPO asking for the enclosed letter to be returned by Registered Airmail post. This was duly received as requested but the wording on the registration label is unusual (unique so far) as the country name comes before the office name.

As previous label, RL-104 see page 139 in Alan Bannister's book, but now inscribed as SLIEMA S.P.O. / MALTA instead of the former SLIEMA / S.P.O. MALTA.

The new inscription label was on a letter dated 24 April 2000.

The new labels are type RL-104:

(1)     Mqabba with label inscription MALTA MQABBA / S.P.O.

(2)     Sliema with label inscription SLIEMA S.P.O. / MALTA

Peter A.S. Smith (1999). Egypt Stamps & Postal History. A Philatelic Treatise, 922 p. Published by James Bendon Ltd, P.O.Box 56484, 3307 Limassol, Cyprus at a price of £115.00. ISBN 9963 579817

This is the equivalent of our Handbook and is filling a gap for all those concerned with the stamps and postal history of Egypt. When the Egypt Study Circle was formed in 1935 it included in its purposes the preparation of a handbook of Egyptian philately. A number of Study Papers were published over the ensuing years, but many subjects lay fallow. The book contains some 46 chapters and covers the Post to 1798, Napoleonic Post, Foreign Post Offices, most stamp issues in detail, postal markings and cancellations, maritime and military mail, disinfection, meters and mechanical franking as well as the Egyptian Administration of Palestine. The main strength is in 19^th century postal history next to the chapters dealing with stamps. The disinfection section is most useful explaining how Malta became a center for both quarantine and disinfection of letters next to such centers in Italy, France and the Adriatic. Rather a bit disappointing is the account dealing with military mail, prisoners of war and censorship covering the period since the 1882 campaign until the 1956 Suez Crisis and the United Nations Emergency Force. This account is by no means exhaustive, the references cited should be consulted for more detailed information. This Peter Smith is an honorary life member of the Philatelic Society of Egypt and past-President of the Egypt Study Circle. The Chapter ‘Philatelic Literature of Egypt’ is a comprehensive annotated bibliography that complements the extensive references at the end of each chapter. For those of you touching upon affairs where Egypt played a dominant role in the Mediterranean this book will form a must.

Les Messages Croix-Rouge pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale et jusqu’à nos jours. 1 – Les Messages Civils dits M 61, by Marino Carnévalé-Mauzan. 40 pages. No price given. Available from the author at: Résidence Elysée, 8 Blvd R. Salengro, F-38000, Grenoble, France.

The author brings together three articles, originally published elsewhere but here enhanced by illustrations and supplemented by detailed statistics: (1) Civilian Red Cross Messages in WWII; (2) More on so-called ‘M 61’ Red Cross messages. The designation ‘M 61’ comes from the form number of many of the printings used for these restricted messages; (3) Collaboration of the Red Cross with the Vatican in Sending Private Messages during WWII. The International Red Cross is said to have transmitted nearly 24 million messages from and to civilians in WW II including of Maltese origin. A knowledge of French will be required to get the most from this booklet but it has good illustrations which are largely self-explanatory. The booklet presents another useful lead to further research in an interesting area of wartime postal history.

Anthony Rogers (2000). Battle over Malta. Aircraft Losses & Crash Sites 1940-42, 244 p. Published by Sutton Publishing Ltd., Phoenix Mill, Thrupp, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 2BU, UK. Paperback available at a price of £8.99 or US$16.95. ISBN 07509 2392X

The author has painstakingly researched the background to nearly 200 out of the more than thousand aircraft of all types lost at the air battle over Malta. Many eyewitnesses and surviving aircrew were interviewed, including our member Conyers Rutter who served in the RAF at Luqa from December 1941 to January 1943. The book introduces us to the different operating units and the extremely courageous Malta’s fighter pilots. Most interesting it gives a most interesting account of who were fighting at the Axis side too, what units of the Regia Aeronautica and Luftwaffe they comprised and where they were based. The work is supplemented with more than thirty wartime photographs, many of which are published here for the first time, and includes a useful section on aviation museums and collections on the island.

KNIGHT JACQUES de VACHON BELMONT

Letter dated 4^th August 1764

Arthur Moyles

Following the Circle’s visit to St. John’s Gate in London, January 1997, I left photocopies of two 18^th century letters with seals with them. The letter about which I have a reply is to Madame la Marquise de Belmont, en son hotel, Grenoble, en Dauphiné. The red wax seal on the back of the letter is shown enlarged below.

As can be seen this seal shows an oval coat of arm consisting of a cross in the upper part and a bull (or cow) in the lower part, this is surrounded by a rosary from which hangs a Maltese cross all overlaying a larger Maltese cross, surmounting the coat of arms is coronet of the type used by Marquises.

The relevant part of the letter from St. John’s Gate reads "The seal is that of Jacques de Vachon Belmont. He was born on 24 February 1691, and received as a Knight in his minority (below normal age) later that year. He was appointed Captain of the Magistral Galley (the Grand Master’s) in October 1716, having fought ‘with the enemy’ at the Battle of Passaventa that year. He was made Knight Grand Cross in May 1745, Grand Commander in 1760 and Grand Prior of Toulouse in 1766, but died a month later in October. He has a tomb-slab in the Church of St. John in Valletta, which mentions ‘his virtues outshone his high dignifies. He was praiseworthy in the Order for his unbounded generosity to the poor, a solace to his friends, an example of amiability of character, sincerity and integrity.’ We have a portrait of him in the collection here, but it is not housed in this building."

Amazing that he could be received as a Knight at such an early age, before he reached his first birthday. I have another letter from a Knight to the same lady dated 1769, which is also from a son, presumably this man’s brother since at this date Jacques de Vachon Belmont was dead. Unfortunately the seal has been removed from this letter.

The letter dated Malta 4^th August 1764 is addressed to his mother which should be at high age as Jacques de Vachon Belmont himself was already 73 years old at the time of writing. He mentions that he takes this opportunity to write her, even though he ignores the destination of the vessel, since two Knights return to France. The front of the cover has a Marseille mark which is a straight line to Grenoble. He mentions a meeting of the council, and the well being of several young Knights next to some financial issues he has still to arrange in France.

POSTMAN'S NUMERICAL STAMP

Chev. Dr. Anthony J. Abela Medici

In reply to the letters to the Editor, titled Postmen’s Handstamps Revisited, it was submitted by Mr. Hadrian Wood that in a series of correspondence in his possession dating between 1874 and 1906 all addressed to St. Dominic Street, Valletta, all letters received up to 12 August 1889 bare no Postmen’s handstamps, whereas, almost without exception, those received after that date were stamped PHS 1, PHS 6 or PHS 14. First of all I wish to confirm the above having personally examined the material mentioned by Mr. Woods.

Reference was made to the report in the Malta Study Circle Paper No. 18 – Malta Postmen’s Handstamps wherein the earliest date recorded for a postman’s handstamp was PHS 13 dated "16 August 1888". The Editor submitted that "Unless the originator of the information relating to the alleged 1888 item can provide me with proof to the contrary, …" Since Mr. J.G.C. Lander had appointed me to re-write Study Paper No. 18 in March 1975 when I was still studying in London, I received numerous letters with information. I consequently went back to copies of all the correspondence and work that I had compiled and managed to find the one letter written to Mr. R.E. Martin, then Editor of the Malta Newsletter, submitted by Dr. Albert Ganado LL.D. and dated 15^th December 1975. This letter recorded, amongst others, the alleged date of 16 August 1888 but submitted no photocopy of the material. Typical of the material received at that time, I recorded the information and reproduced it in the Study Paper. I have now requested Dr. Albert Ganado to view the alleged letter and he kindly accepted. I visited him on the 5^th June 2000 and report the following:

The letter in question is addressed to "Judge Dr. Luigi Ganado, Ghair-iddud, Sliema". It bears a half penny green stamp (SG20) cancelled with VAG-2 dated "6.-PM 16 AU 98". The postmark looks very much like an "88" but this was due to a faint double strike. VAG-2 has been recorded used only from September 1897 and so could never have been used in 1888. The letter was furthermore backstamped with SLM-21 dated "9.-AM, 17 AU 98". Again, the date could easily be mistaken for an "88" but Sliema Branch Post Office was first opened on 1^st May 1895 and so could never have been cancelled in 1888. The letter did have a clear strike of PHS-13. The issue was therefore resolved.

However, I have been for years researching the National Archives on Postal History and related areas. In fact the 4^th Annual Report of the Post Office, for the Year 1889 page 51 stated [National Archives of Malta, CSG 01/538/1890 of 16 April 1890] :

This very clearly solves the whole issue. Postmen’s personal handstamps were first introduced on the 14^th August 1889.

Dr. Albert Ganado showed me other covers that received Postmen’s cancellations in this early period. These were:

PHS 3 addressed to Sir Adrian Dingli, Chief Justice, Malta" who used to live at 3 Sda Forni, Valletta and dated 5^th September 1889 (dater : D12). An identical cover was dated 9^th September 1889

PHS 5 addressed to S.F. Houswin, Via S. Antonio, Valletta cancelled with D13 dated "B, DE 9, 89"

PHS 18 addressed to Sir Adrian Dingli dated 16^th October 1890.

I personally have:

• three covers addressed to Strada S. Domenico, Valletta (obtained from Mr. Wood) with PHS 1 dated 28^th November 1889, 16^th December 1889 and 23^rd December 1889.
• One cover addressed to the Receiver General, Valletta with PHS 2 dated 8 December 1890
• One cover addressed to H. Bennet, Valletta with PHS 6 dated 25^th November 1889
• One cover addressed to Sda. Zecca with PHS 12 dated 16^th April 1891
• Two covers addressed to Prince of Wales Road, Sliema with PHS 13 dated 12^th February and 26^th March 1894.
• One cover to Convento S. Agostino, Valletta with PHS 16 dated 3^rd May 1894.
• One cover to Sda. Oratorio, Cospicua with PHS 19 dated 25^th August 1895
• One cover to the Palace, Valletta with PHS 20 dated 28^th March 1896.

I believe most of these dates show earliest dates recorded for the respective handstamps.

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TA’QALI AS A FIGHTER BASE

Harold Cox

Ta’Qali (also sometimes written Takali) was used by Italian Airlines until early 1940. On 10^th June 1940, Italy entered the war against Britain and France. At the time Malta had already been provided with its first Radio Direction Finding Station (radar); there was an airfield at Hal Far, an airport at Ta’Qali, and construction on a third aerodrome near Luqa was also well under way (Rogers 2000). Malta had been at war for nearly two months before an operation was launched to reinforce the Island’s fighter force. On 2 August, twelve Hurricane Mk Is of 418 Flight left the aircraft carrier HMS Argus to be flown 380 miles to Luqa where they joined the surviving fighters there to form 261 Squadron. At the end of October 1940, Headquarters and Maintenance Staff from RAF Luqa were dispatched to Ta’Qali preparatory to its transition to a fighter base. On 30^th October 1940, a fighter squadron was set up by Wing Cdr. J.R. O’Sullivan at Ta’Qali. 261 Squadron moved in on 20^th November 1940 from Halfar, Malta.

Mussolini’s offensive against Malta, the North African campaign and Italy’s invasion of Greece finally led Hitler to send reinforcements to his ally in the Mediterranean. Towards the end of 1940, elements of the Luftwaffe's X Fliegerkorps began to arrive in Sicily from Norway (Rogers 2000). By mid-January 1941, the Luftwaffe had gathered in Sicily a formidable array of front-line aircraft that included Junkers JU 87s and 88s, Heinkel HE 111s and Messerschmitt Bf 110s. For Malta, the war was about to begin in earnest.

Most of the Axis efforts were aimed at interrupting and destroying naval movements and the airfields at Hal Far and Luqa. Notwithstanding German efforts to neutralise Malta, the Island was still able to provide the Royal Navy with a base from which to strike at Axis supply routes, thus creating a constant drain on enemy shipping in the Mediterranean. On 9^th March 1941 Ta’Qali airfield suffered its first attach of which many were to follow. Wing Cdr. J. Warfield assumed command on 16^th May 1941. Five days later 249 Squadron from North Weald flown in off the carrier Ark Royal replaced 261 Squadron. These aircraft suffered badly from air attack by 25^th May 1941. Around the same time a newly reformed 185 Squadron was created using pilots from 261 Squadron. That month more Hurricanes were ferried in by the Royal Navy and on the 28^th, 126 Squadron was also re-formed from the recently arrived 46 Squadron to operate from Ta’Qali with 249.

During June, 9 Hurricanes arrived from the carrier Furious, while the Ark Royal despatched 10 more, followed by a further 12. Air-raids at Ta’Qali were relatively light from June until November 1941. This against a background of sizeable attacks generally (see Rogers 2000). This period was spent on digging tunnels which housed the generating plant and operations centre. Aircraft ‘pens’ were constructed of rocks, scaffolding, sheet steel and old petrol cans, thus giving some protection to the planes. The quiet situation was also confirmed by a censored letter dated 9^th October 1941 from Sapper Ramage Royal Engineers to Rev. Roy Hogg at Edinburgh (Fig. 1).

Air Vice Marshall Ludlow-Hewitt inspected on 19^th July 1941, followed by the Air Officer Commanding Middle East, Air Chief Marshall Tedder on 26^th July 1941. The latter was to become deputy to Eisenhower, Commander of Operation Overlord. Night fighter Hurricanes on base were now officially 1435 Flight, Squadron Ldr. I.B. Westmacott. During November Eric would have experienced increasing air raid alarms and attacks. Life would have been uncomfortable. Most airmen would have spent their days labouring to build pens, and to infill bomb craters. Some 1500 m from the runway lay Mdina The Silent City) and 1000 m from the NW end of the runway was Imtarfa barracks and hospital.

Fleet Air Army staff took over on 1^st April 1945. RAF resumed control on 9^th June 1953. The Station was certainly used for the Suez operation in 1956. HRH the Duke of Edinburgh visited in 1960. By 1963 all flying had ceased, and the site was once again in maltese hands.

Reference

A picture is worth a thousand words, and on 9th February 2000 Maltapost plc issued a set of five greetings stamps.

The set comprises five stamps:

3c , 6c, 16c, 20c, 22c

Design Harry Borg

Process Offset

Size 46 x 27.5 mm

Perforation 13.75 x 13.25

Sheet 10 stamps

Withdrawal date 25 January 2001

This set consists of four stamps and endeavors to give visual meaning to the changes wrought on the Maltese and Gozitan landscape and culture during the last hundred years. The stamps purport to depict these changes by a set of contrasting images showing the old and new. A fortified harbour is being converted into a haven for cruise liners. Previously picturesque bays have been turned into a modern cacophony of lights, traffic, entertainment and business. Old traditions like the village festa which were once thought to be in decline, have been turned into entertainment for the masses and the tourist, while previously unsullied Gozitan landscape are now themselves suffering the onslaught of consumerism.

The set comprises four stamps:

6c, 16c, 22c, 27c

Design Frank X. Ancilleri

Process Offset

Size 55 x 32.8 mm

Perforation 13.75 x 13.75

Sheet 10 stamps

Withdrawal date 7 March 2001

The XXVII Olympiad will be held in Sydney, Australia between the 15^th September and 1^st October. It will mark Malta’s twelfth participation in the Olympic Games. Malta’s baptism of fire was in Amsterdam in 1928 when it was represented by a waterpolo team.

The Malta Football Association was established in 1900 making it one of the oldest in the world. The first organised championship league among Maltese teams was played in the 1909/1910 season. In 1933 during a match between England and Italy a group of Maltese supporters so impressed the English officials that they donated a silver trophy – aptly named the FA Trophy- to the malta Football association. The trophy has been played for ever since although the name was changed to the Rothmans Trophy in 1995. In 1959 Malta became a full member of FIFA and the following year was admitted to the European Union of Football associations (UEFA).

For the first time since its inception in 1960, the European Championship, dubbed as EURO 2000, will be played in two countries – Belgium and The Netherlands.

The set comprises five stamps:

6c, 16c, 26c, 37c

Design Ludwig Flask

Process Offset

Size 46 x 27.32 mm

Perforation 13.75 x 13.25

Sheet 10 stamps

Withdrawal date 28 March 2001

For the first time in the history of PostEurop, a single design will be used for an issue on the common date of 9 May 2000 throughout Europe. The theme of these stamps features children – tomorrow’s generation – playing with the stars representing the construction of the European Union. The design was selected by the PostEurop 42 member states during the PostEorop Malta Plenary Assembly meeting of 1997, at which all members were able to present a design to the Plenary. The graphical display unit presented by La Poste (France) was selected.

The set comprises two stamps:

16c, 46c

Design Jean Paul Cousin

Process Offset

Size 27.32 x 46 mm

Perforation 13.75 x 13.25

Sheet 10 stamps

Withdrawal date 9 May 2001

The maiden flight of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s first airship LZ.1 on 2^nd July 1900 at Friederichshafen, was a momentous occasion for air transport. The Count’s airship was the first to be built around a rigid internal structure, enabling faster and superior manoeuvrability in travel. LZ.1 (which is reproduced on the border of the miniature sheet) opened the road to a series of gigantic zeppelins which made inter-continental passenger travel and freight carriage a reality, well before the ‘heavier-than-air’ aircraft were adapted for such uses in the early 1920s.

Imperial Airways De Havilland DH.66 Hercules G-EBMW City of Cairo, which appears on the first 6c stamp, is claimed to be the first commercial aircraft to carry fare-paying passengers from London to Malta in December 1926. The same aircraft was used during the inauguration of the Air Mail Service in Malta on 1^st April 1928. The ‘Speedbird’ logo of Imperial Airways is reproduced in the background.

The second 6c stamp illustrates LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin, a 236.5 metre-long airship which was the most admired of the entire LZ series. LZ-127’s connection with Malta began in 1933 when it carried local mail across the Atlantic during its flight of 7-14 May, the first of a number of such deliveries. The postmark, cancelling covers carried that flight, is shown in the background, together with Zeppelin’s airship line flag.

Certainly a pioneer of air transport in the early post-WW II period was Air Malta Ltd. Originally born in April 1947 as Maltair, it was a merger between Cassar & Cooper’s BAS (Malta) Ltd. (established in 1946), Instone 1946 and Charter Air, which by mid-1947 changed its name to Air Malta Ltd. By November 1948 it had carried 10,000 passengers, 54,000 kg of freight and 5,000 kg of mail. The first 16c stamp shows a Douglas DC-3 Dakota G-AJAY which was operated by the airline from June 1949, together with the company’s logo in the background. By the time of its demise in December 1950, Air Malta Ltd. Had also operated Airspeed Consuls, DH.104 Doves, a Bristol 170/21 Freighter and a Douglas DC.4.

A new Air Malta was established on 30^th March 1973, initiating services exactly a year later. The second 16c stamp illustrates one of the two Airbus A320-211s owned by the company, these being 9H-ABQ Zejtun and 9H-ABP Rabat. Air Malta also currently operates two Boeing 737-200As, seven Boeing 737-300s, together with a pair of leased Boeing 737-700s. Apart from contributing to a good proportion of Malta’s tourist traffic, the airline also carries freight and airmail. Throughout these years it has also operated such types as Boeing 720B, BAC-1-11, Boeing 727, Boeing 707, Douglas DC-9, BAe ATP, and AVRO RJ70, all of which carried its livery. Air Malta’s logo is shown in the background.

The Miniature Sheet comprises four stamps:

6c, 6c, 16c, 16c

Design Richard J. Caruana

Process Offset

Size stamps 43 x 25.5 mm

Size MS 122 x 87 mm

Perforation 13.75 x 13.75

Sheet 10 stamps

Withdrawal date 28 June 2001

QUERY

A non-member Chris Miller possesses cover from Malta to Canada in 1945 is made more interesting by the manuscript ‘Permit No. 24’ on the reverse. The allocation and policing of the permit/license system was definitely part of the censorship. Can our members provide further knowledge of the systems, handstamps or labels and the permit numbers allocated to exporters and importers.

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The Spring 2000 Newsletter of the Forces Postal History Society depicted a ‘Wounded Post Office’ WWI mail by the late George Crabb with the following explanatory text. "With a constant stream of casualties arriving and fit soldiers leaving the Malta hospitals a special Post Office was set up to deal with redirected mail and problem correspondence." This particular item depicted below shows two handstamps of interest. The circular ‘Wounded Post Office Malta’ and a boxed ‘Rejoined Unit’ handstamp. Has anybody seen the latter before and is it of Maltese origine?

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After reporting that Ted Proud opined that all strikes of the COS-4 datestamp prior to 1940 were backdated strikes I have received a letter from Tony Fenech with a copy of an envelope which is a First Day Cover of the Coronation set posted on 12 May 1937 with four strikes of the COS-4 and a PPH-15 applied on delivery. He also comments that Calcara, being part of the Cospicua BPO area, would not have required the use of an arrival marking, indeed he comments that had such a cover had an arrival marking it would have been suspicious. The cover I reported was also local and I commented that the lack of such a marking indicated that the cover was probably philatelic. Does anybody have a cover prior to 1940 bearing a strike of COS-4 which is NOT locally addressed?

A.B. Bannister

I enclose copies of three ‘Limited and Unlimited’ covers:

1. LimitedPostmarked 16^th April 1942
2. UnlimitedActive Service Honour envelope – 13^th April 1942
3. Unlimitedpostmark unclear except for the month of December

The censorship numbers are not clear but could all be No. 119.

An official report in respect of military postal services from Malta in June 1942 states that "Green [Honour] envelopes [containing one sheet of paper] are handed in to the Base Censor who passes them to the Civil Post Office after 100% censorship."

Although these honour envelopes would have had the units censor stamp applied when they were issued the contents were not censored at unit levels but passed to the base censor.

In general terms the use of air letter cards would not have provided an alternative means of communication as throughout the Middle East they were strictly rationed.

John Daynes

Harold Cox queries why the 5 centimes postage due marking was used rather than the 1d in circle on the card to England. The only explanation I can offer is that Mlata was bound by UPU rules which required that the deficiency was shown in Gold Centimes rather than any local currency. It would also have been simple to use a single handstamp on ALL mail underpaid by ½d rather than having to switch between two depending on the destination. As for why the handstamp was only used for a short period (note that Ted Proud shows dates from 24^th August 1899 to 4^th March 1906) is the possible explanation that they simply lost the handstamp. This is quite common with small handstamps.