Rocket Mail

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NewcastleFalcon
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Rocket Mail

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

There's going to be a programme on this tonight on "Inside Out-South" available in the South of England. It will be on I-player after that. There has been a recreation this time with someone flying between the Isle of Wight and the mainland with one of those Jet suits on, rather than just launching an unmanned rocket.

Gerhard Zucker, was obsessed with the concept of using rockets as means of carrying mail.
https://postandparcel.info/33442/news/r ... -for-mail/

"On 6 June, 1934, Zucker successfully launched a mail-carrying rocket on the Sussex Downs. Envelopes carried on this flight were franked with special ‘stamps’, created by overprinting the APEX souvenir vignettes with the inscription “ROCKET POST – First British Flight”. These stamps did not bear any indication of face value but were tied to the envelopes by a rather elaborate cancellation which showed the date and location of the ‘trial firing’ and (in tiny lettering) the words “Zucker Rocket Post – Rocket Fee Two Shillings Six Pence Paid”.
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Re: Rocket Mail

Post by myglaren »

I saw this earlier but passed it by - I don't like the videos that the news sites put up.
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Re: Rocket Mail

Post by bobins »

A bit of artistic license with Zucker's Sussex attempt.....

"Second Demonstration: 6 June 1934, Rottingdean, Sussex

Zucker loaded letters into his rocket, bearing special stamps sold by The British Rocket Syndicate. Contemporary reports state that the rocket carried ‘upwards of 3000 letters.’ However, the rocket didn’t really deliver any mail. The rocket shot into the air and returned to earth. The letters were retrieved, taken to the Post Office, and delivered by Brighton postal staff."
https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/exper ... h-rockets/
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