This day, that year: When India launched the world’s first official airmail service | India News

One winter evening in 1911, as the sun set in the Sangam city of Prayagraj, a small crowd gathered on the shore. Yamuna What many believed was nothing more than a spectacle to behold. Kumbh Mela Pilgrims flocked to the city, traders and farmers passed through the UP exhibition grounds, and curious onlookers gazed at the strange contraptions of wood, fabric and wire. Few were aware that they were about to witness a moment that would quietly reshape global communication.Around 5:30 p.m. on February 18, 1911, French aviator Henri Pequet climbed into his Haviland airplane, its engine clinking with the evening breeze. In the cockpit, in addition to fuel and instruments, were 6,500 letters—ordinary envelopes assigned to an extraordinary experiment. When Pequet rose, crossing the Yamuna and steering towards Naini, he took with him not only mail, but the idea that any distance could be conquered by air.The flight lasted only 13 minutes. It covers about 15 km, from the exhibition grounds in Prayagraj to a landing site near Naini Junction, which is now the Central Jail. But the brevity of the journey belied its significance.It was the world’s first official airmail service, launched from colonial India when powered flight was only eight years old. According to contemporary accounts, about a hundred thousand people watched in awe as the machine took off, crossed the river and landed safely on the other side.The setting was as symbolic as the event itself. The UP Exhibition, an agricultural and industrial fair, brought together innovation and tradition on the banks of the river. The two planes were sent in parts by British officers and assembled in full public view, turning engineering into theater. The airmail flight was staged as a highlight, but its effects would spread far beyond the fairgrounds.More than a century later, postal services have transformed beyond recognition, from fragile biplanes to drones and satellites. Yet, India’s role in ushering in the airmail era remains a lesser-known chapter in the history of aviation and communications.On a February evening in 1911, among pilgrims, farmers and curious citizens, a simple flight across the Yamuna quietly started a global revolution in how the world sends its messages.

Long before engines roared and wings of fabric and wood lifted off the ground, messages traveled on feathers. For at least two thousand years, pigeons have carried letters across distances that would otherwise have been difficult, dangerous, or slow to traverse. A small note would be tied to the bird’s leg, released from a distant location, and the trained pigeon would spontaneously return to its home loft—where the intended recipient waited.Ancient civilizations relied on this method with considerable sophistication. The Romans used homing pigeons to relay military and administrative messages; The Greeks employed them to announce the results of sporting contests; Persian and Chinese networks also integrated pigeons into their communication systems. In many ways, these birds created one of the earliest organized long-distance messaging systems.The practice did not die out with antiquity. In the late 19th century, a structured pigeon-based postal service was briefly operated in New Zealand. Between 1897 and 1901, the New Zealand Pigeon Post carried messages between the mainland and the Great Barrier Islands, issuing stamps that are prized by philatelists today. This was an ingenious solution to geographical isolation in an era when reliable telegraph or ferry services were still developing.

Yet the pigeon post had an inherent limitation that often went unnoticed. The bird could only fly home. To send a message from a distant location, someone first had to transport the pigeon there—usually in a cage. Even early “airmail” required its own logistics chain.Against this background, the leap from pigeon feet to powered flight was not merely technical; It was conceptual. When Henry Peckett took the mail across the Yamuna in 1911, he built on centuries of experimentation to conquer the distance—this time with a machine, not a bird, and with the promise of changing how nations communicated.

The concept itself was quite bold for its time. According to Postmaster General Krishna Kumar Yadav, Colonel Y. Wyndham first brought a proposal to the postal authorities that sounded closer to fantasy than principle: sending mail by air. The postmaster general of the day gave his consent, and preparations began for what would become a groundbreaking experiment in communications.The mail bag prepared for the flight was deliberately distinctive. It bears the insignia “First Air Mail” and “Uttar Pradesh Exhibition, Allahabad”, with an image of an airplane printed on it. Instead of the traditional black ink, magenta was used, giving the invoice a distinct identity.Organizers were acutely aware of the aircraft’s limitations. Weight was an important concern, and rigorous calculations were made to ensure the machine would not be loaded beyond what it could lift. Each letter was weighted, restrictions imposed, and finally, the number of items was capped at 6,500. The flight itself would only last 13 minutes, but everything leading up to it was planned with military precision.Yadav, who chronicles India’s postal history in his book ‘India Post: 150 Glorious Years’, points out that the service was not merely symbolic; It was structured as a special premium offer. A surcharge of six annas was levied on each letter and the proceeds were donated to the Oxford and Cambridge Hostels in Allahabad. The hostel became the nerve center of this unusual operation. Letters for bookings were accepted till noon on February 18 and the crowd was such that the building resembled a miniature General Post Office. The postal department had to deploy three to four staff at the site to handle the volume.Within days, nearly 3,000 letters reached the hostel for airmail, a testament to the novelty and prestige attached to the service. Among the senders were local elites—kings, maharajas, princes and prominent citizens of Prayagraj, eager to add their names to history.One envelope even contained a postage stamp worth Rs 25, an extraordinary sum at the time, indicating the symbolic value people placed on this pioneering flight.

Henry Peckett’s journey to the banks of the Yamuna was straightforward. Born on February 1, 1888, in Bracmont, a small town in the Seine-Inferiere region of France, he was drawn to flying at a time when aviation was still more of an experiment than a profession. He began with balloon flights under Baudry’s guidance in 1905, later moving on to work with the dirigible Ville de Paris built by Paulham. These early years were often spent learning the fundamentals of aeronautics through trial, error and mechanical improvisation.

By 1908, Pequet was working at the Voisin brothers’ aircraft factory in Maurmelon, one of the pioneering centers of European aviation. His transition from mechanic to pilot was almost accidental. While on an assignment in Challans to repair an aircraft abandoned in a field after Anzani’s engine failed, Peckett was allowed to test the aircraft himself. It was there that he experienced the thrill of controlling an airplane for the first time, discovering a talent that would soon define his career.The following year, Chilean aviation entrepreneur José Luis Sánchez hired him as a pilot and mechanic. In 1909, Peckett traveled to Johannistahl, near Berlin, to attend an aviation meeting. Circumstances lead him to replace another pilot, Edwards, on a flight, on the condition that he no longer be employed as a mechanic. On October 30, he took off, conducted a short but controlled flight and landed smoothly. The performance marked his emergence as a professional aviator.Peckett soon returned to the Voisin factory and went to participate in air shows in Argentina, flying a Voisin biplane powered by a 60-horsepower engine. On March 24, 1910, he made a remarkable flight over Villa Lugano. Later that year, he returned to France and enrolled at the Voisin brothers’ flying school in Reims, earning his pilot’s brevet with license number 88 from the Aero-Club de France on June 10, 1910.Less than a year later, the young French aviator would find himself in colonial India, piloting an airplane over the Yamuna and writing a small but lasting chapter in the history of global postal and aviation.