Aerophilately

Aerophilately is the branch of philately that specializes in the study of airmail. Philatelists have observed the development of mail transport by air from its beginning, and all aspects of airmail service have been extensively studied and documented by specialists.

The scope of aerophilately includes:
*airmail postage stamps, both official and unofficial
*other types of labels (such as airmail etiquettes)
*postal documents transmitted by air
*postal markings related to air transport
*rates and routes, particularly first flights and other "special" flights
*mail recovered from aircraft accidents and other incidents (crash covers)

While most of the study of airmail assumes transport by fixed-wing aircraft, the fields of balloon mail, dirigible mail, zeppelin mail, missile mail, and rocket mail are active subspecialties. Astrophilately, the study of mail in space, is a related area.

International Federation of Aerophilatelic Societies, (FISA), is the umbrella organization for aerophilately though aerophilatelists have formed a number of organizations around the world; many of them put out a variety of specialized publications.

Organizations

*FISA
*Air Mail Society of New Zealand
*American Air Mail Society
*British Air Mail Society
*The Canadian Aerophilatelic Society
*Irish Airmail Society

References

*Richard McP. Cabeen, "Standard Handbook of Stamp Collecting" (Collectors Club, 1979), pp. 207-221
*Cheryl Ganz, ed. "Collecting Air Mail" (American Air Mail Society)
*"American Air Mail Catalogue" (AAMS, 6th ed. 1998)
*cite book |last=Baldwin |first=N.C. |title=British Air Mails 1784-1946 |publisher=Francis J. Field Ltd |location=Sutton Coldfield, UK) |year=1947
*"Canadian Air Mail Catalogue" (AAMS)
*cite book |last=O'Sullivan |first=Thomas J. |title=The Pioneer Airplane Mails of the United States |publisher=American Airmail Society |location=Cinnaminson, N. J. |year=1985 |isbn=0939429136
*Victor C. Berecz, Jr., "The Pioneer Period of Hungarian Air Mail" (AAMS)
*William Victor Kriebel, "A History of the Development of Air Mail Service in Brazil" (AAMS)
*William J. Murphy, "Irish Airmail 1919-1990" (Irish Airmail Society, 1996)
*cite book |last=Vogt |first=Ronny |title=Irish Crash Airmail 2nd Ed |publisher=Irish Airmail Society |location=Rochford, Essex, UK |year=1997
*cite book |last=Orjan |first=Luning |title=The History of Airmail in Scandinavian |publisher=Sveriges Filatelist-Forbund |location=Stockholm |year=1978 |pages=
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External links

* [http://d.webring.com/hub?ring=aerophilately Aerophhilately WebRing]
* [http://www.newzeal.com/Philately/AirmailSociety.htm Air Mail Society of New Zealand]
* [http://www.AmericanAirMailSociety.org/ American Air Mail Society]
* [http://www.stampdomain.com/baef/index.htm British Aerophilatelic Federation]
* [http://www.rpsc.org/chapters.htm The Canadian Aerophilatelic Society]
* [http://fly.to/fisa FISA] Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Aérophilatéliques
* [http://ias.metroairpost.com/ Irish Airmail Society]
* [http://www.atozee.com/web/stamps/aerophilately-and-airmails.shtml A collection of links to more websites]
* [http://home.ch.inter.net/aerophil/ Aerophilatelic dealer with many books and links]
* [http://www.metroairpost.com/ Metropolitan Air Post Society]