Posted : April 28, 1941 at Istanbul

Probable Route : From Istanbul to Baghdad possibly by rail or Turkish airline; BOAC Horseshoe route from Baghdad to Sydney; TEAL from Sydney to Auckland; Pan Am FAM 19 to San Francisco; USA domestic airlines to New York. Backstamped Baghdad May 3.

Notes : Uncommon Pacific Clipper cover originating in Turkey. The cover has the manuscript endorsement in red (probably by a Postal Clerk) Par Avion de Baghdad Sydney - S. Francisco . There is a Baghdad transit marking dated May 3. This certainly supports the trans-pacific route, as Baghdad is 1000 miles east and south from Istanbul. Much of the airmail from Turkey to the USA went in the other direction - westward, by Ala Littoria through Rome. Some mail went southward through Cairo and Durban, but this mail has Egyptian censor markings on it. With the absence of any other transit markings or censors, the most probable route is the one written on the cover. Triangle censor marking applied in Turkey.

Rate : 131 Kurus

Posted : April 30, 1941 at Galata, Istanbul

Probable Route : From Istanbul to Baghdad possibly by rail or Turkish airline; BOAC Horseshoe route from Baghdad to either Hong Kong or Sydney, Australia to connect with Pan Am's Pacific Clipper service to San Francisco; USA domestic airlines to Washington DC. Backstamped Baghdad May 7, San Francisco, and Washington D.C..

Notes : Registered airmail cover from the US Embassy in Turkey. The cover has the manuscript endorsement Air Mail - Bagdad - San Francisco, indicating Pan Am's Pacific Clipper service. The dates on the back of the cover do not make sense. The Baghdad date of May 7 is fine. However, the next date is San Francisco with a date of June 1, but the "1" is upside down in the date stamp, suggesting someone incorrectly set the date stamp. June 1 does not correspond with the arrival of any Clippers. The final date stamp is July 5 Washington DC. It doesn't seem plausible that the cover took one month and 4 days to get from San Francisco to Washington DC. There is also a faint 3 line "Executive Order...." handstamp at top right.

Rate : 299 Kurus + 2 1/2 p + 2k Postal Tax