DC-3 VH-ANR

This flown cover was issued by the N.V. Magazijn De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam (a large department store translated as The Beehive) addressed to the Post Office in Bandoeng. It appears to have been flown on the inaugural KLM DC-3 service Amsterdam-Netherlands East Indies and apparently then on the inaugural return DC-3 service. The cover was postmarked at Amsterdam Central Station 3.VI.1937. Postmarked on arrival in Bandoeng 10.6.37 and re-postmarked for the return flight on reverse at Bandoeng 16.6.37. On the front is a purple cachet reading '5.VI.1937/nieuw tarief/luchtrecht en etiket/vervalt/voortaan leidt naar/insulinde de postweg/door de lucht’ - roughly ‘5 June 1935 New rate. Regulations and (airmail) etiquette expire. From now all mail to the Indies goes by air’. In other words, all mail was to be flown as airmail without the surcharge formerly required. This seems to be aligning with the British Empire Air Mail Scheme which was getting under way at the same time. On the reverse is a black cachet '1e VLUCHT IN REGELMATIGEN DC3-DIENST/INDIE-NEDERLAND/BANDOENG 16-6-’37’ - ‘First flight of the regular DC-3 service/Indies-The Netherlands/Bandoeng 16.3.37’. P.T.T. (Post. Telephone. Telegraph.) was the old government Postal Service today known as PostNL The initials N.O.I. underneath Bandoeng mean Netherlands East Indies. It is known that QAM's DC-3, once PH-ALW, entered service on KLM's Amsterdam to Batavia service on 3 June 1937 so if the inaugural service was on 3 June 1937 it follows that this flown cover was carried on QAM's DC-3.
Source: Phil Vabre Collection