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web-catalog        CAM Contract Air Mail First Flights AM-296

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Page ccAM296 (Revised 05/06/2007)

Background: The Air Mail Act of 1925 (Kelly Act) authorized the postmaster general to contract for domestic airmail service with commercial air carriers. It also set airmail rates and the level of cash subsidies to be paid to companies that carried the mail. By transferring airmail operations to private companies, the government effectively would help create the commercial aviation industry. Various routes were designated and contracts for carrying the mail over these routes were then awarded to many different private air service companies. The Contract Air Mail routes became known as CAM's.

AM-296: AM-296 was awarded to Southeast Airlines (Miami FL).
        In August 1963 the Post Office Department sought Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) approval to permit the carriage of air mail by air-taxi's. Air-taxi's generally utilize small aircraft to link smaller communities with larger cities which have trunk airline routes passing through them. The Post Office continued requesting such air-taxi authorizations and by 1967 there were nine air-taxi routes in operation. The experimental use of air-taxi's to quickly shuttle air mail was a success which built upon itself with the recognition by the public of the increased use of air-taxi's to speed the transmission of air mail through the US mail system.
        Initially for administrative convenience the Post Office Department assigned route numbers to each of the air-taxi routes beginning with AM-299 and working downwards. The Post Office made no special arrangements for any philatelic "first flight" service of air covers carried on these emerging air-taxi services. The rapid development of this air-taxi program made it impossible for aero-philatelic collectors to keep up with the number of air-taxi's being employed. By the end of 1967 over thirty-two air-taxi's were being used and the use of air-taxi's became routine without any special recognition. These local air-taxi services became an integral part of the overall air mail service of the Post Office and deserve to be remembered as a important component of the air mail system in the US. (Note: Below is a picture of a typical small aircraft, Beechcraft-18 used as an air-taxi)
AirTaxi

296S1 651222 Miami FL SA Jorge A Prellezo $19.50
296S1f 651222 Miami FL SA Jorge A Prellezo $16.50
296N2 651222 Key West FL SA Jorge A Prellezo $19.50

INDEX: First Flights by CAM Route #

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

INDEX: First Flights by AM Route #

33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

INDEX: First Flights by Experimental Route #

1001 1002

INDEX: First Flights by AM Route #

49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65
66 67 68 69 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 84
86 87 88 90 91 93 94 96 97 98 99 100 101 103 105
106 107 111 119 120 121 139 140 141 143 144 148 172

INDEX: First Flights by Air Taxi Services Route #

288 289 290 291 292 293 295 296 297 298
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