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Belgium | The earliest airline in Belgium was Syndicat National pour l'Etude des Transports Aeriens or SNETA for short. They began in 1919 and carried their first passengers to London in 1920. In 1923 they merged forming Societe Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Adrienne commonly called SABENA which became the national airline of Belgium. There are many great postcards from Sabena both company issues and others. You can find postcards from the 1920's into the modern era. This album is a work in progress. Lots more to come. |
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22 Images
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Cuba | The first airline in Cuba was Compania Aerea Cubana which operated from February 1920 to January 1921. Anything collectable from this airline is rare. Next came Compania Nacional Cubana de Aviacion Curtiss formed in 1929 and purchased by Pan American Airways in 1932. They dropped Curtiss from the name and the airline became commonly known as Cubana. Pan American Airways had a strong presence in Cuba in the 1920's and 1930's with many scarce to rare postcards. Cubana eventually became the national airline of Cuba. |
| 340 Visits
13 Images
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France | France has a rich history of its airlines. I've listed the first airline, La Compagnie Générale Transaérienne, at the beginning of my listings and the other early airlines are listed in the order they started service. I've tried to list the aircraft for each airline in the order the planes were acquired. In John Stroud's great 680 page reference, European Aircraft since 1910, 171 pages were devoted to French aircraft. In 1933 five airlines were merged to form Air France. The postcards of Air France are listed next followed by other airlines that flew after 1933. |
| 2148 Visits
253 Images
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Germany Zeppelins | The earliest passenger carrying aircraft in Germany were the Zeppelins. On 16 November 1909 Deutsche Luftschiffahrts AG, commonly known as DELAG, was founded to operate passenger flights around Germany. There were a number of the early passenger carrying Zeppelins. The most famous of the Zeppelins were the Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg. Because of its flight around the world the Graf Zeppelin probably has more postcards than all the other Zeppelins combined. I have a small number of postcards showing the Graf Zeppelin visiting other cities around the world. Stamped covers that flew on the Zeppelins are highly collected with many rarities. Most of the postcards are reasonably priced. |
| 338 Visits
54 Images
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Germany | The earliest German airline using airplanes was Deutsche Luft-Reederei which started operations in 1919. They merged with Deutscher Aero Lloyd in 1923 and again with Junkers Luftverkehr in 1926 to form Deutsche Luft Hansa. In 1953 the name became simply Lufthansa. After DLR I'll list other airlines in the order they first started service ending with Lufthansa. The vast majority of the cards are from Luft Hansa. That section will list the aircraft in alphabetical order by manufacturer and in chronological order with the earliest from each company listed first. I'll add new cards as I acquire them. |
| 366 Visits
214 Images
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Great Britain | Aircraft Transport and Travel started regular flights to Paris in 1919. Also in 1919 Handley Page Transport established regular services to Brussels and Paris. A third airline, Instone Air line, started operations later that year. A T & T ran into financial trouble and Daimler Airway purchased their assets in 1920. In 1924 four major airlines in England merged to form Imperial Airways. They included British Marine Air Navigation, Daimler Airway, Handley Page Transport, and Instone Air Line. Finally Imperial merged into British Overseas Airway Corp, BOAC, in 1939. I've concentrated on the early days through the age of Imperial Airways. |
| 2121 Visits
226 Images
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Mexico | The first airline is Mexico was Compania Mexicana de Transportacion, S.A., or CMTA. They operated two Lincoln Standard bi-planes in central Mexico. The second airline Compania Mexicana de Aviation. CMA, started in 1924 and bought out the assets of CMTA that same year. CMA prospered and was bought out by Pan American Airways in 1929. |
| 359 Visits
18 Images
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Netherlands | KLM was founded in 1919, flew its first flight in 1920, and started regular scheduled services in 1922. The Netherlands is the birthplace of Fokker aircraft and KLM mainly used Fokker planes in the early years. Postcard wise KLM is known for the number of Real Photo postcards they produced both for their own airliners and some foreign airlines as well. They became a significant user of DC-2 aircraft in 1934 and added the DC-3 in 1936. This album is a work in progress. |
| 338 Visits
32 Images
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Panama | There is an interesting group of postcards available for the airlines operating in Panama and the Canal Zone. Included in this group are cards of Charles Lindbergh flying the first mail flight to and from the Canal Zone by Pan American Airways. |
| 328 Visits
24 Images
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 | 10.
Less than 4 Cards in My Collection | This album holds postcards from airlines where I have less than 4 postcards related to the airline. There are some rare cards in this group. The country listed at the end of each description is the host country of the airline not the location in the photo. Some of these cards are also listed in the airports album. The cards are listed in alphabetical order by the airline name not the country. This is a long work in progress. |
| 347 Visits
35 Images
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