Genesis and uses
They are used to secure the forwarded correspondence by airplane. The history of the Posta Aerea began in 1870/71 with the famous "Ballons Montés" or with the letters issued from the walls of Paris by Mongolfiere, during the Prussian siege.
The first successful postage was by the French driver Henry Pequet on 18 February 1911. The flight connected the two Indian cities of Allahabad and Naini for a distance of 10 km and 13 minutes and 10 minutes of flight. With the airplane, 6000 aerograms were transported between letters and postcards. All letters were stamped with the word "First Aerial Post U.P. Exhibition Allahabad 1911". "
The first successful postage in Europe was made on 14 September 1911 from London to Windsor and was part of the celebrations for the coronation of Giorgio V. On the days when the service was in operation and until September 26, by several pilots, 125,000 aerograms were transported. The postcards were specially designed with the image of a plane taking off from Windsor and the stamps wrote "FIRST UNITED KINGDOM AERIAL POST".
The first real stamp of Posta Aerea was issued by Italy in 1917 to affrancate the correspondence sent through a new service that aimed to be able to deliver it in more celery times provided by the normal procedure. The stamp used on that occasion, designated Experiment of Posta Aerea / Torino-Roma-Torino, was obtained overprinting the value of 25 cents already expressed in distribution[50]. The flight had to take place initially on May 20, but due to adverse weather conditions it was moved to May 22. The aircraft used was a Pomilio PC biplane, a two-seater reconnaissance aircraft intended to equip the Air Force of the Royal Army in the last stages of World War I. Equipped with a 260-horse Fiat engine, it reached a speed of 184 km per hour. Piloted by Lieutenant Mario de Bernardi, he had about 200 kg of correspondence mainly composed of messages directed to the President of the Council, the Mayor of Rome and Pope Benedict XV. On landing the postal load was then handed over to the in charge of the sorting of Roma Centro. The return flight was completed on 26 May 1917 with a load of several hundred newspapers.
Generally, since long distance mail is normally delivered by air, this type of stamps are no longer issued. The distinction made sense when there was an alternative method of shipping by sea or by land, much longer but cheaper. However, there are exceptions to those countries which have territories detached from the nation, such as France, which continues to issue airmail stamps because of its "Outre-Mer" possessions. The Italian Republic issued the last stamp expressly designed for air mail in 1973. The value was from 150 Lire and was part of the commemorative series of the "50th anniversary of the military air force" issued on 28 March.