This day, that year: When India launched the world’s first official airmail service. india news

On a winter evening in 1911, as the sun set over the Sangam city of Prayagraj, a small crowd gathered on the river bank. Yamuna Watching what many believed was no more than a spectacle. Kumbh Mela Crowds of pilgrims flocked to the city, traders and farmers wandered the Uttar Pradesh Exhibition grounds, and curious onlookers sought out a strange instrument of wood, cloth and wire. Little did they know that they were about to witness a moment that would quietly reshape global communications.At about 5.30 pm on February 18, 1911, French aviator Henri Paquet boarded his Havilland aircraft, its engine clanging against the evening air. In the cockpit, along with the fuel and instruments, there were 6,500 letters – ordinary envelopes handed over for an extraordinary experiment. When Pequet took off, crossed the Yamuna and marched towards Naini, he brought with him not only the mail but also the idea that any distance could be conquered by air.The flight lasted only 13 minutes. It covered a distance of about 15 kilometres, from the exhibition grounds at Prayagraj to a landing site near Naini Junction, which is now the Central Jail. But the brevity of the visit hid its importance.It was the world’s first official airmail service, launched in colonial India at a time when powered flight was only eight years old. According to contemporary accounts, about a million people watched in amazement as the machine lifted off, crossed the river and landed safely on the other side.The setting was as symbolic as the event itself. The UP Exhibition, an agricultural and industrial fair, had brought together innovation and tradition on the river banks. The two aircraft were sent in parts by the British authorities and assembled in full public view, turning engineering into theatre. The airmail flight was staged as a main attraction, but its implications would extend far beyond the fairgrounds.More than a century later, postal services have changed beyond recognition, from delicate biplanes to drones and satellites. Nevertheless, India’s role in inaugurating the airmail era remains a lesser known chapter in aviation and communications history.On that February evening in 1911, amid pilgrims, farmers and curious citizens, a modest flight across the Yamuna quietly started a global revolution in how the world sends its messages.

Long before the roar of engines and wings of fabric and wood rose from the ground, messages traveled on wings. For at least two thousand years, pigeons have carried letters over distances that would otherwise be difficult, dangerous, or slow to cover. A small note would be tied to the bird’s leg, released from a distance, and the trained pigeon would instinctively fly back to its home loft – where the intended recipient was waiting.Ancient civilizations relied on this method with remarkable sophistication. The Romans used homing pigeons to transmit military and administrative messages; The Greeks employed them to announce the results of sports competitions; Persian and Chinese networks also integrated pigeons into their communication systems. In many ways, these birds created one of the first organized long-distance messaging systems.This practice did not disappear with antiquity. In the late 19th century, a structured pigeon-based postal service operated for a short time in New Zealand. Between 1897 and 1901, New Zealand Pigeon Post transmitted messages between the mainland and the Great Barrier Island, issuing stamps that are prized by philatelists today. This was a simple solution to geographic isolation in an era when reliable telegraph or ferry services were still developing.

Yet pigeon post had an inherent limitation that was often overlooked. The bird could only fly home. To send a message from a remote location, one had to first transport a pigeon there – usually caged in a cage. Even the earliest “airmail” required its own logistics chain.Against this backdrop, the leap from pigeon feet to powered flight was not just technological; It was ideological. When Henri Paquet carried the mail across the Yamuna in 1911, he was building on age-old experiments in conquering distances – this time with a machine, not a bird, and with the promise of changing the way nations communicate.

This idea was quite bold for its time. According to Postmaster General Krishna Kumar Yadav, Colonel Y. Windham first approached postal officials with a proposal that seemed closer to fantasy than policy: sending mail by airplane. The postal chief of that day gave his consent and preparations began for what would become a historic experiment in communications.The mail bag prepared for flight was deliberately distinctive. It was inscribed “First Air Mail” and “Uttar Pradesh Exhibition, Allahabad” with a depiction of an aircraft. Instead of the traditional black ink, magenta was used, giving the consignment a unique identity.The organizers were well aware of the limitations of the aircraft. Weight was a serious concern, and strict calculations were made to ensure that the load did not exceed what the machine could carry. Each letter was weighed, restrictions were placed, and ultimately, the number of items was limited to 6,500. The flight would last only 13 minutes, but everything before that was planned with military precision.Yadav, who chronicles India’s postal history in his book ‘India Post: 150 Glorious Years’, says the service was not merely symbolic; It was also structured as a special premium offering. A surcharge of six annas was imposed on each letter, and the proceeds were donated to the Oxford and Cambridge Hostel in Allahabad. The hostel became the main center of this unusual operation. Letters for booking were accepted until noon on 18 February, and the crowd was so great that the building resembled a miniature General Post Office. The postal department had to deploy three to four staff members at the site to handle the crowd.Within a few days, approximately 3,000 letters had reached the hostel for onward transmission by air, a testament to the innovation and prestige attached to the service. The senders included the local elite—kings, maharajas, princes and prominent citizens of Prayagraj, who were eager to associate their names with history.One envelope also contained a postage stamp of Rs 25, an extraordinary amount at the time, underscoring the symbolic importance people attached to this pioneering flight.

Henry Paquette’s journey to the banks of the Yamuna was quite simple. Born on February 1, 1888, in Bracquemont, a small town in the Seine-Inférieure region of France, he was attracted to flying at a time when aviation was still more of an experiment than a profession. He began with balloon flights under the guidance of Baudry in 1905, later working with the worthy Ville de Paris, built by Paulham. These early years were spent learning the basic principles of aeronautics, often through trial, error, and mechanical improvement.

By 1908, Paquet was working at the Voisin brothers’ aircraft factory in Mourmelon, one of the leading centers of European aviation. His transition from mechanic to pilot was almost accidental. During an assignment in Châlons to repair an aircraft abandoned in the field after an unknown engine failure, Paquet obtained permission to test the aircraft himself. It was here that he first experienced the thrill of controlling an aircraft, and discovered a talent that would soon define his career.The following year, he was employed as a pilot and mechanic by Chilean aviation entrepreneur José Luis Sánchez. In 1909, Paquet traveled to Johannisthal, near Berlin, to attend an aviation meeting. Circumstances forced him to replace another pilot, Edwards, on a flight on the condition that he would no longer be employed as a mechanic. On October 30, he took off, made a short but controlled flight and landed smoothly. This performance marked his emergence as a professional aviator.Paquet soon returned to the Voisin factory and went on to participate in air exhibitions in Argentina, where he flew Voisin biplanes powered by 60-horsepower engines. On March 24, 1910 he made a remarkable flight at Villa Lugano. Later that year, he returned to France and enrolled in the flying school of the Voisin brothers in Reims and earned a pilot’s brevet from the Aero-Club de France with license number 88 on June 10, 1910.Less than a year later, the young French aviator would find himself in colonial India, piloting a plane over the Yamuna and writing a small but lasting chapter in the history of global postal and aviation.