Now I will give details of N.A.S., crashes. The first disaster
took place in the morning of 21st November 1951 near Calcutta, when a DC-3
Dakota of Deccan Airways coming from Nagpur struck a grove of coconut. 16
people out of 17, including the crew were killed. Only a small quantity of
mail was salvaged. A 2 line cachet reading “SALVAGED NIGHT AIRMAIL /
DUM DUM CRASH 21ST NOV 51.” in a rectangular box was applied on such
mail. As the first ‘M’ in Dum Dum was found to be missing, a new
stamp was prepared, this time without the rectangular box. Examples are as
under.
 |
 |
Another example is from Jamnagar
dated 20th November. It was posted at about 11AM. It appears that it was
sent to Bombay - Jamnagar daily flight via Bhavnagar and Rajkot, as the
All up Air Scheme was in vogue. Then, on reaching Bombay it was sent to
Nagpur via N.A.S., where it was loaded on to the Calcutta bound N.A.S. 20th
/ 21st flight which was involved in the crash.
Next example is from Jodhpur dated
19th November. It came to Delhi via Delhi - Jodhpur by daily flight via
Jaipur and was loaded on N.A.S., on the 20th from Palam for Nagpur, so that
it could be loaded on the Calcutta bound N.A.S.
My one more example is from Tumsar,
a place near Nagpur. It seems that it must have come to Nagpur by train,
then loaded on to the Calcutta bound N.A.S.
My last example from Madras was
reached to Nagpur by N.A.S., then, it was sent to Calcutta bound N.A.S.
The 2nd crash occurred on 12th December 1953 near Nagpur airport after the plane had taken off for Madras. The salvaged mail was hand-stamped “SALVAGED MAILS / N.A.S. Air Crash / Nagpur dated 12-12-53.”, which appears in 3 line without box.
 |
 |
 |
|
A cover mailed from Mount Road P.O., Madras on 20.11.51
with 2 Annas meter franked stamp and sent to Calcutta-33 via Nagpur
N.A.S., which involved in air crash on 21st November 51. It was delivered
to concern addressee on 29th November 51 at 12.30PM.
|
An Inland Letter mailed from New Delhi-1 on 11.12.53
along with 1½ Annas postage charges and addressed to Pondicherry
via Madras, which travelled first to New Delhi to Nagpur by N.A.S.
And it was involved in air crash near Nagpur on 12th December 1953.
|
A registered Envelope from Bombay with the special
Salvaged Mail Canceller. Address portion burnt off.
|
 |
|
All mail was forwarded in ambulance covers which were also hand-stamped, together with a letter from the Supt. RMS-F division, Nagpur to the Postmaster stating that - "The enclosed damaged article/articles has/have been removed from the salvage of the Madras bound Night Air Mail Service plane which crashed near Nagpur Air Port on 12th December 1953. The Article/Articles may please be delivered to the addressee / addressees under suitsble intimation." |
Readers are requested to send their query/comments to Mr. Ashok Kumar Bayanwala, 96, Swastik Society,Navarangpura, AHMEDABAD-380009, INDIA or email to Prashant H. Pandya
Main Page