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In 1929 on the 8th January a further first flight occurred and this was on the route from Danzig to Katowice. 65 items of mail were carried on this flight. The violet handstamp has the legend “I Lot Gdansk - Katowice”.

Further first flights took place on the occasion of the opening of the line Gdansk - Bydgoszcz - Poznan - Katowice on 1st June 1929. The first day handstamp is a large square stamp, the same for each leg of the route although the legend varies in each case. The colour also varies, as set out in the table below. In each of the handstamps below the rectangle is divided and adjacent to the statement “I Lot” ( 1st flight) the respective leg of the route is stated.

Below all the various legs of the route are shown along with the total numbers carried and the corresponding handstamp colours

1st group : going directly to or from Danzig

Gdansk - Bydgoszcz                                                violet                                           150 items
Bydgoszcz - Gdansk                                                violet                                           150 items
Gdansk - Poznan                                                      violet                                           150 items
Poznan - Gdansk                                                      lilac                                              150 items
Gdansk - Katowice                                                  violet                                           150 items
Katowice - Gdansk                                                  red                                                150 items

2nd group : associated flight legs

Bydgoszcz —Katowice                                            violet                                           150 items
Bydgoszcz — Lwow                                                  violet                                           80 items
Bydgoszcz — Poznan                                               violet                                           150 items
Bydgoszcz — Warszawa                                          violet                                          80 items
Katowice — Bydgoszcz                                            red violet                                  150 items
Katowice — Poznan                                                  red                                              80 items
Poznan — Bydgoszcz                                                lilac                                            150 items
Warszawa — Bydgoszcz                                          violet                                          80 items

The next first flight went abroad from Danzig and took place on 2nd June 1930. It opened the line Gdansk—Warszawa-Lwow-Galati-Bucuresti. On it were forwarded

from Danzig                      5 items
from Warsaw                    78 items
from Lvov                           128 items

These details are derived from the “Postmarke / Sammlerwoche” 1930. page 214. Compared with this the Polish work “Polskie Znacki Pocztowe” reports in volume 3, page 902 that

from Warsaw                    200 items and
from Lvov                           210 items

were prepared for dispatch. The first flight handstamp for this flight is triangular, for Danzig in lilac, for Warsaw in violet, and fur Lvov in red; on the inside left “I Lot”, the inside right “I VOL’ and to the lower middle :“2. / VI.?1930 / Flugzeug / Gdansk — Warszawa / Lwow — Galati / Bucuresti”.

The next first flight also opened a route abroad. This refers to the line Gdansk — Warszawa — Lwow — Bucuresti — Sophia — Salonique which was opened on 29th June 1931. The first flight handstamp is a single ring stamp, with details of the route round the circumference and in the centre “1 / Flugzeug / LOT”. The stamp colour is violet. Although Danzig is shown in the handstamp as

 

Danzig Report  Nr. 64 - July - August - September - 1989, Page 29.