Rocket Mail

The following is from the archives of our Society. It has been presented from an article by Fred Rafael that appeared in the journal of the Austria Philatelic Society of New York, predecessor of our present society. No part of this material may be reproduced without the express written permission from the Austria Philatelic Society U.S. Edited by the web master for format purposes.

AUSTRIAN ROCKET MAIL

By Fred Rafael

(This first appeared in the May-June 1961 issue of the Austria Philatelic Society Bulletin, Volume XIII, No. 5-6)

The conquest of the air was an exciting adventure during the first half of this century. Balloons, non-rigid and rigid air ships, air planes made distances seem to shrink every ten years or so. From the beginning, all these means of transportation were connected with mail. The early balloon pioneers used to drop cards on their flights, many of which were found and now adorn special collections. The same is true of most of the air ship flights and particularly of the Zeppelins, which with German thoroughness systematically organized the transportation of mail for special fees and stamps and contributed to the development of the art of the cachet.

The end of the monarchy in Austria-Hungary and the Peace of St. Germain forbidding Austria to have any aviation whatsoever, closed the glorious first chapter of Austrian aviation history highlighted by Przemyal flights, seaplane service on the Adriatic cost, and world’s first scheduled national and international airlines (Vienna-Cracov-Lemberg-Kiev and Vienna-Budapest). The second chapter opened in 1922 and reached its culmination in 1931 to 1933 with Austrian glider flights.

But the flight in the air was not all. The was the time when people began to think and talk of conquering the universe, by using rocket propulsion of course, and some even applied rockets to the problems of transporting mail over long distances. The first man to experiment with rockets for mail was In. Friedrich Schmiedl, and Austria the first country in which these tests were made. Friedrich Schmiedl was born in May 14, 1902 in Schwertberg, Styria, Austria. He studied natural sciences at the University of Graz and technical chemistry at the Technical High School, also in Graz. He started his systematic experiments as early as 1928. In less than three years they led to the word’s first successful mail rocket flight. His vision of the future importance of guided rockets and his ingenuity in solving numerous technical and financial problems made Schmiedl the outstanding pioneer in the field or rocket mail. Before describing his experiments let us first take a look at history.

Late in 1870 the Atlantic Monthly published an article by Ewald Everett Hale entitled “The Brick Moon”. In this article Hale argued that a second moon in the sky would tremendously facilitate navigation on the sears and on land. He proposed to send up into the sky a moon made of bricks and promised to get it there by the use of rockets.

In Germany at about the same time a mad by the name of Hermann Ganswindt wrote about rocket-propelled space ships with pressure-proof cabins. Furthermore, also at the same time Konstantine Eduardovitch Ziolkovsky – a deaf and desperately poor Russian – wrote an article “The Exploration of Planetary Space with Reactive Equipment” in which he advocated the use of liquid fuel for rockets and discussed many other important points of rocketry. He submitted the article to the “Scientific Review” whose editors apparently did not know what to do with it. So it was 1903 before his article was published. Later on, from 1911 to 1914, he published other articles on various questions concerning space travel.

In 1919 the American Robert Hutching Goddard, the “Father of Rocketry” wrote “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes”. In this book he thoroughly investigated the mathematics of rocketry, developed the idea of step-rockets (now called multi-stage rockets), and filled it with figures, tables, and equations. It also included descriptions of rockets capable of reaching the moon. Incidentally, in 1935 his rocket reached an altitude of 7,500 feet.

In 1923, Hermann Oberth, born in Transylvania, published “The Rocket Interplanetary Space” in German language, a scientific treaty on space travel in which he described rockets with instruments as prototypes for space ships. He advocated the use of liquid fuel and claimed that it was possible to put large rockets into orbit around the earth. Oberth’s book had great influence on the further development of rockets in Europe.

In the meantime, in 1926 Goddard in the USA had succeeded in getting the first liquid fuel rocket off the ground to a height of 184 feed. However, nothing about this was published. In 1927 “The Society for Space Travel, Inc.” was founded in Germany with Hermann Oberth as president and Willy Ley as vice president. This society started experiments on rocket motors. At about the same time a rocket society was also founded in Austria and in 1929 its secretary Ing. Guido Baron Von Pirquet spelled out the philosophy of rocket development.

Purely experimental rockets
Instrument carrying rockets
Larger instrument carrying rockets
Largest rockets carrying instruments and mail
Still larger mail rockets carrying a pilot
Space ships…

It is interesting to note that even at this time nobody thought of using rockets for war purposes; i.e. of developing missiles with warheads. Only when some high Reichswehr (German Armed Forced) officers became interested, the first funds for developing missiles were allocated. Their interest of these is explained by the provisions of the Peace of Versailles at the end of the First World War, forbidding to Germany all aircraft and antiaircraft guns and field artillery of more than three-inch caliber. The rockets with warheads could overcome these limitations. But this has northing to do with Austrian rocket history.

The possibilities and advantages of rockets for the transportation of mail are today generally recognized, but who-before World War II-was familiar with rockets, guided missiles, or jet propulsion?

In 1928, Schmiedl began his experiments. He had already recognized that rockets were the ideal means of transporting fail over long distances because they attain extraordinary speed at extreme altitudes where friction is almost non-existent. Thus little energy is required to traverse very long distances once the denser layers of the atmosphere have been penetrated. Since the descent requires fuel-it is made by parachute-rocket mail should prove very economical for longer distances.

Especially interesting is the inscription of the V-5 rocket-letter of May 14, 1930: “It is theoretically possible to send mail from Europe to America in about 40 minutes by Rockets. It is theoretically possible to reach, by means of the Rocket, any part of the surface of the earth in less than one hour. It is theoretically possible that we can leave earth, by means of the rocket: Space Flight.”

In a 1931 interview Schmiedl foresaw the use of rockets for trans-Atlantic mail transportation, once the problems of long-range guidance were solved, and the reliability of the performance was improved. His own experimental rockets were guided by radio (as were the German “V” weapons a decade later), by optical means, and by infra-red rays. To improve performance, he preceded his rocket experiments with a study of conditions in the stratosphere by sending up a balloon with certain measuring devices. Later he put instruments into his “registry rockets”, experimented with jet propulsion and with a glider to carry fuel and payload attached to the rocket. For fuel he used first powdered and later liquid fuel. He launched rockets from a catapult in a rowboat in the middle of a lake, and constructed and used successfully “step rickets” which delivered with one flight mail to two different points…

The financing of these experiments was a major problem, as neither the Austrian government nor the postal authorities were willing to grant funds for this purpose. Schmiedl solved it by printing and selling special stamps and postal stationery, which entitled the purchaser to have it flown by a rocket and returned to him.

Thus Schmiedl created a new category of private stamps and postal paper, which after years of international philatelic discussions are now generally considered rarities, highly valued by many specialists.

The first Austrian Rocket mail was proceeded by a number of tests which consisted of a study of high altitude air current by a Stratosphere Flight of an Unmanned Balloon on June 10, 1928. This balloon carried 200 numbered light weight covers which have a triangular stamp in orange and black with the text “3 Groschen F S 1 – 16000-18000 m – Hochflugpost.” In the center a balloon with a car in square or in triangular shape. 150 stratosphere stamps were printed in pairs, one of which shows a square, the other a mutilated gondola. 15 pairs exist with the “3” inverted, of which no more than 6 were flown. The flown covers have a postage stamp with the cancellation of Graz, June 10, 1928. The same cancellation was applied to the balloon stamp also. Covers have the cachet: Geflogen mit Hohenballoon-FS. 1.

From the second type 25 stamps exist with a small rocket above the balloon. These were printed for use on special covers to be flown by small high altitude rockets which were to be started from the car of the balloon when in high altitude. The acceptance of such covers was abandoned because of the very limited possibilities for their recovery after the start. These stamps therefore exist mint only.

This stamp with the imprinted rocket might be described as the world’s first stamp prepared especially for rocket mail, but it has not been used on covers. One such high altitude rocket has been started at the June 10, 1928 high altitude balloon start. This rocket has not been recovered. The balloon was found in Hungary..

The World’s First Mail Rocket Flight, February 2, 1931 From the summit of SCHOECKEL mountain to RADEGUND

The trial rocket “V 7” carried 102 covers, 57 of them franked with a “manuscript stamp”; i.e., the then current 10g postage stamp with handwritten inscription, and 45 covers without it. 33 manuscript stamps remained unused. All stamps and all letters were numbered consecutively. A cachet was used twice on every cover, once with the number, and once with the date. Every cover bears a handwritten notation and Schmiedl’s signature.

Incidentally, 102 covers at 20g-the special rocket fee charge-indicate a total revenue of S20.40 or $2.68 at the rate of exchange then prevailing.

First Experimental Flight of a Registering Rocket, April 21, 1931 From the summit of Schoeckle mountain to Kalte Rinne

The Registering Rocket carried 79 covers a distance of about two miles. In addition to a few envelopes, special cards were used with a cachet depicting a rocket and “1931” directly under it. On some of the cards the “1931” was applied later and in a difference place. In addition, a cachet “Flown by Registering Rocket, April 21, 1931” was applied, usually twice on the face and once on the back of the cover. As before, the covers, as a rule, are numbered and show Mr. Schmiedl’s signature.

Registering Rockets were designed to carry scientific instruments to great heights, and were therefore larger than Schmiedl’s other rockets but of simpler construction, as they did not require any guidance apparatus. In contrast to the other rockets, they were started almost vertically and the instruments registered such factors as pressures, speeds, air currents, and temperatures at high altitudes. Unfortunately they did not function too well, because lack of money that forced Schmiedl to use rather crude instruments.

Responsible official of the Postdirektion Graz had given Mr. Schmiedl oral assurance that the Austrian post offices would accept mail for the flight, turn it over to him, and forward it to the addressees after the flight, if the covers were franked with the appropriate postage stamps. After some radio and newspaper publicity, three letters arrived from Denmark, about 20 from Germany, and about 30 from various places in Austria. These were cancelled in Maxglan, and the covers directly delivered by Schmiedl and his friends in Semriach. Altogether 333 covers were carried, of which about one third was addressed to recipients overseas. Every cover bore a rocket stamp, a cachet “Flown by test-rocket R1”, applied in red ink, a small red cachet “R1 9.IX.1931” with which the rocket stamp was cancelled and which was also imprinted off the stamp, and a third still smaller cachet “1R1” in purple ink, next to which the number of the letter was handwritten in red ink. The first two red cachets were also applied to the backs of the covers. In addition, some of the covers show also the number of the letter and Schmeiedl’s signature in pencil. On many letters a special rocket label, typed on pink tissue paper, perforated or imperforated was also used.

The World’s First Rocket Stamp – To defray part of the substantial costs of the experiment, a rocket stamp with a face value of 10f, which Schmiedl has prepared had to be affixed to each cover. 10 sheets of 50 each were printed. On sheet was sent to the “Austrian Aerotechnical Society”, another to the “Austrian Society for Rocket Technique”, and a third one to the Postal Museum in Vienna. One sheet—the only complete one still existing-was sent to the “Generalpostdirection” in Vienna.

After the flight, the printing plates and the handstamps used for the cachets were sent to the Department of Commerce and Communications in Vienna and destroyed under official supervision to make any misuse absolutely impossible.

The gummed side of the stamp bears the typed inscription “Trial Rocket R1”. A few copies are known that were gummed on the wrong side, on some the initials “W.F.” at the bottom of the stamps are mission, at least one was printed on both sides, and a few proofs exist on ungummed paper.

“V 8” – World’s First Night Rocket Mail Flight, October 28, 1931 with optical guidance. Grazerfeld to St. Peter. 84 covers were carried.

“V 11” – April 11, 1932. Berndorf to Liebenan. 28 covers were carried.

228 covers were carried, of which 125 were registered. First use of rocket registry labels. One red cachet, one purple cachet with handwritten number, and three initials, one of them Schmiedl’s.

Two kinds of privately issued rocket registry labels were used. Green on white paper for foreign mail, black on yellow paper for domestic mail. One half of each label served (ed) as receipt, the other half was affixed to the letter.

About 500 copies of each of the two kinds of labels were printed in sheets of 6 each, each sheet was numbered. Altogether 525 were used in this and three more flights.

The rocket post registration labels have been used at the starts “V 10”, “V 12″ and V 13” also.

Three new rocket stamps were issued for these two flights, name 3g, 10g and 1 S. Of the first two denominations 780 copies were printed in sheetlets of 10, and 500 copies of the 1 S stamp in sheetlets of 8. Each of the groschen stamps shows on its face a handwritten number, the 1 S stamps Schmiedl’s signature. All three stamps have on their backs a purple handstamps “Flugspende” (flight donation) and Schmiedl’s red signature. The center pair of the schilling has one side serrate roulette perforated.

Two tete-beche pairs of the 10g are known, one of them on a letter. Reprints of these three stamps were made without Schmiedl’s knowledge. They snow neither his signature nor the numbers.

231 covers were carried by Rocket “V 12”. 200 items were carried by Rocket “V 13″…

For this flight 283 tissue envelopes with imprinted stamps and a new 8g rocket stamp were issued

The 8g Rocket Stamps – 780 copies were printed in sheetlets of 10 copies each. Two tete-beche pairs have become known, one on a letter with imprinted 24 groschen stamp. Each stamp was numbered on its face and shows the purple rubberstamp “Flugspende” (flight donation” and Schmiedl’s signature on the back.

The postmark on all 283 flown flimsies reads. “Passail 16.3.33,” a few rare items bear the Graz Post Office Cancellation of 17.3.33 on the reverse.

A new 1 S Rocket stamp and new tissue paper envelopes were issued. The new 1 S Rocket Stamp – 980 of these stamps were printed in sheetlets of eight stamps each. They were imperforate, dark blue on light blue, spotted paper. Instead of rocket stamps 28 covers received the postage meter cancellation “Raketen Fluzuschlag bezahlt” on both the “V 15” and the “V 16” flights. Eight of these covers on both flights were registered and mailed to Brazil.

Two (200) covers were carried. They received the red cachet, “Hubdrache D1 Schleppflug” (lift-kite D1 towing flight), and the red meter cancellation of the post office Graz 1. The blue airmail label was privately printed for this experiment for transatlantic flights in connection with the North Germand Lloyd steamers “Europa”, “Bremen”, and “Columbus”, and all mail carried by the “D” was addressed to passengers on these boats. Lack of funds, however, prevented the execution of Schmiedl’s transatlantic mail plans.

Technically, this was one of Schmiedl’s most interesting experiments. Rather than a true rocket flight, the lift-kite towing flight with nozzle system-the “D” stands for Düse (nozzle)-it was the world’s first jet flight. “D1” consisted of two parts, both of which carried mail. According to Schmiedl’s description, the front part was essentially a sleeve, the front opening of which scooped up the air. Periodic rocket thrusts from small intermittently working nozzles which were fastened to the inside of the sleeve, compressed the air and then thrust it out of the rear opening, thus propelling the “D1”.

In contrast to jet systems later developed by other inventors, Schmiedl’s “D1” used no turbines to compress the air, and had no rotating or moving parts. This jet-propelled sleeve towed a glider-like second part, which carried both fuel and mail.

Two tete-beche pairs of the 10g are known, one of them on a letter. Reprints of these three stamps were made without Schmiedl’s knowledge. They snow neither his signature nor the numbers.

231 covers were carried by Rocket “V 12”. 200 items were carried by Rocket “V 13”.

For this flight 283 tissue envelopes with imprinted stamps and a new 8grocket stamp were issued. The 8g Rocket Stamps – 780 copies were printed in sheetlets of 10 copies each. Two tete-beche pairs have become known, one on a letter with imprinted 24 groschen stamp. Each stamp was numbered on its face, and shows the purple rubberstamp “Flugspende” (flight donation” and Schmiedl’s signature on the back.
The postmark on all 283 flown flimsies reads. “Passail 16.3.33,” a few rare items bear the Graz Post Office Cancellation of 17.3.33 on the reverse.

200 covers were carried. They received the red cachet, “Hubdrache D1 Schleppflug” (lift-kite D1 towing flight), and the red meter cancellation of the post office Graz 1. The blue airmail label was privately printed for this experiment for transatlantic flights in connection with the North Germand Lloyd steamers “Europa”, “Bremen”, and “Columbus”, and all mail carried by the “D” was addressed to passengers on these boats. Lack of funds, however, prevented the execution of Schmiedl’s transatlantic mail plans.

In contrast to jet systems later developed by other inventors, Schmiedl’s “D1” used no turbines to compress the air and had no rotating or moving parts. This jet-propelled sleeve towed a glider-like second part, which carried both fuel and mail.

DIE NOTVERORDNUNG – THE EMERGENCY DECREE – January 5, 1934

The Postwertzeichenschutzverordnung of January 5, 1932, a government emergency decree for the protection of postal paper, made it unlawful to print, sell, or distribute for profit or otherwise any product that could be mistaken for a postage stamp, a postal label, or a postal cancellation. It also made it unlawful to sell in Austria rocket mail covers that had been flown prior to the date of the decree, if such covers had rocket stamps or rocket labels. This decree forced Schmiedl to devise other means for securing contributions for further experiments. He did it by selling specially designed covers and postcards with imprinted postage stamps. As gesture of protest, however, he called from thereon all his rockets “Notverordnungs” rockets, which the abbreviation “N” preceding the number of the rockets.

Three kinds of Rocket Covers were prepared:
Imprinted 3g stamp, red print
Imprinted 3g stamp, green print
Imprinted 5g stamp, blue print

All covers show a black cachet, a number and Schmiedl’s signature. They were cancelled in Edelschrott.

“N 2” Edelschrott, 480 cards carried – Six series of picture postcards, A – F, with imprinted postage stamps were printed, 80 of each were used, 12 remained unused. All flown cards are numbered, inscribed and signed in red ink and cancelled in Edelschrott.

Rocket “N 3” – 480 cards were carried – 80 copies each of six different picture postcards, G- M, without imprinted stamps, were prepared for this flight and flown.

Rocket “N 4” – 560 cards were carried – For this flight, four series of 140 cards each with imprinted stamps were prepared and flown, 3g stamp, red on white; 3g stamp, blue on buff; 5g stamp, blue on white, 12g stamp, blue on green.

Rocket “N 5” – 598 cards were carried – Three series of 200 with imprinted stamps were carried: 3g stamp, red on white, 5g stamp, blue on white, 12g stamp, blue on green.

On December 21, 1935 two rocket “N6” and “N 7” were fired from Kanzel to Gosting. “N 6” carried 27 covers with a rectangular red cachet showing a rocket flying to the right with large number “N 6”, “N 7” carried 28 covers with an oval cachet showing a rocket flying to the left with large number “N 7”. Both have the postal cancellation of Gosting near Graz of December 21, 1935.

In his book “Rockets, Missiles and Space Travel” Willy Ley states that Schmiedl’s work not only showed that under certain circumstances there was a place for short range mail rockets, it also proved that rocket “stamps” found a market.

As was bound to happen, others followed in Schmiedl’s footsteps. Rocket experiments were made, and rocket stamps were issued in many different parts of the world. In some cases, of course, rocket stamps were printed just to “milk” collectors, Schmiedl, as we have reported, tried to avoid abuse of his rocket stamps by careful counting and accounting. He sent copies of his private postal paper to the postal authorities in Vienna. Whether his agreements with local postal authorities were known to the central postal authorities will probably never be clearly established.

However, there can be no doubt that Vienna was aware of the experiments and probably sent officials to observe some of them. Why such radical restrictive actions of the government then were necessary is not known to the writer; particularly, if Willy Ley’s report is true, that the government suddenly forced Schmiedl to destroy all his work including the launching ramp at Schoeckel mountain without giving reason or explanation.

Whether or not rocket stamps belong in air mail collections depends entirely on the purpose of the collection. If the collector decides to collect exclusively postal paper issued by the postal authorities and sold at all postal windows, then rocket stamps have no place in his collection. However, no collection of historical aerophilatelic documents would be complete without them.

As far as the historical importance of rocket mail is concerned most experts were convinced that it would be in general use within a few years. Now, however, the future looked different. Rocket mail may still be useful for short range mail transportation over difficult stretches of mountainous terrain or treacherous waters. But the idea of transporting mail over vast distances by rockets has now lost its appeal.

Though rockets can travel to any point of the world in about an hour, dropping the mail from them by parachute and finding the drop is likely to take another hour, or two, or three. By that time the ultrasonic jet planes now on the drafting boards will have arrived and unloaded their mail.

This brings us back to the beginning of our story. The Zeppelins were made feasible by the development of more efficient motors and became obsolete because the further development of airplane motors made scheduled transoceanic plan traffic possible. This of course also made ship-to-shore catapult mail obsolete. And now, it is once more the further improvement of motors, particularly of the jets that made obsolete the idea of trans-Atlantic mail rocket transportation, developed in the fertile brain of Friedrich Schmiedl, who was the first to use jet propulsion in one of his many successful experiments.