Today in Postal History

Mexico to United States
March 9, 1929

This innocent air mail first flight cover has an interesting story to tell.

The cover was sent from Mexico City (Mexico, D.F. is shown in the air mail CDS) to Jeffers, Minnesota.
The cachet indicates its was carried on the first flight from Mexico City
to Brownsville, Texas, across the border from Matamoros.

The contractor for this flight was Pan American Airways, Inc.
This particular route was Foreign Air Mail route 8 (F.A.M. 8).
The AAMC catalog designates this flight as F8-4.

Pan American at this time was busy establishing routes throughout the Caribbean and central America.
What makes this particular flight especially interesting, is the pilot.
Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, a technical adviser to the contractor,
was a guest at the American Embassy in Mexico City.
Lindbergh flew the first mail North on March 9 and also flew the return from Brownsville on March 10.
Pan American made extensive use of Lindbergh on such inaugural flights.
His fame got publicity and gave the airline credibility.

The stamps are the 25c 1928 brown carmine and gray brown airmail
(Scott C3) and the 10c 1923 lake Cuauhtemoc Monument (Scott 655).

The CORREO AEREO etiquette label is in the colors of the Mexican flag.

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