Today in Postal History

Monaco to Chile
October 21, 1932

This airmail cover was mailed from Monte Carlo (what else is there in Monaco?).
There are four single rim CDS from Monte Carlo with 21 X 1932.

The destination was Santiago, Chile.

The cover transited the airport at Marseilles the same day and received a machine backstamp.
The dial on the machine identified the location as
MARSEILLES-GARE-AVION BCHES. DU RHONE.

The sender used an attractively preprinted envelope
VIA AÉROPOSTALE  with airmail etiquette.
Aéropostale, the forerunner of Air France, flew south through Africa and then across the Atlantic to Brazil.
In 1931, Aéropostale began a route from Natal, the terminus of their trans-Atlantic flights, to Santiago, Chile.
The trans-Atlantic flights were pioneered by Jean Mermoz in 1930.
One of the principals in building the airlines routes in Africa and
South America was Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a French pilot who became a poet and writer.

The cover arrived in Santiago on October 29.
Eight days transit time for such a flight would have been typical in 1932.

The cover is franked with a 50c 1924 brown orange Prince Louis II,
a 1927 3fr rose and ultramarine on yellow paper view of Monaco,
a 5fr 1925 green and rose view of Monaco,
and a 1925 10fr yellow brown and black view of Monaco (Scott 76, 90, 91, and 92 respectively).
18fr.50c was quite a postal charge in 1932.
The oversize stamps had to be placed carefully to avoid covering useful information.

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