[b]FIELD POST OFFICE 606[/b]

I have a query concerning the above FPO datestamp and I seek your help please.

I have a registered cover postmarked FPO 606 on 29 SP 49 (29 September 1949).  This has a registration label with a rubber cachet '1' stamped on it.  This would indicate the Field Post Office being BAOR 1 at Bad Oeynhausen (which used the address BAOR 1 from c.1947 to 1954).  Unfortunately there is no senders address on the reverse or any other indication as to the location of the FPO datestamp.

Proud Volume III shows:
APO E.612 (Dusseldorf) (30.10.45) - (5.9.46)
Held at Zone Postal Depot (16.3.48) - (27.11.48)
Berlin (BAOR 2) (31.7.50) - (15.5.52)

Alan Brown records show:
BAOR           1948-50
BAOR 2 Berlin   22/10/50, 30/9/51, 14/11/51

Alistair Kennedy record cards only show:
BAOR 2 Berlin   1950-51, 17 AU 50, 22 AU 50, 11 MR 51

As you can see there is no location shown for 1949.  Do any members have any covers with FPO 606 used in 1949 and if so do they provide any senders details please?

Thanks, Mike

Air letter from a Major of the 1st Hyderabad Lancers, at that time stationed in Aden, to India. Cancellation at the RAF PO in Aden on 8 December 1944. Censors A6/1431, Deputy Chief Field Censor and 'square 33', both the latter presumably applied in Egypt.

Apart from the scarcity of A6/1431, what is most interesting to me is the resealing tape. Plain paper with typewritten (or copied) ' In Lieu of / A.F.W3312 / EXAMINED / BY / BASE CENSOR' .

The reason for the tape must be that the regular issue was not available. I've not seen such before, though Egypt is not my specialist field. Does anybody have any background on this, and is it unusual?

Neil W

Sorry Neil, not seen anything like this before.

Mike

Hi there. Just a wild guess but Pre-stamped and supplied by FPO counter staff? Looks interesting.

Thank you Michael. I shall endeavour to seek out the title you recommend, sounds very useful, thanks. I enjoy reading around the subject although I'm highly unlikely to ever exhibit anything.
Kind regards
Matt Gibbs

Folks

I've been asked if anything is known about this overprint - if genuine, how, where, when and why!

Obviously unused, but I note the franking of 6as is correct for an airletter through the Aden civil posts to Imperial destinations 1945-51.

I've been through my copy of Lee and can't see anything like this.

Has anybody seen another? Grateful for any input.

Neil W

This is a very interesting subject. Can I make a further suggestion of where this cover may have originated As an example has been recorded with the South African Paquebot cancel and it is believed to be of Canadian sources and R4/20 has been observed used in Ceylon, may I suggest that this cover may have come from the Canadian Anti Submarine Squadron active in the northern area of the Indian Ocean, and posted from one of the more remote air bases, and handed to the supply boat or passing plane. This could be a reason for the scarcity of the censor marker. Most probably wrong but you never know.

Thank you Nick for your additional information. As you may have guessed, I had forgotten that I had an R4 No 50 cover in my own collection that I also had reported to you. My cover with the South African Paquebot machine postmark is cancelled on 21/4 1941.

Ah, an interesting report, Tommy.

There's more to R4/50 than meets the eye, I think. Our good friend and colleague Ian Muchall reported it in January 2018 with a South African paquebot dated April 1941. This is interpreted as being from a troopship.Your recording (later in 1941, I think?) adds two more countries, Canada and Australia, to the story. This would presumably be from a later voyage, but why the censor R4/50 is STILL on board is difficult to account for.

chrs
N

Thank you very much Mike!