Cover of the 22 May BTA Rare censor mark.

[Ross Debenham]

My cover for today is an air letter post marked Westlake, South Africa on 16 February, 1945. Sent by a flight sergeant "In Transit" the air letter has been hit with the circular BTA cachet as well as being censored using the rare R51 censor marker. According to "Censorship in the Royal Air Force" only 2 have been previously seen. This and two others of the same were picked up in a batch in a local auction in Sydney. Lucky find.

[Peter Harvey]

Ross,

A very nice find indeed and amazing that these ended up in an auction in Australia. I have only ever seen this mark illustrated and can not recall having seen any for sale.

Peter

[Nick Colley]

Three in one batch? Crikey.

Ross, if you would care to send me the details - date, postmark, return address, if any - then I'll add them to the new recordings file.

chrs
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[Ross Debenham]

Sorry Nick, i'll have to amend the number. Went back and checked to lot and I actually have 4. The other 3 were all posted at Westlake on 15 January, 1945, 17 January, 1945 and 5 February, 1945. They are all from the same Flight Sergeant (A Frowden 590878). I could be wrong with the name. He seems to have been travelling on a regular basis between Number 48 Air School at RAF Driftsands, Port Elizabeth and No.4 Air School at RAF Collondale at East London. This censor marker was only ever used on the overnight stay at Westlake, although I must admit some of the air letters from the air schools have some quite rare civilian censor markers on them as well. All were sent to the same recipient who appears to be a family member. Hope this assists you. All the best.

[Nick Colley]

Four, now?? Crikey, they're breeding!

Thanks, Ross, all noted.

chrs
N