Commercial Airways Ltd.

Commercial Airways Ltd. was formed by famed pilot W.R. "Wop" May in August 1928. By May of 1929, the company was able to issue their own stamp for the Edmonton to Grande Prairie route. By 1931, the company had a number of routes inside Alberta spreading northward into the North West Territories. However, not long after receiving a contract to carry mail to North Vermillion, the company was in financial difficulties and was sold to Canadian Airways Limited.

Company Ephemera

Original company paper.

Stamp Issued

Four stamps were issued by the company. The most noticable difference is the "Via Air" and "Air Fee" in the design. Three different colors were used.

CL 48 issued on June 2, 1930. Company stamp in black. Dark shade.

CL 48 issued on June 2, 1930. Company stamp in black. Light-black shade.

CL 49 issued on Semptember 1, 1927. Company stamp in purple. Stamp on the right has a perforation error.

CL 49 imperf pair.

Flight Covers

Grande Prairie to Edmonton March 28, 1929. Front of Cover Back of Cover Interesting registered cover from Grande Prairie to Edmonton. Registered covers are difficult to find, however, this is probably a philatelic cover. Stamp on the back is CL 47. The addition of the Western Canada Airways stamp untied is another example of philatelic mail. Still an interesting piece.

Edmonton to Peace River December 6, 1930. This flight carried 724 covers. Each cover has an eight sided cachet in purple. "Wop" May was the pilot for this flight. Company stamp is CL 48.

Fort McMurray to Athabasca February 23, 1931. This is a first flight cover between Fort McMurray to Athabasca. A special cachet in blue was used to mark the occassion. Company stamp is CL 48.

Athabasca to Fort McMurray February 24, 1931. This is a first flight cover between Athabasca to Fort McMurray. A special cachet in mauve was used to mark the occassion. Company stamp is CL 50. The address place on the front is incorrect. A two line mark on the front points out that it is a first flight from Athabasca and not Edmonton. Clearly a philatelic cover.

Athabaska to Castle Point February 24, 1931. Interesting cover with CL 50 in use. I like this cover because the Christmas Seal is tied to the cover.

Company Notes

-First official flight was on May 21, 1929. CL 47 was used. -The company was famous for the flight made to Little Red River in January of 1929 to carry a quantity of vaccine to combat an empidemic of diptheria. -Stamp errors include "Broken C errors" and perforation errors. Imperf pairs are known. -CL 47 has a printed coupon beside the pane of 10. Very rare. -11 cachets were used and company cancells were used on covers. -One plane crashed at Fort Resolution, the other 5 company planes were sold to Canadian Airways LTD. -The company made there own flights but also a number of government flights. On these flights, the company could not carry any covers that were franked with their own company stamp.