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The ancient epic �Ramayana� gives us details of journey of Hanuman from India to Srilanka across the sea through sky. The Mauryans used Humming Pigeons as their messengers.
The first successful balloon flight in India was by Mr. Percival Spencer on 19th March, 1889. History records two covers lofted �Balloon Paste� (balloon monte) in Paris addressed in India.
The history of Airmail in India dates back to 18th Feb. 1911, The Allahabad Naini flight. Monsieur Henry Pequet flying a Sommer-type bi-plane, carried nearly 6500 letters and postcards from united provinces annual cultural and commercial exhibition at Allahabad. An experiment in the direction of providing a regular airmail service in the sub-continent was the Karachi-Bombay flight using De Havilland airplanes. The first commercial international airmail service between India and the United Kingdom was inaugurated on March 30th, 1929.
Mr. J.R.D Tata was the person who introduced a regular modus operandi in airmail services in India, his company Tata Sons Ltd. established the first domestic airline and started a weekly airmail service between Karachi and Madras via Ahmadabad, Bombay and Bellary in 1932. India has to its credit one of the earliest airmail stamps in the British Empire. A set of airmail stamps were issued in 1929.
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