Fantastic Air France!

Please excuse me writing in English.

Here's a 1936 airmail cover from Buenos Aires to Kobe.



For the airmail enthusiasts, this is how this cover travelled:

"SA 4.7. - 9pm: Mail closing at Buenos Aires central post office
SU 5.7. - early morning, AF departing Buenos Aires, flight went as far as Bahia
MO 6.7. - AF flight from Bahia to Natal
TU 7.7. - AF "Ville de Rio“ departed Natal with Jean Mermoz as chief pilot, arrival at Dakar and onward connection to Casablanca
WE 8.7 - AF flight Casablanca via Barcelona to Marseille, scheduled arrival there at 4.45 pm, Marseille transit from 19 Uhr = 7 pm
TH 9.7. - 5.25 am AF departure from Marseille for Indochina
FR 10.7.
SA 11.7.
SU 12.7.
MO 13.7.
TU 14.7.
WE 15.7.
TH 16.7. - AF arrival at Bangkok
FR 17.7. - AF connection service Bangkok-Hanoi and CNAC (China National Aviation Corporation) connection Hanoi-Canton, departure at noon, arrival at 4.40 pm. However, either the inbound AF flight was delayed or the CNAC flight was delayed, see delay postmark on front and note the late Canton arrival
SA 18.7.
SU 19.7. - CNAC departure Canton at 6.30 am for Shanghai, arrival there at 3.30pm. Note Canton arrival at noon time, so the delayed CNAC inbound from Hanoi missed the connection to Shanghai. Next flight to Shanghai was on Thursday, cover had long layover at Canton
MO 20..
TU 21.7.
WE 22.7.
TH 23.7. - CNAC departure Canton at 6.30 am for Shanghai, arrival there at 3.30pm. from there boat connection to Japan"

Quite an amazing achievement of Air France to have carried this cover all the way by air to Hanoi as early as 1936. This cover makes full use of both "Mermoz" and "Nogues" lines.

Acnkowledgments: Dieter Leder and Wofgang Rotter