Missile Mail: U.S. Navy Regulus II "Missile Mail" Unauthorized Experimental Flown Cover, One of Only Twelve, with Original Do...

Description

Missile Mail: U.S. Navy Regulus II "Missile Mail" Unauthorized Experimental Flown Cover, One of Only Twelve, with Original Documentation, 1959. Reference: Ellington-Zwisler #27. This airmail envelope features red and blue borders, printed cachet map showing the missile's route, and the inscription "MISSILE MAIL / VENICE - EGLIN AFB / BY REGULUS II", additionally signed by Jerry Parsons, ground controller for the test. Postmarked Eglin Air Force Base, Sept. 3, 1959, with address label for Charles A. Koch, Englewood, Florida. Two affixed U.S. stamps (4¢ "Abraham Lincoln" and 3¢ "Whooping Crane" Wildlife Conservation issue) are tied by the strike. Reverse shows transit markings including Venice, Englewood, and Eglin AFB postal cancels.

An original telemetry chart from the flight, annotated to show throttle, airspeed, and exhaust nozzle settings is included with this lot as well as the original art used to make the mimeographed cachets. The lot is also accompanied by a signed and notarized letter from Koch, who arranged for the covers to be clandestinely flown, explaining the preparation and execution of the launch in detail. See website for full transcription. All excellent. This lot was previously sold in a Harmer-Schau auction for $4,715 (Sale 94, Lot 635).

The Regulus II was a supersonic, turbojet-powered cruise missile, tested by the U.S. Navy in the late 1950s. Unlike the Regulus I, the Regulus II was never fully operational, making flown artifacts tied to it exceptionally rare. The 1959 Venice-Eglin demonstration carried twelve covers clandestinely prepared by Charles A. Koch with some signed by Jerry Parsons, one of the ground controllers for the missile. These were not authorized postal flights, but rather private initiatives piggybacking on official tests. Their scarcity the fact they represent postal artifacts tied to a Regulus II flight gives them immense philatelic and aerospace importance. From the Family Collection of Jacques Bracke

More Information: REGULUS II — MISSILE MAIL
Flown from Venice Missile Base to Eglin AFB, Sept. 3, 1959

Covers for this historic flight were prepared in early August as the first REGULUS II mail was scheduled for the week of Aug. 10. Hand-drawn cachets were designed and applied to the envelopes on a machine at the Englewood Chamber of Commerce. Various components of the missiles were affixed and the pack of 12 small envelopes were placed in a larger container which, in turn, was encased in clear plastic. Instructions were inscribed on the large envelope as to what was to be done with it in the event same arrived safely. (The missile was landed at Eglin AFB [fail of this dependent, of course, on the chance that the missile was not intercepted and destroyed over the Gulf as was the plan at times, depending on decisions made at Eglin while the missile was in flight].)

Between August 6 and September 3, I made 7 or 8 trips to the missile base, each time a flight was scheduled. Each time the flight was postponed, several because of weather conditions, one or two because of mechanical difficulties at Eglin or other points, or a fishing boat getting through the patrol boats and into the restricted area in the Gulf. However, the postponements paid off, for each time I went to the base I became better acquainted with the guards and with those who had to pass judgment on my work in restricted areas outside the hangars, then inside them, and eventually the actual missile flight photographs (not except for two shots of REGULUS II under its canvas covering) had been removed for adjustment. Also an opportunity was provided to become more fully acquainted. In short, several envelopes carried as souvenirs from the historical REGULUS II flight.

Each postponement seemed to eliminate another technical difficulty until, by the end of August, everything was A-OK and the flight was on. On August 6, a group of us from Venice met in Venice, on a last minute decision I gambled and opened the packet of 12, removed the covers and ran them backstamped Venice, Sep. 3 on a Fette Aircraft Co. meter postage machine in their office at the airport. I then followed up on arrangements I had already made with a base chieftain who would on one duty at the launch pad for important check-outs. He mentioned that he planned to tape them inside the radar compartment of one of the missiles. (On scheduled flight days no one but authorized personnel could get anywhere near the pad area.)

The flight came off as scheduled and on Sep. 6, I received the group of envelopes which had been cancelled Eglin AFB, front and back. I then had them backstamped Englewood, Sep. 6, for added interest. Later I had several signed by Jerry Parsons, the remote-control pilot who "flew" the REGULUS II to near Eglin AFB where Air Force jets took over and landed the missile at Eglin after lowering the retractable landing gear of the REGULUS II.

With passage of time easing possible violation of any security rules and in view of the base being de-commissioned, I am now disclosing the existence of such covers which one could rank second only to the Barbero–Regulus I covers of June 8, 1959.

[Signed] Charles A. Koch