Marc Castel will receive the Canadian Aerophilatelic Society’s Editor’s Award for 2025 during the society’s Annual General Meeting, to be held at Orapex in Ottawa this weekend.
The award recognizes outstanding research and contributions to aerophilately and will be presented to Castel for his innovative and detailed study of the 1927 London-to-London flight and the semi-official stamp issued for it.
The attempted flight from London, Ont., to London, England, has long intrigued aerophilatelists.
Originally proposed as a publicity project by Carling Breweries of London, Ont., to mark 60 years of Confederation, the flight later received municipal sponsorship after the province’s Chief Liquor Commissioner declared such advertising by a brewery to be illegal. Carling Breweries remained involved and provided an aircraft named the Sir John Carling. Pilots Captain Terrence B. Tully and Lieutenant James Medcalf of the Ontario Forestry Service were selected to attempt the trans-Atlantic flight and were promised $25,000 if successful.
As part of the preparations, 100 special semi-official stamps were printed. These are now listed as CLP6 in both the Scott and Unitrade catalogues.
The flight, however, encountered problems from the outset. The first attempt, on August 29, 1927, was aborted due to rain and fog near Kingston, Ont. A second try on September 1 ended in a forced landing in Maine. The aircraft later reached Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, and departed for London, England, on Sept. 7. Despite favourable weather conditions, the Sir John Carling vanished over the Atlantic and was never found.
According to the London postmaster, 57 covers bearing the special stamp were carried on the first attempt. One cover was removed when the plane returned to London, Ont. The remaining covers were lost with the aircraft.
The fate of the unused stamps has long been a topic of speculation, with conflicting estimates of how many eventually reached the philatelic market.
The opening slide of Marc Castel’s presentation. (Image submitted)
Castel’s research includes a thorough review of original correspondence from 1927 regarding the mail carried on the flight, as well as computer-assisted analysis of surviving stamps documented in auction catalogues and publications. He concluded that of the 43 labels not used on covers, 16 were sent to the Post Office Department and government archives, and 11 have appeared on the philatelic market. One is believed to be held by the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. The fate of the remaining 15 copies remains unknown.
His findings were published in The Canadian Aerophilatelist in September 2023 and are available online at www.aerophilatelie.ca.
In November 2024, Castel gave an engaging presentation to a joint meeting of the Canadian Aerophilatelic Society and the British North America Philatelic Society’s Air Mail Study Group during the annual Day of Aerophilately in Toronto. He shared background on the flight, theories about the removed cover, and his detailed label analysis. A recording of the presentation is also available on the CAS website.
The Canadian Aerophilatelist Editor’s Award was created to recognize outstanding achievements by today’s aerophilatelists, as well as to honour past contributors through obituaries. According to Editor Chris Hargreaves, Castel’s combination of meticulous research and engaging presentation makes him a most deserving recipient of this year’s award.