Australia
No Airletter Service Available

This airletter (Stein no. A-2) sent from TAREE (faint machine cancel of Jan 10, 1947 - supported by the message, which was written on Jan 9, 1947) to Gilman/Connecticut, U.S.

Airletter service to the U.S. became available only on February 10, 1947.

Either the sender knew that or he was told by a post office clerk. A 1 d stamp was added to pay for the letter to be transported by surface mail to the U.S. and by airmail within the U.S. The 8 d rate for this service was in effect from March/April 1945 to May 1947.

There is a similar airletter without the additional 1d stamp which was diverted to surface mail all the way.


References
Breckon, Richard: Pre-decimal Postal Rates, The Australian Philatelist, permanent page AA20, 1992
Stein stands for Stein, The Aerogrammes of Australia and its Dependencies 1944-1980