The first US Post Office-sanctioned air mail was flown during the International Aviation Tournament, held at the airfield on Nassau Boulevard, Garden City, New York, from September 23 to October 1, 1911. Earl L Ovington, sworn in as the first official air mail pilot, flew just over 43,200 pieces of mail, weighing 751b (35kg), aboard his Bleriot monoplane Dragonfly during the meet. Most of the items were stamped with an 'Aerial Special Despatch' cachet, and postmarked 'Aeroplane Station No.1' with the date and time. This was one of the earliest instances of 'covers' specially marked on the outside, and carried aboard an aircraft on a flight of historical significance. Other 'air mail' events of 1911 included the world's first official transport of mail by aeroplane (in February, from Allahabad to Naini, India), Europe's first experimental air mail (in September, in Denmark), the UK's first aerial mail (also that September), as well as postcards carried by Cal Rodgers on his remarkable US transcontinental flight with his Vin Fiz Flyer, which ended in November. Since then, almost every large or small civil aviation event, both in the US and many other countries, has been commemorated by its very own 'air mail cover', usually decorated with a cachet to record the particular milestone.
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