Page 3 - Demo

When the American Air Mail Catalog included a listing of Airport Dedication Covers in its 5th edition, it did so chronologically for the entire country. Which meant that if you were only looking for the dedications in a particular state, in my case Indiana, you had to carefully scrutinize each page for that state%u2019s listings. The section was edited by William T. Wynn, Jr. and Arthur M. Schmidt. Wynn had been involved with the AAMS since the 1930s, and Schmidt since the %u201850s, and both edited an %u201cAirport Dedications%u201d column in the organization%u2019s monthly Airpost Journal.For the 6th edition of the American Air Mail Catalog, Stephen Reinhard revised the Airport Dedications section so the listings were organized chronologically by state. This made it much easier to utilize for collectors like myself, who were only interested in one particular state.As I was working on this dedication-cover collection, the American Air Mail Catalog was being revised into a updated 7th edition, and I assumed that someone in the organization would be collecting new information on Airport Dedications to include in a future revised listing. So, when I obtained a Dedication Cover for the Kentland Airport that was unlisted, I emailed an image of the cover, along with pertinent information about the event, to Dan Gribbin, who was Vice President of the AAMS. Dan forwarded my information to a fellow air-mail collector by the name of Don Lussky.I had traded emails with Don on a number of occasions. He lived in the Chicago area and was a longtime member of the Society. Plus, he was a tremendous resource, with extensive knowledge of almost everything related to air mail. In fact, I had obtained a number of Airport Dedication Covers from him. After Dan forwarded my Kentland information to him, Don sent me the following email:JOHN, ALL THE AIRPORT DED GUYS ARE DEADI'M SURE THERE HAS BEEN MANY DEDS SINCE THE LIST WAS PUBLISHED IN 5TH EDITIONREINHARD DID A HURRY-UP JOB WHEN HE REORGANIZED THE LIST ACCORDING TO STATES%u2026 HE MADE MISTAKES & LEFT OUT MANY IN THE 6TH EDITIONREINHARD HAS HEART PROBLEMS, IS VERY ILL%u2026 DON'T BOTHER HIM!THE DED SECTION, IS HISTORY%u2026DON'T BELIEVE ANYONE IS GOING TO BRING IT UP-TO-DATESIMPLY ADD YOUR DED TO YOUR CATAs with every email I had received from Don, this one was typed in all caps, and it contained minimal punctuation. What surprised me was his bluntness in saying that %u201cALL THE AIRPORT DED GUYS ARE DEAD.%u201d Also that there was not enough interest to ever update the dedication section of the American Air Mail Catalog. While I certainly understood that philately in general was nowhere near as popular as it was when I was a boy, I found it very sad that there was so little interest in Airport Dedication Covers. But it didn%u2019t dampen my personal enthusiasm, and I believe all those deceased old-timers would be pleased that I have Dedication Covers in my collection addressed to them that once graced their own collections.For the Indiana covers in this collection, I%u2019ve included the alphanumeric designation, as listed in the American Air Mail Catalog, along with the names of the city and the airfield, the number of pieces cancelled on the day of the dedication, and other related information. I have also included ephemera connected to some dedications, as well as facsimiles of newspaper articles covering the events.The Summary Listing, in the back, is alphabetized by city.