Page 5 - Demo

Rocket Mail of the Worldbecause of the unreliability, the island went back to using tin cans, which lasted until an airstrip was constructed in 1983.Experimental Rocket MailRocket Mail in the early decades of the 20th century was spearheaded by three individuals: Friedrich Schmiedl of Austria, Reinhold Tiling from the Kingdom of Bavaria, and Gerhard Zucker of Germany. They were basically amateur rocket experimenters who received no funding from official governmental postal services. Instead, to finance their experiments, they carried letters aloft and sold them as Rocket Mail to philatelists. As a result, they created a new collecting field, and each blazed the way for rocket enthusiasts in about two dozen countries%u2014both individuals and rocketry clubs%u2014whose launches were also supported by philatelists.Friedrich SchmiedlSchmiedl was born in 1902 and began experimenting with solid-fuel rockets at the age of 16. After studying civil engineering at the University of Graz, he worked on rocket designs capable of photographing large areas from high altitude. He also tested instrumented rockets that could be launched from stratospheric balloons. On June 10, 1928, following the Austrian government%u2019s refusal to finance his work, he launched 200 lightweight covers in a combination balloon/rocket that reached 16,000 feet. The covers were sold to philatelists, and it was the beginning of Rocket Mail.On February 2, 1931 Schmiedl launched a rocket containing 102 letters, which flew for about 3 km and landed by parachute. In September of that year, he began what he called %u201cregular mail service%u201d with a successful flight between the towns of Hochtroetsch and Semriach containing 333 letters. He soon began to dream of using large rockets to carry mail over long distances of 250 miles or more.Schmiedl was able to finance his work by selling the letters and special labels that were transported by his rockets. Unfortunately, his Rocket Mail ceased when the Austrian Post office banned that type of financing. Then the Austrian government effectively banned private rocket development. His final Rocket Mail launch, on March 16, 1933, carried 379 letters aboard a two-stage rocket that flew a distance of 5 km.When the second World War began, Schmiedl destroyed all his rocket research because he didn%u2019t want it used for military purposes. After the war, he refused an offer by the United States to conduct further rocket research. Upon his death in 1994, his estate established the Friedrich Schmiedl Foundation to fund communications projects in Graz%u2014but not anything to do with rocketry.Set of four 1985 Niuafo%u2019ou postage stamps honoring the island%u2019s early Rocket Mail flights.