Anzac Clipper to Honolulu, Dec. 7, 1941 -- The Day of Infamy. Cover bearing 20c and 50c Presidential (825, 831) paying the 70c per half ounce rate, tied by "Bethel Ohio Dec. 4, 1941" circular datestamp, second clear strike below, on cover to Palembang, Sumatra, carried on the Anzac Clipper from San Francisco on December 7, the morning of the Pearl Harbor attacks, the flight was less than an hour away from Honolulu when word of the attacks was radioed and it was then diverted to Hilo, "RELEASED/ BY I.C.B." (Information Control Branch) and "214" Hawaii censorship examiner backstamps, red sealing tape with "Passed DHC/37" with crown handstamp applied in Calcutta, India, boxed "RETURN TO SENDER, SERVICE SUSPENDED" handstamp with pointing hand, black censor's tape, neat "New York, N.Y. Aug. 11" circular datestamp at bottom center, vertical file fold

VERY FINE. A HISTORIC COVER CARRIED FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO HONOLULU ON THE ANZAC CLIPPER ON DECEMBER 7, 1941 -- THE FLIGHT WAS FORTUITOUSLY DELAYED EACH OF THE PREVIOUS TWO DAYS AND FINALLY TOOK OFF ON THE MORNING OF THE PEARL HARBOR ATTACK, ARRIVING LATE ENOUGH TO BE DIVERTED TO HILO AS THE BOMBS FELL. THIS COVER WAS THEN SENT AROUND THE WORLD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION BEFORE BEING RETURNED AS UNDELIVERABLE DUE TO THE INVASION OF BRITISH MALAYA.

A series of articles by Ken Lawrence in various philatelic journals tells the story of the Anzac Clipper and the mails it carried. We quote from one of them: "The Boeing B-314A flying boat Anzac Clipper took off from San Francisco late on the afternoon of December 5 but experienced mechanical trouble 400 miles out and had to return for repairs. After being repaired, she had been rescheduled to leave at two o’clock in the afternoon on December 6, but departure had been postponed so the pilot, Captain Harry Lanier Turner, could attend his daughter’s first piano recital at Oakland. At eight o’clock the next morning Anzac Clipper was less than an hour away from Honolulu when her radio officer received a coded flash warning that Pearl Harbor was under Japanese air attack. The providentially late departure from San Francisco had delayed her approach just long enough to have kept the vulnerable aircraft out of harm’s way. Pan Am’s 'Plan A' secret instructions in the event of war rerouted Anzac Clipper to Hilo, 220 miles southeast of the combat zone."

Mail from the Anzac Clipper can be identified by the Honolulu censor backstamps (after the attacks the mail was forwarded from Hilo to Honolulu). Mail to destinations in Hawaii was delivered. Flights farther west ceased. Mail to Japanese-occupied places was returned to the senders. Mail to other places was rerouted for transatlantic transport to the destinations. The cover offered here was carried via Miami, Belgian Congo and Egypt to Calcutta where the "PASSED DHC/37" was applied. The letter was returned to New York, because of the Japanese invasion of British Malaya that started just hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

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