BIOT

British Indian Ocean Territory is a British dependency, with an important U.S. military base. It is formed by the Chagos Islands (Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos, etc...) in the middle of the Indian Ocean.. The territory was established on 8 November 1965 by the amalgamation of the Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches islands (formerly part of the Seychelles) and the Chagos Archipelago (formerly from Mauritius). On 29 June 1976 the former Seychelles islands were retroceded to the Seychelles and were called there 'ZIL ELOIGNE SESEL'

There are no native inhabitants, only military personnel live on the islands. Read more about BIOT here.

A souvenir sheet issued to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the RAF.

FDC of stamps issued to commemorate the 90th anniversary of RAF

Souvenir sheet showing King George V, as Marshal of the RAF

First Flight Covers

Not posted on my blog for some time for various reasons partly as we have been away from the city for some time. Been spurred to so after an email from another serious collector The question he poses is what is a FFC? Too many fakes passing for the real stuff these days.

To me a cover should have been flown on the first flight for which there must be some evidence on the cover itself. A backstamp is very crucial evidence -but unfortunately not all postal administrations backstamp covers. Few covers flow to London for example bear a backstamp. However, sometimes airlines provide a receipt stamp eg. BOAC FFCs. In the pioneering era covers were often flown by airmen to survey a route and these covers were posted immediately on arrival. the covers usually bore the notation of the pilot.

Pilot/crew signatures attesting that the cover was actually flown on the flight too can be accepted. I am bit of a purist so I feel that there must be some postal intervention.

Cover flown from Karachi to Calcutta, posted on arrival at Calcutta.


Moving on to some aircraft stamps.

A souvenir sheet of 10 stamps issued by British Indian Ocean Territory(BIOT) on 18th July 2003 to commemorate the centenary of first powered flight



Well, where is BIOT?

Check my blog tomorrow!!!!!!