In February 1936, the first launch of mail missiles, or rather rocket planes, took place in the United States. This event attracted the attention of the whole country, and also became an incentive for initiative citizens. Soon there were many new projects for missile mail delivery systems, and some of them even left the stage of simple discussion. In the summer of that year, a group of enthusiasts led by Keith E. Rumbel carried out the first international launch of a mail rocket in the United States. Special carriers with the correspondence were sent to Mexico.
The future inventor of rocket mail K. I. Rumbel was born in 1920 in the small town of McAllen (Texas), located near the Mexican border. In 1936, he had to graduate from school, after which he planned to enter one of the local universities. It is curious that he had to do design work even before he received higher education and - formally - before graduating from school. One of the reasons for this was the difficult economic situation in the country.
Vignette stamp for letters sent on July 2, 1936 from the United States to Mexico. Photo Flyingcarsandfoodpills.com
In the mid-thirties, the Great Depression began to decline, but the situation in the United States remained unsatisfactory, especially in the provinces. McAllen's post office, where K. Rambel's father worked, was in poor condition and could no longer be repaired - a new building was required. But the organization could not afford such a luxury, and therefore was forced to work in an emergency building. Fortunately, Rambela's father and son found a way out of this situation, and the most interesting and original one.
Enthusiasts could not help but know about the February experiments at Greenwood Lake and decided to repeat them. The sale of stamps and envelopes for sending letters by rocket mail made it possible to raise money for the construction of a new building. In addition, the mail rocket could solve the typical problem of the border city, dramatically speeding up the transfer of international items.
In 1926, a new bridge was built across the river. Rio Grande, along which the road now passed from the American McAllen to the Mexican city of Reynosa (Tamaulipas state). This road was used to transport mail, but due to bureaucratic delays and other factors, letters traveled along it for several days. A cargo rocket could significantly speed up the transportation of correspondence across the border, as well as simplify customs clearance.
Keith Rumbel became the author of the idea and initiator of further work. The father and his colleagues volunteered to help in one way or another. For obvious reasons, enthusiasts had a limited choice of materials and technologies, but this did not prevent them from fulfilling all their plans and even bringing the rocket mail to testing.
Design
The K. Rambela transport rocket was distinguished by its extreme simplicity of design and was made exclusively from available materials. At the same time, some components had to be purchased and delivered from other cities. First of all, this concerned the powder engine. Nevertheless, even with such a specific appearance, the rocket, as a whole, could solve the assigned tasks.
Vignette for letters from Mexico. Photo Flyingcarsandfoodpills.com
The rocket received a simple cylindrical metal body with a conical nose fairing. Several plumage planes were placed on the tail. The head compartment of the hull was allocated for the placement of the cargo. Another volume for letters was located directly in front of the engine. This division of the cargo compartment allowed for optimal balancing. At the rear of the product was a finished powder engine with its own metal body. The missile did not have any controls and had to fly along a ballistic trajectory in accordance with the guidance angles at launch. Whether there was a parachute on board for safe landing is unknown.
A launcher of the simplest design was intended for the rocket. Its main elements were inclined guides to bring the rocket to the calculated trajectory. The launcher was not equipped with engine ignition means. The fuse responsible for starting the engine would have to be ignited manually.
Rocket K. Rambel had a length of about 7 feet (2.1 m) and a diameter of 1 foot (0.3 m). The weight of the product is several kilograms. The head compartment could accommodate up to 300 letters or postcards, depending on the size and weight of each such "element" of the payload. The product did not differ in its long flight range, but there were no special requirements for it. The width of the Rio Grande at the site of the proposed launch did not exceed 300 m, and this determined the desired parameters of the rocket.
Preparation
On June 22, 1936, at one of the sites near their city, K. Rambel and his colleagues made three test launches of mail missiles. The products carried different loads - from 82 to 202 letters with a total weight of 3 to 10 ounces (85-290 g). For all the imperfections in the rocket design, the tests were completed successfully. The ability to transport correspondence has been proven in practice.
At the very beginning of July 1936, a launcher and several missiles were delivered to the coast of the Rio Grande from the American side. Having agreed with the Mexican side, the rocket enthusiasts sent a set of necessary items to the city of Reynosa. It was assumed that on the day of the launch, several mail missiles will leave the United States for Mexico, and then fly in the opposite direction. On board the missiles were supposed to be real letters sent from two countries to neighboring states.
A block of stamps to be sent from the USA. Photo Thestampforum.boards.net
For future launches, two versions of the "International Rocket Mail" stamp were printed. Both postage signs had a similar design, but differed in colors that corresponded to the state flags of the countries of departure. Thus, the "American" stamp had a triangular shape and was printed on white paper in red and blue colors, and the "Mexican" had a green and red stamp. The rest of the brands did not differ from each other. On them there were images of a flying rocket and explanatory inscriptions. The face value of the stamp is 50 American cents.
Informal vignette stamps were issued in blocks that could be cut into separate payment signs if necessary. At the same time, the organizers asked for $ 3 for a block of four marks.
However, such stamps were not official and, from the point of view of postal legislation, were just souvenirs. In this regard, letters were also franked with the official airmail stamps of the United States and Mexico. Letters from McAllen were stamped 16 cents, from Reynosa 40 cents.
Flying
The missile launches with the mail, necessary to raise money for the construction, were scheduled for July 2, 1936. On this day, spectators gathered on both banks of the Rio Grande. In addition, the event was attended by representatives of the local authorities of the two countries. After speeches on the development of communications and modern technologies, the first start took place.
The first Rambela rocket was able to turn on the engine, get off the rail and head towards the other side of the river. However, about 100 feet from the launch site (about 30 m), already over the river, an explosion occurred. The rocket scattered burning letters over the water, and in addition, some fragments flew towards the audience. One of the customs officials was wounded in the arm. Some time had to be spent on eliminating the consequences of the explosion; primarily to find and collect scattered letters. The shipments that survived the explosion were later sent to Mexico by land transport.
On July 2, the second start took place. The new rocket proved to be much better than the first. The flight path was too high, which caused the rocket to fly over the Rio Grande, and then headed towards Reynosa. The product fell almost in the center of the city, where it was picked up by the Mexican post office employees. Fortunately, no one was injured in the fall of the rocket, and all the witnesses escaped with only a slight fright.
One of the letters sent from Reynosa. Photo Hipstamp.com
The third mail rocket launch ended with similar results. After flying over the river, the rocket fell on a residential building on the outskirts of the city. The dwelling was damaged, but no one was injured. The missile's payload did not receive much damage.
After three launches from the United States to Mexico, enthusiasts and their patrons crossed the river across the bridge to carry out new launches in the opposite direction. According to various sources, five or six missiles with mail were sent from Reynosa to McAllen. Almost all launches were satisfactory. The rockets flew across the river and fell in a deserted area where they could not harm anyone. However, there were some troubles. The last missile launched landed in a cornfield and set fire to vegetation. The authors and patrons of the project had to urgently return to the United States and take part in extinguishing the fire.
As a result, on July 2, 1936, Keith I. Rumbel, his colleagues and representatives of government agencies of the two countries carried out seven or eight launches of a mail rocket, and immediately on the "international line." Flights and falls, as well as explosions and fires survived about 2 thousand envelopes with unique stamps. After the completion of the launches, all collected letters were forwarded to the respective post offices of Mexico and the United States, after which they went to their addressees.
Outcomes
It is known that the sale of his own vignettes allowed K. I. Rambel and his comrades raise enough money to start the construction of a new post office building. Thus, the initiative project of the rocket mail fully coped with its main task. His further fate, however, was in question. As it became known later, the McAllen enthusiasts were not going to develop interesting ideas and introduce them into mass operation.
This decision is quite understandable and logical. Despite the obvious gain in time for sending mail from the United States to Mexico or vice versa, rocket mail had a number of serious shortcomings. So, there was a high risk of losing the rocket along with the payload in flight or during a hard landing. Also, the first three launches from the United States showed what a deviation from the desired trajectory can lead to. All this meant that, before full-fledged operation, K. Rambel's project needed the most serious revision, which could hardly be considered expedient.
In addition, in the fall of 1936, the project was left without its creator. Keith Rumbel, 16, entered Rice University after graduation. About a year later, the university sent him to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The student showed a great interest in rocketry and repeatedly conducted various experiments, but no longer intended to launch mail missiles through the Rio Grande.
Envelope and stamp dedicated to the 25th anniversary of K. I. Rambela. Photo Jf-stamps.dk
Thanks to the works of K. Rambel and his colleagues, the philatelic community received a significant number of collection materials. About 2 thousand envelopes with stamps made a real flight on a rocket; some more vignettes did not rise into the air, but they were also of interest to the interested public. Postage marks of the "first international rocket mail" are still found on the respective marketplaces.
Memory
On June 30, 1961, celebrations were held on the border between the United States and Mexico to mark the 25th anniversary of the missile launches. The main event of the holiday was the launch of new rockets from both banks of the river. Six rockets each with new envelopes were launched from the cities of McAllen and Reynosa. The development of rocket technology made it possible to paint the engine exhaust in the colors of the national flags of the two countries.
On special anniversary envelopes there was a drawing of K. Rambel's rocket and corresponding inscriptions. Immediately after the flight, these materials went on sale and soon took their place in the collections.
Five years later, the 30th anniversary of the 1936 launches was celebrated on the shores of the Rio Grande. The round date was marked with a large number of rockets and an increased amount of philatelic materials. As far as we know, in 1966 there were both new envelopes and stamps on board the missiles, as well as materials left over from the previous holiday. In their case, overprints were made over the original drawing with the new date and other information.
For the United States in 1936, rocket mail was an interesting novelty. Among other things, this is why every new project of this kind could become the first in a particular area. Thus, the experiments of R. Kessler became the first in the country, and K. I. Rumbel organized the first international mail forwarding using rockets. All these projects were too daring for their time, and therefore did not receive development. Nevertheless, they occupied an important place in the history of rocketry and mail.
