On October 15-15, 1952 the long-awaited helicopter service in the New York area was inaugurated by New York Airways, utilizing Sikorsky S-55 equipment. The initial service was a circular shuttle service from LaGuardia Airport to Idlewild (New York International) Airport to Newark Airport and then returning to LaGuardia Airport. Flights operated in both a clockwise and counter-clockwise direction.
On June
8, 1953 service was inaugurated on Segment S serving various points in central New
Jersey. Official cachets were applied to covers at all points.
This cover was carried on the inaugural Air Mail Route 111 flight from Princeton, New Jersey to Newark, New Jersey (where it was backstamped) and is listed in the Contract Air Mail (CAM) Section of The American Air Mail Catalogue as 111-24.
The Princeton Postmaster autographed the cover.
The Air Mail Route 111 service was discontinued in
1968 because it was not profitable, but resumed February 1977 only to close
again three months later when the landing gear of a large 30-passenger
helicopter collapsed as passengers were about to board and one of its rotor blades
broke off, killing four people on the heliport and a pedestrian on the street.