With around 6,500 letters and postcards aboard his biplane, French pilot Henri Pequet took off from an exhibition ground on February 18, 1911, and flew into Allahabad’s dusk sky, leaving his mark on aviation and postal history.

According to philately experts, this was the first official airmail carried by an airplane in history, and the historic event occurred 114 years ago during the Kumbh Mela in this sacred city.

In over 13 minutes, the plane that took part in this historic flight traveled almost five miles, crossed the Yamuna, and landed at a location close to the Naini Jail. George V, the monarch of the British Empire at the time, and Jawaharlal Nehru, who would go on to become India’s first prime minister, were among the people who received the letters. Numerous commoners and royals were also the recipients of mail.

Each letter had a unique postmark with the words “First Aerial Post, 1911, U. P. Exhibition Allahabad” and an image of an aircraft with mountains. A valuable collector’s item among philatelists worldwide, the shipment also included special commemorative photo postcards signed by Pequet and including pictures of the pilot and the two-seater Humber biplane.

Pequet’s arrival in Naini was a rather low-key event in 1911, in contrast to the enormous crowds that assembled on the banks of Triveni Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and the legendary Saraswati, in Allahabad, which is today known as Prayagraj. Historical documents state that the pilot, who was required to carry a compass device strapped to his lap and a mail bag that fit close to the edge of his seat, gave the sack to a postal officer who was on the landing site.

The letters and postcards were then sent via surface mail—that is, by road, ship, or train—to their various locations, as was the customary postal procedure at the time. Akshat Lal, a young history expert from Prayagraj who has visited the current Kumbh Mela of 2025 many times, explains an interesting connection between his family and the delivery of the first official airmail in history.

“I have a soft copy of a postcard that was flown on that aircraft. It was addressed to my great-grandfather, Asharfi Lall, Esq., and it had the date mark ’18 FE. 11′ and the black postmark ‘First Aerial Post, 1911, U. P. Exhibition Allahabad.'” Lal told PTI today.

From December 1910 to the end of February 1911, the United Provinces Exhibition took place on a site close to the Allahabad Fort, which faced the Sangam. Demonstrations of airplanes were conducted during the display.

Later on, the province was called Uttar Pradesh. On top of a rare half-anna postage stamp featuring the silhouetted image of King Edward VII, whose son George V was coronated in June 1911 and whom Lal traveled to India to attend his coronation durbar in Delhi on December 12 of the same year, Lal also possesses a physical copy of an envelope addressed to someone in Allahabad with the commemorative postmark in magenta.

Prominent author and philatelist Pradip Jain, popularly known as a “aerophilatelist,” is from Patna. He claims that this momentous occurrence, which gives India a position in famous aviation and postal history, coincided with the Kumbh, making it even more significant for India and its citizens. “Aside from the envelope with Jawaharlal Nehru’s name on it that his father sent to him, a lot of the mail was also sent to Bhagalpur and Champaran in the Bihar region, and I have a rare collection of a few of them,” he told PTI.

In his 2002 book “Indian Airmails: Development and Operations (1911-1942),” Jain discussed this 1911 journey and claimed to have a few “signed Pequet postcards.” To commemorate the golden jubilee of that momentous maiden flight, a unique stamp was produced in 1961. In 2011, the Indian government released a commemorative postal miniature sheet to recognize the centennial of this event.

Additionally, I gave a discussion on this topic in an international online conference on February 18 of this year. The discussion was held while the Kumbh was in motion, which was a suitable homage to the 1911 flight, he noted. This year, the religious gathering will last for 45 days, starting on January 13 and ending on February 26. Data released by the Uttar Pradesh government shows that since its inception, more than 60 crore individuals have taken a holy plunge in the Triveni Sangam. A unique dye produced in Aligarh was used to create the magenta postmark for the 1911 event.

According to specialists, this dye was allegedly burned later to create the letters and postcards that Pequet carried, which are now rare even after 114 years. According to Jain, who was in his early seventies, black ink was employed “for the privileged few, while some had it both magenta and black,” while the magenta cachet or postmark was uncommon.

The 1911 incident, which coincided with Kumbh that year, was recently recognized by the Ministry of Communication as perhaps the “sangam” of India’s postal history and spiritual legacy. These letters are live records of the era in which they were written. Numerous letters have been turned into literary pages. Even though postal services are now transported by air over the globe, their history is inextricably tied to the Kumbh and Prayagraj, the statement said. In a time when international travel was a pipe dream, these letters helped to establish the idea of globalization. The government said that the airmail service gave people’s dreams flight in addition to giving the letters wings.