YESTERDATE
The Calcutta-Dacca (Dhaka) Air Mail service was inaugurated on this day when “a Dragon Plane the Ruby” of Indian National Airways left “Dum Dum aerodrome” at 7am, with four passengers and 5 1/2 lbs of mail consisting of about 176 items, says the December 1933 issue of the monthly bulletin The Indian Air Mail Society. Covers had on them the two following lines: First Official Flight Indian National Airways.
The Ruby arrived in Dhaka at 8.20am. The despatch postmark on the covers was of November 30. The delivery postmark was of December 1.
The first return flight from Dhaka took place on the same day with the Ruby leaving Dhaka at 3pm and reaching Dum Dum at 5.30pm, with three passengers and 32 lbs of mail.
The founder of Indian National Airways was British industrialist R.E. Grant Govan, also co-founder of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Cricket Club of India. A government airmail contract was the basis on which the airline had been formed.