The 2nd example, at 6:06, shows the incorrect cover. See the post in the Community section for the correct one. www.youtube.com/@tedtalksstamps/community
The early U.S. mail crash covers you presented reminds me of the book, The Airmail, Jennies to Jets, (1951) by Benjamin B Lipsner. It's a great read. Thank you both for this very interesting subject matter.
It amazes me that there are so many crashes. Would be interesting to look into those that have a important signature ie that pilot[what happened to him]. Do many crash covers come in with the contents..? And what about packets with contents in them ,not just letters.
Remember, crash mail is still mail, and it gets delivered to the addressees whenever possible. The covers that enter the hobby came via original owners or family members that hung on to the covers because of the unusual circumstances. Whether they still contain the original correspondence would depend, I guess, on the particular correspondence.
Usually the contents is not with a cover. In the case of the TWA crash off Long Island, NY on Julu 17, 1996, there is an item known, which was a book being sent in a post office box. The only thing recovered was part of the box with the address on it alng with a U. S. Post Office letter, one in English and one in French (the flight was going to Paris). The book was missing.
Other than an incident during a training flight in 1973, before it went into passenger service (1976), there was only one Concord crash, the Paris crash of July 2000, and it was not carrying any mail.
