A feature story in the Oct. 4 edition of the Albert Lea Tribune resulted in a reply, plus a rare historical air mail envelope with a local connection from Jim Hanson, manager of the Albert Lea Airport. This is his message:

“Here is the air mail envelope I contacted you about a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, it is dated Jan. 4,1960, and marked ‘First Flight.’ I am aware of the (three) previous attempts, but it appears there was an actual fourth attempt. There is a lot of information to be garnered from the envelope:

“The date is Jan 4,1960. Air mail was even time-stamped to help insure fast service. From the information below, we know that the mail was flown to Minneapolis — and would then be flown by commercial airline to its destination in New York.

“The cover (envelope) is marked AM-107. (AM for “Air Mail”) I tracked down AM-107, it was a series of contracts let to the old Ozark Air Lines for service to smaller communities. …

“The page does not say what kind of aircraft were used, but in 1960, all aircraft used by Ozark were DC-3s except for three jet-props.

“The cover lists ‘Austin-Albert Lea’ but there are two separate contracts – 107N92 for Albert Lea, and 107S91 for Austin. Both were operated by Ozark, and the awardee was Lawrence E. Brase. The figure of ‘3.00’ appears at the right side of the line items. I don’t know the significance of that figure.

“I used to work at Austin Airport, and in the old ‘Terminal Building’ was a ticket counter and teletype hookups for the old Ozark Air Lines. They did operate DC-3s in and out of Austin for a while. Austin received the first ‘Terminal VOR’ navigation aid in the nation to help the airline make instrument approaches. Albert Lea received its first instrument approach in 1964. I built the housing for the radio transmitter. The lack of a terminal building and instrument approach may have had a bearing on Ozark only operating at Albert Lea for a short time.

“As was the custom of the day, note the border of the air mail envelope; it had alternating red and blue stripes to insure special handling. Air mail envelopes were lightweight to save weight. The airmail contractors got paid by the pound. There are many stories of air mail pilots shipping bricks to each other to get the government subsidy. The cost of air mail on the stamp is seven cents. I believe the cost of first-class postage back then was 3 cents. …”

Hanson did some further research and said the price for a first-class one-ounce postage stamp was actually 4 cents in 1960.

He added this note regarding the source of the 49-year-old air mail envelope with a strong local connection.

“I received the envelope from an 86-year-old man who found it in a market in Phoenix. I didn’t know the man but he bought it and sent it to me. ‘It’s my hobby,’ he explained. ‘I thought this should go to someone who would appreciate it.’”

Ozark Air Lines started in 1950 and soon served 25 Midwest localities. Its main hub was St. Louis, Mo. In time, the airline’s aircraft spread out across the nation from California to Florida to New York, but their basic area of service was still in the Midwest. In this area the Ozark firm served the Rochester and Mason City, Iowa, airports. This firm ceased operations in 1986 in a merger with Trans World Airlines.