An international air mail and aero space exhibition under its official name,
AEROPEX was first held in New York, NY on June 10/12, 1966 at the Americana Hotel.
It was an international philatelic exhibition encompassing the complete sphere of
air mail collecting from balloon mail, to pigeon mail, to zeppelins up to modern
rocket and space collecting. AEROPEX was held under the auspices of the Federation
Internationale des Aerophilateliques (FISA). "The Jack Knight Air Mail Society,"
"the Rocket Mail Society,""Aero Philatelists," and the "American Air Mail Society"
hosted this philatelic exhibition.
Over thirty two societies and clubs in FISA participated in this exhibition
coming from Europe, Africa, South and North America. FISA was organized to promote
the development of aero philately on an international level and to serve as a
clearing house for the many problems in the field of aerophilatelic collecting.
During the three day AEROPEX exhibition there was a continuing program of
lectures, seminars and film showings encompassing every phase of aerophilately and
astrophilately. As a special highlight to the exhibition, commemorative envelopes
with special cachets and AEROPEX cancellation were dispatched on June 10, 1966 on
a journey round-the-world to arrive back at the end of the gathering on June 12th
for sale to collectors.
The air mail covers were carried on United Air Lines DC-8F Cargo flight (#995)
between New York NY and San Francisco CA and then transferred to regularly scheduled
Pan American Airways round-the-world flight (#1) service. They arrived back in New
York NY on June 12, 1966. Air Mail and flight travel ceased to be thought of in
terms of distance and miles and began to be thought of in terms of time and days.