Aerogram

Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Evans first saw the air letter form in Iraq, whilst touring the Commands after his arrival in the Middle East theatre.

It had been introduced into the Iraqi postal service in 1933 by the then Inspector General of Posts and Telegraphs, Major Douglas William Gumbley CBE DSO Royal Engineers.

Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Evans, Royal Engineers, Assistant Director Army Postal Service Middle East Force (MEF), proposed that a lightweight self-sealing letter card that weighed only 1/10 oz (2.8 g) be adopted by the British Army for air mail purposes.

[3] On 1 March 1941, the air mail service between the Middle East and the UK was started, using a combination of British Overseas Airways flying boats and military transport.

[6] Linn's Stamp News in late 2006 reported that the United States Postal Service had announced as the supply of aerograms on hand at post offices were exhausted the stock would not be replenished.

[10][11] Historically, as the aerogram was the least expensive form of international postal communication, users often went to extreme lengths to make best use of the space available including writing in different colours, in different directions, and printing on the sheets minimising font size and margins.