| Crash site | Eqalugaarsuit firth, Greenland |
| Airline | U.S. Navy |
| Aircraft | Helicopter ”HUB” |
| Route | – |
| Crew | 1 – 1 survivor |
| Passengers | 1 – 1 survivor |
The crash
The US naval ship USNS Lindenwald (T-LSD-6) was in 1958 operating in the waters west of Greenland. She made supply runs to bases in northern Greenland and the Arctic (the so-called SEA LIFT FOR SECURITY / ARCTIC OPERATIONS 1958).
On August 3 one of her helicopters was returning to the ship with cargo and mail. At 14:30 it hit the stern gate of the ship and fell into the water and sank. The pilot and the ship´s purser were able to free themselves and swam to safety. The plane sank but was quickly raised by the ship’s personnel.
The mail
On board the helicopter were 5 bags with mail. The mail was recovered, dried out and distributed to the rightfull owners.
So far I have not seen any mail addressed to U.S. military personnel.
A part of the mail was philatelic mail forwarded by collectors to get the ship’s cachets. I have seen reference to 200 such covers. The covers were franked with U.S. stamps which were cancelled when the covers came back to United States (machine cancellation BOSTON / MASS. 21 / AUG 18 1958.
Some of the covers were endorsed by typewriter and signed by the purser James Vakshall, who was oboard the helicopter when it crashed.
Examples of mail
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Philatelic cover returned to collector in Belgium with two different cachets from the ship. The stamps are cancelled with the BOSTON machine cancel AUG 18 1958. |
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Philatelic cover returned to collector in U.S.A. with two different cachets from the ship. Also a typewritten endorsement signed by the purser. The stamps are cancelled with the BOSTON machine cancel AUG 18 1958. |
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