PAPUA POST on 4 September 1937 issued four stamps to mark the coronation of King George VI. This particular First Day Cover was registered and posted from Port Moresby (British colony) to an address in Wau, Papua (Dutch colony). Guinea Airways delivered the letter. Note the air mail sticker is in Dutch and French.
In 1937, Guinea Airways had a Junker Ju 86 eight-passenger airliner flown from Germany in March 1937. It was the final Australian pre-war Junkers. Although it may seem to be a surprising aircraft type to bring to Australia for demonstration and hopefully sale, at that time the Ju 86 looked to be a viable all-metal airliner smaller than the DC-2 for services with lower passenger loadings. Australian Transcontinental Airlines proposed using Ju 86s on its Adelaide-Darwin routes and a small Melbourne airline Southern Airlines and Freighters Ltd had big plans to compete with ANA by importing seven Ju 86 airliners. SA&F Director Ian H. Grabowsky had previous flown Junkers aircraft with Guinea Airways in New Guinea.
After World War II, a lone Junker was still flying the Junior VH-UCC. It flew with a series of private owners for the next 40 years and today rests in a German aviation museum. Following WWII the only Junker aircraft imported were three Ju 52/3m trimotors purchased in 1955 from Sweden by Gibbes Sepik Airways for freight work in New Guinea.
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