Malott, Richard K. (2009). Canadian Interrupted Flight Covers.

From the very beginning of manned flight, the ability of aircraft to carry mail faster than other methods of conveyance has been recognized and utilized. Inevitably, some of these airplanes, and the mail they were carrying, did not reach their destination, or did not arrive intact. Over the last 30 years Richard K. (Dick) Malott has developed a postal history exhibit, ‘Canadian Interrupted Flight Covers’, of mail carried on planes within, to or from Canada, which crashed at some point during the flight. This exhibit is the subject of the newest book in the BNAPS exhibit series. Included in the collection, among many others, are examples of mail salvaged from interrupted flights at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Toronto, Ontario, Tokyo, Japan and Prestwick, Scotland.Major Richard K. (Dick) Malott, CD, Retired, was born in Windsor, Ontario and grew up in nearby Kingsville. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Science from the United States Air Force Institute of Technology. Dick joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1950 and served as a navigator and logistics officer. He retired from the military after 24 years service and assumed the position of Chief Curator of Collections at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. In 1992 he retired from the Canadian War Museum after 42 years of government service.Dick Malott has specialized in Canadian aerophilately and was the moving force in the formation of the Canadian Aerophilatelic Society, serving for many years as its President. He has exhibited extensively at the national and international level winning numerous Gold and Large Vermeil medals for his air mail exhibits. Dick was the Coordinating Editor of The Air Mails of Canada and Newfoundland volume of the 1997 catalogue of the American Air Mail Society (AAMS).Among other awards, in 2006 Dick’s efforts on behalf of Canadian philately in general, and aerophilately in particular, were recognized when he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the members of the Order of the Beaver of the British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS). He was elected to the American Air Mail Society’s Aerophilatelic Hall of Fame in 1996.Dick’s ‘Canadian Interrupted Flight Covers’ exhibit, the subject of this book, first shown internationally at ITALIA ’85, has progressed from Large Silver to Large Vermeil awards at FIP exhibitions, including the most recent, China 2009. It also received a Gold and the Grand Award at ORAPEX 2006 in Ottawa.