Q12 Febuary 2, 2006    non member I have the attached two covers from Kuwait, dated 6 April 1945 and 2 July 1945, to Switzerland. Both travelled via Egypt and were censored in both Kuwait and Egypt. I would like to know whether the air cancel with six bars and five bars (in red) was used in Egypt or in UK and the reason for such cancel? R1  Febuary 11, 2006 member 240 I know nothing of the postal rates in operation at the time, except that both covers were furnished with the same postage - 1 rupee, 5 1/2 annas - comprising all Kuwait overprints on India for the later cover, and a combination of Kuwait overprints and one Indian stamp on the earlier. It seems that this was not enough to defray Air Mail carriage for the full journey, for the red bars have been applied to cancel the Air Mail indicator at some stage. Ian McQueen's Jusqu'a Airmail Markings (1993) illustrates precisely this marking as being used in London from 1945-47, in red, and comments: "There were several roller cancels of six bars which were used in London, though because of the way they were used it is very difficult to distinguish between them. This illustration is from a cover from Malaya to Massachusetts in 1945. Sometimes the roller was so imperfectly applied that only five of the six bars are visible."

Illustration from Jusqu'a Airmail Markings