Pan American Airways Wartime Transatlantic Air Mail: Censorship and the LATI Substitute, written by John Wilson and Frank Walton RDP FRPSL, is a fascinating account of how the USA and UK co-operated during World War II to run a censorship and intelligence-gathering operation on mail travelling between the Axis countries in Europe and countries in Latin America with pro-Axis sympathies. Pan American Airways took the place of the Italian-owned LATI (Linee Aeree Transcontinentali Italiane) transatlantic airmail delivery service, which had started in 1939 but was terminated by the USA following that country’s entry into the war in December 1941. The allied censorship operation was based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has not been the subject of study hitherto. This lavishly illustrated book tells the story of the airmail routes and the censorship process that were developed. The authors used a combination of archival materials and relevant covers to tell its amazing story.
This 312-page paperback (ISBN 978-1-913015-08-4) costs £39 for members of the RPSL and £44 for non-members. Postage is included within the UK and Europe; elsewhere an additional £10 (please check when ordering). The book was published in December 2020. Order from the RPSL website www.rpsl.org.uk/shop
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