It was painted blue in 1983 to commemorate the association of the Post Office (now a separate entity from Royal Mail who put your mail through your letterbox) with British aviation and also, as it it states on the plaque on the side of the box, in support of the Manchester Aerospace Museum, now the Air and Space Hall, Museum of Science and Industry. 
This box was painted blue because blue post boxes did exist once, it wasn't just a fancy whim - they were in use for only eight years, from 1930 to 1938, until air services had expanded to the extent that such pillar boxes were essentially redundant. There is an original blue air mail box outside Windsor Castle, which I'm sure is lovely, but without as much love that has gone into this one. Below is a design from a poster advertising the Air Mail service (thanks to Postal Heritage for the image) - I don't know who designed this (if anyone knows please let me know) but it puts me in mind of the great Abram Games.
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4 comments:
a blue pillar box - not seen one of those before - must take a trip down there sometime.
Fascinating, I hadn't heard of blue post boxes before.
That's really interesting, and I just adore the 1930s poster--lovely clean lines.
You know, reading this, I vaguely remember seeing one of these when I were a nipper. I guess it must have been the one at Windsor.
I live near there and I was a bit baffled by the Blue Post Box... thanks for clearing that up!
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