Hello, apology for long time between posts but I have been away again. This time a lovely weekend in Hong Kong. I did find time to visit the Mong Kok stamp arcade and enjoy browsing the many stamp shops there. I found quite a few of interest. This lovely mint unhinged pair.

It is SG 707 from the 1950 Centennial of Canterbury commemorative issue. The stamp does not show a 707!!!!, it shows a Lockheed 10 Electra flying over Timaru. Timaru is located 157 kilometres southwest of Christchurch on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island..

The Lockheed 10 Electra is an American twin-engine, all-metal aircraft developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s.  This plane gained considerable fame as one was flown by Amelia Earhart on her ill-fated around-the-world expedition in 1937.

I hope you enjoy seeing this pair. Enjoy your aerophilately.

Michael

cddstamps.com

Hello, yes it has been a while since my last post but as you may recall I have been overseas. One place visited was Scotland, with a side trip to Barra.

Barra is a short-runway airport situated in the wide shallow bay of Triagh Mhor at the northern tip of the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides.  The airport is unique, being the only one in the world where scheduled flights use a beach as the runway.

The beach is set out with three runways in a triangle, marked by permanent wooden poles at their ends. This most always allows the Twin Otters (as shown on the card and the aircraft we flew in on) that serve the airport to land into the wind. At high tide these runways are under the sea. Flight times vary with the tide.

Great experience and one I highly recommend if the opportunity ever presents itself. The card was bought in the tiny village of Castlebay, hand cancelled by the wonderful staff at the local post office, but then with another cancel once the card got into the mail system. The stamp is the new  £1.17 (Scotland) country value definitive.

Best wishes   Michael

 

 

 

A cover tonight. Hope you enjoy seeing this. I am reflecting on how long it took to fly anywhere in these amazing aircraft as I pack for a 5 week trip to the UK.  Over the next 6 weeks I have 12 flights and while I may have some internet access I am not sure if I will get the opportunity to post. But will try, as perhaps there will be some interesting aircraft and even more interesting flights.  Watch this space.

The plane shown on the stamp is a Boeing 314 Clipper. This was a long range flying boat built by Boeing between 1938 and 1941.  It was one of the largest aircraft of its time and had a range for flights across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  Twelve were built for Pan Am, with 9 in service for them and the remaining 3 sold to BOAC

The stamp is SG 569 one of 4 from the 1941 issue

Enjoy your aerophilately… Michael  cddstamps.com

Hello, today one more Great Britain stamp. Primarily because it too is trying to depict two aircraft types. The other day I showed SG 754 and asked if anyone knew what the other aircraft was meant to be.  Yes it was a bit of a “blob” on the top of the jet engine wasn’t it.  It was meant to be a Gloster Whittle E28/39.

And we had a winner, A keen aviation follower from Canada. Well done.

Royal Mail obviously had a theme at the time of showing the main aircraft image with a little “blob” type image. So what is the extra plane, actually three are shown?   Will tell you in the next post.

As for the stamp, it is SG 769 from the 1968 “Anniversaries” issue and shows a Sopwith Camel bi-plane. Obviously, the anniversary in question was the 50^th anniversary of the Royal Air Force.

The plane is an appropriate selection for the anniversary I think.  It was a key aircraft in the RAFs fleet during the First World War and Sopwith pilots are credited with shooting down 1294 enemy aircraft, that is more than any other Allied fighter during the conflict.

Enjoy your aerophilately.. Michael cddstamps.com

Hello, I made reference the other evening to the introduction of the jet engine. Tonight I came across this stamp, so thought I would share it with you.

It is SG 754 from the 1967 British Discovery and Invention issue. Rather nice I think.

It is not too difficult to identify the aircraft, airline and engines is it? I remember this aircraft well, nostalgia eh!

It is a Vickers VC10 with BOAC livery. The VC10  was a long range plane designed and built by Vickers Armstrong and first flown in 1962. The plane was designed to BOAC requirements I believe, which included being able to operate economically on long-distance routes from shorter runways and with the capability for hot and high operations such as at African airports.

As for performance the VC10 achieved the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a jet airliner, a record still held I believe for a sub-sonic plane, of 5 hours and 1 minute; only the Concorde has flown the route faster.

There is also another plane shown on the stamp. So for a competition, what is it?   send your answer to me at cddstamps@gmail.com with your mailing address and I will send the recipient of the first correct answer a small selection of aviation stamps.

Enjoy your stamps and aerophilately.   Best wishes       Michael    cddstamps.com

Hello, I know it has been awhile since I wrote but seeing this stamp today motivated me to show it to you. A lovely stamp I think, showing a Bristol Type 175 Britannica (model 312). This was a medium to long range plane built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952. It was designed for flights across the Atlantic. By the time the development was completed and it started flying, jet aircraft were also starting to enter service,  namely the Boeing 707 so its success in the market place was limited.

However, it was considered by many a major achievement in the development of turbo prop aircraft design and was popular with passengers. It became known as the “whispering Giant” because of its quiet exterior noise and smooth flying.

The stamp is one of three from the 1960 Postal Centenary issue, SG 178 and will shortly be listed in the cddstamps online shop at Hipstamp.com

Enjoy your stamps and your aviation

Michael cddstamps

Hello,  the last few weeks have been very busy and no time at all for stamps. Lots of flying although not on this wonderful aircraft.  Very nostalgic to see this in a a set of 4 from Gibraltar, issued in 2006 to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Gibraltar Airmail Services.

The plane, as no doubt you know, is a Vickers Vanguard. It was a British short/medium-range turboprop airliner introduced in 1959 by Vickers-Armstrongs, a development of their successful Viscount design.

It was introduced into service by BEA in 1960 and I remember flying it many times on the London Edinburgh route. Only 44 were built. The aircraft had very low operating costs per sear mile but with the introduction of jet aircraft they were not to see much further success. They were eventually converted to freighters and did continue to fly well into the 1990s.

One more bit of trivia for you. When the aircraft was configured with a first class cabin, that cabin was at the back of the aircraft. Very unusual I think, as first was traditionally at the front of a plane. Why at the back?  well because it was quieter there.

Enjoy your aerophilately and your flying.       Michael     cddstamps.com

Hello, one more cover with another value of the Airmail stamp issue that I showed on a cover the other evening.

This  cover was released in 1947  to  – as it says on the cover – commemorate the first airmail stamps. I note it has the same mailing address as the cover I showed the the evening so obviously sent to a collector in the US. And, this time the senders address is on the reverse.  I will be in Candon in 12 days time, I wonder if the same family is still there. What a small world!

Back to my theme of  Airmail stamps.  Technically these were not the First Airmail stamps. They were the first Airmails stamps of the Republic of the Philippines. Technicality I think. The first Airmail stamps are considered to be those overprinted values of the 1917-1927 regular issue with the words “AIRMAIL MADRID MANILA 1926”. They were issued by the postal authorities in Manila to commemorate the inaugural flight from Madrid to Manila in 1926 (which took 39 days by the way) by the Spanish aviators Edwardo Gallarza and Joaquin Loriga.

The first regular airmail stamp issue was in 1941 issue. I must try and find a set to add to my collection and show you.

Enjoy your aerophilately

Michael        cddstamps.com

Hello, a very simple cover  to show you today.  Sometimes plain and simple can be the most appealing.

This was issued in June 1948 to commemorate the inauguration of the first terminal  and airport facilities at what became Manila airport  when it came under the ownership of the National Airport Corporation  after the move of the airport from its old location following Philippine Independence.

Perhaps more correctly it was the handover of the terminal and facilities from the US Air Force to the Philippine government.

At the time the facilities were basically just the domestic runway and a small building which served as the passenger terminal.

I have read conflicting views about the terminal: one suggests the site of todays Terminal 2 was where the original terminal facilities were, another suggests the terminal exists today as Terminal 4 and what is often referred to as the Old Domestic Terminal.

Perhaps a reader knows more?

The stamp is the 6c low value from the 1947 Air Mail issue.

Enjoy your aerophilately

Michael        cddstamps.com

Hello and tonight the third of my flight covers for the inaugural of the China Clipper service. This was the second part of my Christmas present to myself. 🙂    It was flown San Francisco to Manila and has the cachet in green showing that detail and the special stamps known as the Transpacific Air mail stamp which was issued by the US Postal service for the occasion.

Some trivia for you. The China Clipper flew 8210 miles from San Francisco to Manila, departing November 22^nd and arriving in Manila on November 29^th after stops in Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island and Guam.  There were 44,346 pieces of mail picked up in San Francisco for onward carriage to Manila.  By comparison the Philippine Airlines flight from Manila to San Francisco takes just over 12 hours covering a route just short of 7000 miles.

While I think the China Clipper flight would be so much fun, I will stay with Philippine Airlines!

Enjoy your aerophilately, and your flying. Am off to Manila in a few days so will write more on return.

Best wishes …. Michael   cddstamps.com