keeping with the Letter A

Hello,  well lets stay with the letter A because I  like this stamp.  Will anyone  know the aircraft?   Not an easy one  I think.

Nice to see some  readers writing to me and thanks Jose for  naming last nights aircraft correctly, from Australia – it was a Winjeel trainer.  It was developed by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Victoria to replace the Tiger Moth and the Wirraway.  Interesting fact is that it was so stable an aircraft to fly that it was difficult to spin, and with this being a required part of pilot training the tail had to be redesigned. Sixty two production aircraft were built.

Enjoy    Michael  cddstamps.com

 

one from Australia

I thought I would try  to show a plane from a country by alphabet, so we will start with  A  for  Australia.     I am not saying the plane was actually manufactured in the country, just that the plane is on a stamp from that country, although this aircraft was  designed and manufactured in Australia.    It flew for nearly 40 years and some  are around still in private collections and in a few museums, and one is at Wagga Wagga!    ok no more clues. 🙂    What is it?

Michael  cddstamps.com

 

 

 

Just read the news today, oh boy

I cannot help but think of that opening line is a very famous song.  I was listening to the news this morning – 2nd April here as I write – and heard that BA were  standing down some 30,000 plus staff.  Qantas and hundreds of other airlines (and tens of thousands of other business of course) are doing the same.  How awful, how sad, how emotionally challenging for the staff and families, and then the flow though effect, the accelerator effect but in the negative. I really do not think the powers that be, wherever they be, have thought through the implications.  I don’t talk politics but philately and aerophilately can only  be a diversion, and a pleasure I hope, for so long.

The ramifications of the global pandemic are beyond most peoples imagination I feel.

I will try to show more aviation  and aerophilately related material on a more frequent basis going forward – something for you to come back to enjoy seeing I hope.

Stay safe everyone   Michael

BWIA, just one more

 

One more from my  Trinidad and Tobago stock that I thought would be nice to see.

This is from the 1975 issue to commemorate the 35th Anniversary of BWIA.    My first comment is that I chose this because it is not often that you see images of  aircraft on stamps  with the aircraft  departing so to speak.  Usually, I think,  the aircraft is seen as coming towards the viewer, not going away from the viewer.

And why the 707 which appears on all three of the stamps in this issue?  I suspect because it was in 1975 that the airline restarted a service to London with  the 707.

And if anyone has any nostalgia seeing this, then have a look at https://www.facebook.com/BWIAimages/    some brilliant images of the aircraft from back in the day!

Enjoy your stamps and your areophilately    Michael    cddstamps.com 

 

 

Trinidad and Tobago – Sunjet

Hello, I am embarrassed to see that it is 2 months since I last wrote. I had no idea  it was that long ago. And  hasn’t a lot happened since then.   Took a lot of flights,   corona virus reared its ugly head, have been in self isolation / quarantine for the past few weeks and  somehow just never made the time for writing here.   Yes I have been busy  actually listing stamps for the online store –   collectors kept buying  and I just has to replenish stock and add some new  material.

But time for this page. I found this one tonight. I hope you enjoy seeing it. It is a Boeing 727-100 of  what was BWIA  (and a few other names over the years) . It has an interesting history dating back to 1939 when it was originally formed as British West Indian Airways, until its demise in December 2006.   

Over the years it flew  various aircraft starting with the Lockheed Lodestar, the Vickers Viscount, Boeing 707’s Lockheed Tristars L1011-500s a even a 747-100 in the later years.

BWIA used the 727, nicknamed the Sunjet from 1964. These were its first aircraft of the jet age and were used on the New York route, replacing the  Viscounts.

I  hope everyone is healthy and safe in these difficult times and spending time enjoying their stamps and aviation related interests.

Michael     www. cddstamps.com

 

Hello, here is a lovely stamp. One of a set of 4 issued in 1994 to commemorate  aviation pioneers. I found this while looking through a box of odds and ends.  No idea what happened to the other three.

This one shows Freda Thompson who became known largely because she was the first Australian woman to fly solo from England to Australia.

Quite an amazing  aviator. She made her first flight nearly 90 years ago on 28 May 1930. She obtained  her ‘A’ Licence later that year and in 1932  her ‘B’ Commercial Pilot licence, She was the fifth woman in Australia to hold that license.   She qualified as a flying instructor in 1933 and was reported as the first woman in the British Empire to obtain an instructors licence.

In April 1934 she sailed for England to collect a new de Havilland Moth, which she named Christopher Robin. It had been fitted with long range fuel tanks for the journey to Australia.  She had accumulated over 250 hours of flying experience by that time. On 28 September 1934 and flying solo she left Lympne in Kent for the journey to Australia.  The trip took 39 days with the actual flying time being 19 days because she damaged her plane G-ACUC (VH-UUC) when she made a precautionary landing at Megara in Greece and had to wait for spare parts to repair the wing before flying on to Australia. She arrived in Darwin on 6 November, and at Mascot, Sydney on 20 November 1934. She died in the UK in 1980.

Bristol Beaufort Bomber

One more from that Belize issue. this is the Bristol Beaufort bomber. It was primarily a  submarine / torpedo bomber. Sad history though, it flew more hours in training than on operational missions and more were lost through accidents and mechanical failures than were lost to enemy fire.

Have a  wonderful weekend and if you have time please enjoy looking at our online store and  why not try  typing aircraft into the search keyword field. – you might find something of interest.

A Wellington Bomber

Tonight, here is a stamp I found in a set from Belize. This is of course is a Wellington. Amazing aircraft in my view, and I think I may have said this before, especially when you are standing close to one when it is starting up. Just me having nostalgic memories or an airshow at Temora in NSW Australia.

Anyway this is from the 1990 Belize issue to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. I could write pages more but perhaps this is enough.

I hope you enjoy seeing it.  Michael     cddstamps.com

 

Hello, Hope you like seeing this stamp.   So many memories of this aircraft. Sometimes nostalgia just takes over… saw this and remembered fondly, many years back at BEA / British Airways.  Won’t bore you with details of it  I am sure you  have the memories as well.  Stamps are so much more than just pieces of paper

Michael  cddstamps.com

Hello and Happy New Year. I am embarrassed to say I have not posted for 3 months.  You know when you get busy ……….. some things just drop by the wayside. This blog  has been one. However  I want  2020 to be a new beginning so I hope you like this cover.

It is an unopened envelope – dated for First Flight on 20th Nov 1957 which did not happen  and there is the new postal cancel date added to the cover.  It is a First Flight Cover for the Round the World Flight on the Super Constellation – Southern Aurora VH-EAO – Sydney via USA – London – Sudney and  Back-stamped – Sydney on return – AAMC 1386  from the 2008 edition  shows that 37, 847 covers were carried.

This is just one of some clean covers I have for sale in the online shop.  This year I would like to  start promoting some of the  aerophilatelic  items I have in the shop as well as write about aviation and  philately, and hopefully some collectors will  find a nice addition to their collection. as well as enjoy reading my ramblings!

I look forward to seeing you in the shop and wish everyone a happy health and prosperous 2020.

\Michael  cddstamps.com