Hello, I hope you enjoy seeing this stamp tonight. It was issued in 1976 to commemorate the inaugural Avianca 747 flight. Avianca is the national airline and flag carrier of Colombia. It is reported as being the first Latin America airline to operate the 747 but there is also a view that  VIASA / KLM was also the first. Whatever, it is the 2nd oldest airline in  the world after KLM.

One reason I particularly like this stamp is the background colour of a yellowish  shade. So many aviation themed stamps show blue skies. How different is this.  I think it I rather attractive.

Enjoy your stamps.   Michael cddstamps.com

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Hello,  I found this today.  Interesting?     I do not think the perfs have been cut but I do not know anything about stamps from Yugoslavia and the only other copies I have seen of this stamp have always had full perfs. Perhaps this was from a booklet?

Anyway, it was issued in a Postal Services issue in 1990. SG 2596 and shows an ATR aircraft. This plane and variants of the model are built by a French / Italian aircraft manufacturer in Toulouse France. ATR is short for Avions de Transport, or Regional Air Transport in English  Nice little addition to the aviation album.

Have a wonderful weekend   Michael         cddstamps.com

 

 

Hello, A new addition to my aircraft on stamps collection thanks to a very kind collector I have sent stamps to in Malaysia.

This is SG 1274, issued in a set of 7 in 1980 to commemorate the World Aerobatic Championship which was held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA.

It shows a Zlin Z-526  Akrobat which is a Czech sports plane.  Quite an amazing plane I believe. Note the interesting aerobatic formation flying shown on the stamp.

I am tempted to look for the complete set now I have seen this.

Enjoy your aerophilately     Michael cddstamps.com

Hello, just showing these tonight. I do hope you like them. Not exactly that difficult to find but nice all the same. I was lucky enough to get them on my recent UK visit.

For me 🙂  just nostalgia really.  The BEA aircraft and flights,  so many years back now 🙂

enjoy your aerophilately         Michael               cddstamps.com

 

Hello, just back from the UK and thought you might enjoy seeing these. The 1st value se-tenant and, lucky for me, nicely cancelled.

Tomorrow will show some more from this issue.

Michael     cddstamps.com

Hello,  this stamp bring back sad memories but none the less I am showing it because it is an aviation related stamp and history is history after all.  Issued in 1970, one of a set of 4 to commemorate the Inauguration of the Posts and Telecommunications Corporation.  It is hard to believe that when it was issued, showing the Viscount, named “Hunyani”, tail  VP-WAS,  the plane would have such a sad ending 8 years later.

Its last flight was Air Rhodesia flight 825 in September 1978, operating a scheduled passenger flight from Victoria Falls to the capital Salisbury. On the last leg from Kariba it suffered a hit on its starboard wing from a surface to air missile fired by the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA).  The plane crash landed in a field. Of the 52 passengers and 4 crew, 38 died in the crash. It was reported that 10 more passengers were shot by the guerillas. 8 passengers survived by hiding in the bush.

ZIPRA leader Joshua Nkomo publicly claimed responsibility for shooting down the plane in an interview with the BBC’s Today programme the day following the shooting down of the plane, saying the aircraft had been used for military purposes. And for the history record, this was the first of two Air Rhodesia civilian Viscount aircraft his guerillas shot down, the second was in the following February.

There is history to our stamps, sometimes not so pleasant, but it is there none the less.

Michael  cddstamps.com

Hello, one more Sydney Hong Kong cover. This from 1949 and for the survey flight in March before the opening of the commercial route in June. The aircraft was a Skymaster,  a Douglas DC4,  tail VH-BPA.

However, having written that I should say I have read conflicting information because according to the DC4 Association of South Africa, this aircraft was registered after purchase by Qantas Empire Airways in February 1949 as VH-EBL, and named “Hong Kong Trader”

The Association says the Survey flight operated on 3rd March  Sydney Darwin Labuan Hong Kong.  As you can see this cover is dated 15th March  and clearly backstamped 17th March.

The Australia Air Mail catalogue quotes the pilot as Captain E C Sims and that the flight flew via Manila and reached Hong Kong on 17th March after leaving Sydney on 15th March.   The Associate quotes the pilot as being Captain E Simms.  I wonder which is correct spelling and why the Association has a 3rd March date?  Perhaps a reader will know.

One final piece of trivia, this aircraft, I believe, had the distinction of being owned and operated by all four Australian airlines. Trans Australia Airlines, British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, Qantas Empire Airways, and Ansett ANA.

Enjoy your aerophilately and your flying   Michael     cddstamps.com   cddstamps@gmail.com

 

 

A few new stamps, as in new issue, released in October 2017.. but only picked up by me when I was in Sydney recently.

Thought you might enjoy seeing these. Some nostaglia with the aircraft types shown.

The stamps were issued to show the Island’s civil aviation history and each stamp represents a “chapter” of this history from 1939 to the 1970s.

Best wishes Michael

I hope you enjoy seeing this first flight cover.  Flown on the inaugural Qantas Empire Airways (QEA)  flight from Sydney to Hong Kong on 26 June 1949. The aircraft used was a Douglas DC-4 Skymaster, Tail number VH-EBM, named Pacific Trader.  The total flight time was 23 hours, 45 minutes. The cover is signed by Captain J M Hampshire. The flight arrived Hong Kong via Labuan (now a federal territory of Malaysia) on 27^th June.

The blue/grey vignette was produced for the flight by QEA. The QEA logo was printed on the reverse, this envelope being QEA company stationery.

A little bit of trivia: In 1938, the Douglas Aircraft Co. decided to produce a four-engine transport about twice the size of the DC-3. It developed the single DC-4E to carry 42 passengers by day or 30 by night. The DC-4E had complete sleeping accommodations, including a private bridal room.

It proved too expensive to maintain, so airlines agreed to suspend development in favor of the less complex DC-4, which was not put into commercial service until 1946. Its military derivative was the C-54 ”Skymaster” transport, ordered by the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942.  After World War II, commercial airlines placed more than 300 civilian DC-4 transports into service. Airlines to fly the DC4 included United, Pan Am,  Northwest, KLM, SAS, Swissair, Air France, Sabena, Iberia and SAA as well as QEA.

Douglas built 1,241 of the DC-4s and its military counterparts.

Enjoy your aerophilately and your flying.   Michael  cddstamps.com

Hello, I read a piece on Singapore Airlines aircraft,  notably the 747,  on stamps so thought I would show this.

A bit of nostalgia with these 747s.  Nice to see them on stamps and a lovely reminder of the plane – SQ operated their last commercial 747 flight SIN – HKG – SIN  – as far as I know – on 6 April 2012, seems so many years ago.

One of my favourites is this Cathay 747 on the 1984 Aviation in Hong Kong cover, shown below. The plane is shown landing at Kai Tak.

Enjoy your aerophilately

Michael  cddstamps.com      PS  if you haven’t got this cover or these stamps why not look in the cddstamps online  here    or just visit the store here and browse or search using in the Search Keyword box, using either SG or Scott catalogue numbers for the stamps you need to fill a few gaps in your collection.