Aircraft on Covers

The aircraft in the cachet of this cover is a Seversky P-35.  It is unusual to see it on a cover or stamp.  The P-35 was designed in 1935 as a fighter for the U.S. Army Air Corps and after a redesign and a more powerful engine it went into production.  The USAAC made an initial order of 76 in 1938 and P-35's saw combat over the Philippine Islands when the Japanese attacked in 1941.  They were no match for the Japanese Zero, however, and most all were lost.  The airplane was fast for its time, 285 mph top speed, and U.S. aviatrix Jacqualine Cochran set a speed record on December 3, 1937 flying a modified civilian version of the P-35, labeled a Servesky Executive, between Bennett Field, Brooklyn, NY and Miami, Florida.  Her flying time was 4 hours, 12 minutes at an average speed of 278 mph.  The USPS issued a stamp honoring Ms. Cochran and picturing her airplane.

This cover is an airmail event cover, (Coldwater, Ohio, airport dedication), but it has another collectible characteristic that appeals to me.   That is its airmail border design.  I also collect covers with variant airmail borders.  This one I call the Thunderbird border for the distinctive eagle-like bird at the top and bottom center.  The design was copyrighted in 1929 by Carl Becker of Minneapolis, MN.  My collection of different airmail borders exceeds 250 at last count.  I'll post some of them in a new thread in the near future. 

SH



The Jacqualine Cochran stamp,

I've had this cover for several years and it remains one of my favorites for its dramatic depiction of a Curtiss Model 60 A-12 "Shrike."  Ornithologists on the forum would tell us that Shrikes are aggressive, carnivorous birds with strident voices and a predatory nature.  Curtiss named many of its designs after birds and, perhaps, hoped  its Model 60 A-12 would live up to its name and become a formidable aircraft in the U.S. Army Air Corps' fleet of fighters. It was the USAAC's first low-wing fighter and entered service in 1932.  A squadron of Shrikes was still operational in Hawaii in December 1941.  I have always thought that the cover originally carried registration materials for the postmasters convention. 

SH

Hi Kosmo: 

Very nice cover.  The aircraft looks like a Sukhoi SU-26, one of the world's top competitive aerobatic airplanes. 

The only Russian aircraft cover I have is the one below with a cachet depicting an Ilyushin ll-86, a medium range, wide body airliner with a capacity of 350 passengers.  It entered service with Aeroflot in 1979.

SH 

Here is a recent acquisition for my Aircraft on Covers collection.  I have tentatively identified the airplane as a Lockheed 8 Sirius 8. It first flew in 1929, used a 450 hp engine and had a top speed of 185 mph with a range of 495 miles.  The cover probably carried a press release about the air maneuvers to be held in Florida in December 1935.  

Don StampHinger

I have mentioned before that I keep some of the contemporary advertising covers that I receive.  This is one that fits this thread.  It depicts a Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" in flight.  I have a few other covers with B-17s on them, but none that match the color and realism of this one which is reproduced from a photograph.  The downside is it is a #10 envelope which makes mounting a little more difficult, but I just mount them vertically on a page with the write-up to the side.  The Commemorative Air Force used this cover to solicit money for its restorations of WW II aircraft.  The free gift referenced on the front was a sheet of address labels.  The airplane inside the address box is part of the  cover's  address label.  It is a Douglas C-47 "Sky Train", the military designation for the DC-3.  It almost looks as if it is flying in formation with the B-17.  

StampHinger Don

Hi kasvik:

I was wondering if the cover, perhaps, carried an order for stamps or a mail bid for an auction, or maybe was even personal correspondence.  Is there a return address on the reverse?  

Junkers certainly designed and manufactured some significant airplanes over the years.  I agree the F 13 was one of the iconic aircraft of the 1920s and early 1930s.  My 1st edition Stanley Gibbons Collect Aircraft on Stamps lists 24 countries that have featured a F 13 on its stamps.  That number is probably higher in the 2nd edition. 

Don

This first flight cover is on commercial stationery, but being unaddressed it is certainly philatelic in origin.  It may have been produced by a corporate stamp club.  The philatelic occasion is the first flight of the Convair XP5Y-1.  First, Convair is a contraction for Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp.  The X in front of the aircraft designation (P5Y-1) indicates the airplane was still experimental in nature.  The design dated back to the late WW II period when the U.S. Navy sought a long-range, multi-purpose flying boat and this was Convair's bid for a contract, which it won in May 1946.  When fitted with advanced radar and capable of caring bombs, mines, rockets and torpedoes, its purpose was anti-submarine patrol and attack.  The first flight was April 18, 1950 as per the post mark.  Unfortunately for Convair, the Navy decided to not develop its air anti-submarine warfare program, but wanted to convert the design type to passenger and cargo use.  The XP5Y-1 thus morphed into the R3Y-1 Tradewind.  The XP5Y-1 never went into production and the prototype crashed off San Diego in July 1953.  Consequently, this cover is probably the only philatelic recognition the XP5Y-1 ever received. 

In reference to my last post commenting on airmail borders, I also collected this cover for its different airmail border of three red and blue lines being pulled across the envelope from left to right by another Convair aircraft, the Model 240 Convairliner  

Don StampHInger

This 1934 TWA “Demonstration Flight,” is a somewhat different kind of flight cover. I don't remember ever seeing anything similar.  In 1933, TWA ordered 20 Douglas DC-2s for it routes. The airplane mentioned in the demonstration flight cachet is probably one of those airplanes and this cover appears to have been carried on that flight in 1934. It is postmarked February 18, 1934 at 9pm. On the reverse are two NYC general delivery receiving cancels dated February 19th, but no hour.  Unfortunately, without the hour postmark we cannot know if the flight was within the fifteen-hour duration mentioned in the cachet, but it was surely close.


I don’t remember when or where I bought this cover, but the large image of a Boeing Model 200 Monomail on the front motivated me to purchase it for my Aircraft on Covers collection. The image is a cut out, probably from an aviation magazine, pasted on the envelope and then carefully outlined in red ink. It certainly makes the cover stand out, but it does nothing to add to the cover's theme, i.e. the demonstration flight. Boeing designed the Model 200 Monomail in 1930 specifically to carry airmail. It had three compartments capable of holding a total of 220 cubic feet of mail. The airplane was an advanced design that featured a low cantilever wing, a retractable landing gear, and an anti-drag engine cowling. Its powerful 575hp engine gave it a 140mph cruise. Boeing later redesigned the aircraft to carry eight passengers and redesignated it as a Model 221A. The 221As were used by Boeing Air Transport, the forerunner of United Air lines.


There is a return address on the reverse and it was probably this sender who enhanced the cover with the paste-on cut out. I have another three or four homemade flight covers that I will post when I come across them.


The front with a Douglas DC-2 in the cachet, and the paste-on, a Boeing Model 200 Monomail.


The reverse of the cover

Well You say Aircraft on covers so I suppose Airships count?  USS Akron Coast to coast 1932   Lakehurst to San Diego 



 

with a nice  "AIRMAIL SAVES TIME " slogan cancel for San Diego arrival on the back. 



As a small bonus , a previous owner has enclosed a newspaper cutting, London Evening Standard,  dated April 4 1933 


" BIGGEST AIRSHIP CRASHES...……... with 77 on board "