Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
There’s nothing unusual about the cover in a philatelic sense. Like most FFCs, it carried no message and was intended to carried from Albany, New York State, to Montreal, and returned to the sender. I think there’s a name for such covers — Returned Cover?
It appeals to me is it illustrates the interest that the general public had in aviation in the early years, before airmail and air travel became common. The addition of the squadron of tiny paper airplane images, attached with what I assume was mucilage (remember mucilage?), made it necessary to add the cover to my collection. The little airplane cutouts look somewhat like Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. That wouldn't be surprising — the cover is postmarked October 1, 1928, just a year and a half after Lindbergh's New York - Paris flight.
It joins several other covers and picture postcards in my collection that show how airplanes and airports were treated like almost like theme parks, and airplane trips like carnival rides. I have a few postcards that stewardesses handed to passengers, who wrote messages on them and addressed them. The messages often read along these lines: "Hi, Grandma! I can see your house. My airplane is more than a thousand feet above you!" The stewardesses collected the completed postcards before landing, and the airline would mail them at no charge.
It seems that almost every airport in the country published its own postcards. Here’s a Metrocraft postcard picturing a scene at New York City’s municipal airport, La Guardia. Great plane watching, especially at mealtimes!
I don’t think that many people these days go to the airport just for sight seeing, but there is an apparently dedicated group of photographers who spend a lot of time at the end of the main runway at Vancouver International Airport (VCR) to photograph planes as they take off and fly overhead.
I’m old enough to remember tagging along with my wanna-be pilot/father to look at airplanes whenever possible. Once, when my family was passing through Albuquerque (I was about 14), Dad asked for and got permission to board a TWA Constellation. I well remember the scent of the leather-upholstered pilot’s seat, its warmth against my back as I sat in it. Dust motes danced in the air. Outside, the main runway disappeared in the distance. How I wanted to stay there. And then…
About five years later, following my training as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy, I got orders to fly to Japan for a two-year tour of duty at the Navy hospital in Yokosuka, location of the main Japanese naval base during the Second World War. The aircraft that flew me to Japan, via Hawaii and Wake Island, was a Military Air Transport Service (MATS) C-121 Constellation. More than an hour out of Hawaii, I asked the steward if I could see the cockpit. “Sure,” he said.”Just knock on the door.” Maybe he said “hatch,” not “door,” which would have better Navy lingo. So I knocked on the door, which was made of light plywood. The co-pilot answer, listened to my request to see the cockpit, and said, pointing to his sea, “Have a seat! I’m going to have a cup of coffee.” He left, and I sat in his seat. For the next hour! I saw the coastline of the first of the Hawaiian Islands we approached before the captain did. I took this picture after we landed on Wake Island for refuelling and breakfast:
Bob
P.S. Longtime members of Stamporama have probably seen my Constellation photo and read about that particular adventure. But new members might be interested. I hope.
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And here in UK, people do still go to watch aircraft taking off and landing. In Cornwall, on the Lizard, there's a big RNAS base called Culdrose- it's the home base for the Merlin Helicopter Force, the Royal Navy’s anti-submarine warfare helicopter fleet. It is also a major training establishment for the Fleet Air Arm. It employs 3000 people ... and there's a viewing area outside the perimeter fence. We go to the Lizard from time to time and I've often seen cars parked at the viewing area.
We also go very frequently to Kemble in Gloucestershire - home to the Cotswold Airport, no less. Heathrow it's not! It's just a big airfield really, now used for private fliers and light aircraft. But during the covid period there were dozens of 747s, unable to fly because of the lockdown, lined up along the runway. And again, there's a viewing area - a layby actually - which is busy enough to support a catering van - he's there every day providing tea and burgers etc to the enthusiasts who turn up to see whatever comes from the skies. The van is called the Jet Roadside Cafe.
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Strider....I am very familiar with the area around Kemble airfield.Before I moved to Ecuador in 2012,.I had a delivery job and almost every day drove past this airfield.Numerous planes made their last trip there before being broken down for spare parts.
Anglobob
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On youtube, there are multiple people that have live airport feeds showing landing and takeoffs from airports. They love wobbly and crab landings in the cross winds, go arounds, etc. with critiques of landings and lots of colorful comments (queen of the sky (aka 747), etc).
You can go to liveatc.net and listen to live and recorded airport communications from around the world.
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Earlier today I posted images of the two high-value Canada Large Queens in pairs. I’ve always liked offbeat stamps and covers; the 50-cent pair certainly is “offbeat”. Here’s another interesting item, a first-flight cover (FFC):
There’s nothing unusual about the cover in a philatelic sense. Like most FFCs, it carried no message and was intended to carried from Albany, New York State, to Montreal, and returned to the sender. I think there’s a name for such covers — Returned Cover?
It appeals to me is it illustrates the interest that the general public had in aviation in the early years, before airmail and air travel became common. The addition of the squadron of tiny paper airplane images, attached with what I assume was mucilage (remember mucilage?), made it necessary to add the cover to my collection. The little airplane cutouts look somewhat like Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. That wouldn't be surprising — the cover is postmarked October 1, 1928, just a year and a half after Lindbergh's New York - Paris flight.
It joins several other covers and picture postcards in my collection that show how airplanes and airports were treated like almost like theme parks, and airplane trips like carnival rides. I have a few postcards that stewardesses handed to passengers, who wrote messages on them and addressed them. The messages often read along these lines: "Hi, Grandma! I can see your house. My airplane is more than a thousand feet above you!" The stewardesses collected the completed postcards before landing, and the airline would mail them at no charge.
It seems that almost every airport in the country published its own postcards. Here’s a Metrocraft postcard picturing a scene at New York City’s municipal airport, La Guardia. Great plane watching, especially at mealtimes!
I don’t think that many people these days go to the airport just for sight seeing, but there is an apparently dedicated group of photographers who spend a lot of time at the end of the main runway at Vancouver International Airport (VCR) to photograph planes as they take off and fly overhead.
I’m old enough to remember tagging along with my wanna-be pilot/father to look at airplanes whenever possible. Once, when my family was passing through Albuquerque (I was about 14), Dad asked for and got permission to board a TWA Constellation. I well remember the scent of the leather-upholstered pilot’s seat, its warmth against my back as I sat in it. Dust motes danced in the air. Outside, the main runway disappeared in the distance. How I wanted to stay there. And then…
About five years later, following my training as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy, I got orders to fly to Japan for a two-year tour of duty at the Navy hospital in Yokosuka, location of the main Japanese naval base during the Second World War. The aircraft that flew me to Japan, via Hawaii and Wake Island, was a Military Air Transport Service (MATS) C-121 Constellation. More than an hour out of Hawaii, I asked the steward if I could see the cockpit. “Sure,” he said.”Just knock on the door.” Maybe he said “hatch,” not “door,” which would have better Navy lingo. So I knocked on the door, which was made of light plywood. The co-pilot answer, listened to my request to see the cockpit, and said, pointing to his sea, “Have a seat! I’m going to have a cup of coffee.” He left, and I sat in his seat. For the next hour! I saw the coastline of the first of the Hawaiian Islands we approached before the captain did. I took this picture after we landed on Wake Island for refuelling and breakfast:
Bob
P.S. Longtime members of Stamporama have probably seen my Constellation photo and read about that particular adventure. But new members might be interested. I hope.
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re: The public was in love with airplanes!
And here in UK, people do still go to watch aircraft taking off and landing. In Cornwall, on the Lizard, there's a big RNAS base called Culdrose- it's the home base for the Merlin Helicopter Force, the Royal Navy’s anti-submarine warfare helicopter fleet. It is also a major training establishment for the Fleet Air Arm. It employs 3000 people ... and there's a viewing area outside the perimeter fence. We go to the Lizard from time to time and I've often seen cars parked at the viewing area.
We also go very frequently to Kemble in Gloucestershire - home to the Cotswold Airport, no less. Heathrow it's not! It's just a big airfield really, now used for private fliers and light aircraft. But during the covid period there were dozens of 747s, unable to fly because of the lockdown, lined up along the runway. And again, there's a viewing area - a layby actually - which is busy enough to support a catering van - he's there every day providing tea and burgers etc to the enthusiasts who turn up to see whatever comes from the skies. The van is called the Jet Roadside Cafe.
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10:15:23am
re: The public was in love with airplanes!
Strider....I am very familiar with the area around Kemble airfield.Before I moved to Ecuador in 2012,.I had a delivery job and almost every day drove past this airfield.Numerous planes made their last trip there before being broken down for spare parts.
Anglobob
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re: The public was in love with airplanes!
On youtube, there are multiple people that have live airport feeds showing landing and takeoffs from airports. They love wobbly and crab landings in the cross winds, go arounds, etc. with critiques of landings and lots of colorful comments (queen of the sky (aka 747), etc).
You can go to liveatc.net and listen to live and recorded airport communications from around the world.
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