Sunday 26 March 2017

Flying

1997: Europa - 'Irish Myths and Legends'
Would you like to fly?  The children of King Lir were turned into white swans by their jealous stepmother and that is how they stayed for 900 years. (Their story can be found here).  Alas we are earthbound but engineering ingenuity means we can take to the skies
1969: First Flight of Concorde
and in the past it could have been on the beautiful supersonic Concorde.  This, at the time, cutting edge technology, got me wondering what was the oldest stamp I possessed featuring an airplane
1919: Air
and I think it must be this one of a biplane floating in the clouds.  This was one of the first airmail stamps of Germany's Weimar Republic (a set of two, the other was a winged posthorn)  which were issued in July 1919 and would start a long tradition of airmail stamps.  Swap some date numbers around
1991: Historic Mail Aircraft
and in 1991 Germany was celebrating the delivery of mail by air. This is the 1922 Fokker F-111 which could carry five passengers (one sitting by the side of the pilot). 
1932: Air
 Another country with a long tradition of airmail stamps is China, here showing a Junker F13 flying low over the Great Wall of China.  These airmail stamps came in a variety of colours and denominations.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Flying - swoop over to See It On A Postcard

4 comments:

Mail Adventures said...

Great variety of stamps! How wonderful it would be to fly like/on a swan?

VioletSky said...

I like the idea of flying like a swan - but not for 900 years, thank you.
Oh, the elegant sleekness of the Concorde and even the German biplane has a long sleek tail.

Bob Scotney said...

Oops, I forgot about Concorde. Beautiful swans from Ireland.

Maria said...

The first stamp and the link with The Chilren of Lir are very much appreciated! Thanks for sharing the rest of the stamps, too!