On this day 21 May, 1927, American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh made history when he successfully completed the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The transatlantic flight left from New York and landed in Paris and was made in the monoplane Spirit of Saint Louis and took about 33.5 hours to complete the journey.
At the time of his record breaking flight, Lindbergh was an unknown 25-year old U.S. Air Mail pilot and became a national hero literally overnight. Lindbergh was also a U.S. Army reserve officer and as a result was also awarded the nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his historic flight. From that time on Lindbergh was rarely out of the news. Sometimes, he was a tragic figure - the kidnap and subsequent murder of his infant son in 1932 is still remembered today as the "Lindbergh Baby Case" and at the time was dubbed the "Crime of the Century" - whilst what was seen as his overly enthusiastic initial support of Fascism in Europe in the late 1930s saw him suspected of being a racist and Nazi sympathizer. From the 1960s onwards, however, ever the multi-faceted personality, Lindbergh championed far nobler causes campaigning to protect endangered species like humpback and blue whales and stressing the need to regain the balance between the world and the natural environment. After campaigning so fervently in his youth to encourage commercial flight, as an old man he spoke against the introduction of supersonic airliners.
This 1 cent stamp was issued by Grenada on 15 March 1978 and was part of a seven stamp set celebrating both the 75th Anniversary of the first Zeppelin flight and the 50th anniversary of Lindbergh's transatlantic flight. Quite why these stamps were issued in 1978 I'm really not sure - Lindbergh's flight occurred in 1927 and the first Zeppelin flight on on 2 July 1900! Read the rest of this entry »
John F Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States was assassinated on this day - 22 November - in 1963. He was shot dead in Dallas, Texas, while riding in an open car, in a killing that sent shock waves across the entire world. Less than a year later on 29 May, 1964 the US Postal Service issued this stamp which featured both a portrait of the slain leader and also the John F Kennedy Eternal Flame, the presidential memorial found at the grave-site in Arlington National Cemetery. JFK's widow Jacqueline Kennedy lit the flame on 25 November, 1963, and it has never been extinguished since (barring one accidental dampening of the flame by school children).
The stamp quotes from Kennedy's inaugural address using words that fit the stamp perfectly:
And the glow from that fire can truly light the world
The 5 cent stamp was designed by Raymond Loewy and engraved by M. D. Fenton. It was printed by Rotary Press in a very large run of 500,000,000 stamps. Read the rest of this entry »
This United States postage stamp (Scott #1371) was issued on 5 May, 1969, just months before the Apollo 11 mission and the first moonwalk. Apollo 8 was, instead, the first manned mission to orbit the Moon and the first manned voyage to return to planet Earth from another celestial body i.e. Earth's Moon.
The design is based on a stunning photograph taken by astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, which shows the Earth appear to rise above the surface of the Moon. In Life's 100 Photographs that Changed the World, photographer Galen Rowell called it "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken." In fact, this Earthrise can only be seen from someone in orbit around the Moon. Mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, together with Lunar Module Pilot Anders may not have been the first to walk on the lunar surface, but they were the first humans to set eyes upon the far side of the Moon.
The words "In the beginning God..." refer to the Apollo 8 Genesis reading during the television broadcast on Christmas Eve 1968, when each of the crew of Apollo 8 read from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the Moon.
This Bruce Lee miniature sheet was issued by Abkhazia for the China '96 9th Asian International Philatelic Exhibition. China '96 took place in Beijing from 18 May to 24 May 1996 and celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Modern Chinese Postal Service.
The four stamps all feature an iconic image of Bruce Lee in a white vest as he appeared in the 1972 martial arts classic movie Way Of The Dragon (the film in which he fights Chuck Norris at the Colosseum in Rome).
Whilst Abkhazia has been issuing stamps for collectors for many years, at present Russia, Georgia and the UPU say that Abkhazian stamps are illegitimate and they cannot be used outside Abkhazian borders. Certainly the country has fallen victim to several fake stamp issues, most notably the 1999 stamps featuring a caricature of President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky!
With 19th century Japanese artists of the floating world very much in vogue this spring with two major exhibitions running in European capital cities at the moment - Utagawa Hiroshige in Rome and Utagawa Kuniyoshi in London - I thought I'd share this 1971 Hungarian postage stamp featuring the work of another master of Japanese woodblocks - Utagawa Toyokuni (1769 - 1825). Toyokuni I - (the Roman numeral is used to distinguish him from the later artists who, following Japanese tradition, also used the art-name of their master) is probably best known for his portraits of Kabuki actors.
Issued by the Hungarian Postal Service and instantly identifiable by Magyar Posta written in white letters at the bottom of the stamp (Hungarian for Hungarian Post) this large stamp features a work by the Toyokuni School - A Walk in the Garden (Toyokuni Iskola - Seta a Kertben). Read the rest of this entry »
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