THE POSTAL HISTORY OF ICAO

The 20^th anniversary

Sticker distributed by ICAO for the 20^th anniversary

The 20^th anniversary of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was celebrated on 7 December 1964, corresponding to the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on International Civil aviation, in Chicago.

On 15 October 1964, B.T. Twigt, Secretary General of ICAO, had sent State Letter #64/167 to all Contracting States related to the commemoration of the 20^th anniversary. It reads as follows: “I have the honour to inform you that the Council of ICAO has decided to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, which created the Organization.

It is considered that this is an occasion worthy of notice. It marks an interval at which it is proper to take account of an activity, which in those twenty years has been under steady and continuous development. At the same time, the commemoration will be meaningful only if Contracting States have the opportunity to participate through the persons of representatives of the higher rank in their own countries and with a deep understanding of the nature and importance of international co-operation in civil aviation. To this end the Council decided to arrange for an appropriate act at the 15^th Session of the Assembly, which will convene 22 June 1965. Details of the arrangements will be sent to you in due course.

Additionally, the Council has decided that a commemorative ceremony be held at ICAO Headquarters in Montreal on 7 December 1964, marking the signing of the Convention, in Chicago, 20 years before. The ceremony will be attended by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Canadian authorities and local personalities, in addition to the members of the delegations of Council Member States and the ICAO Secretariat.

During the same week, corresponding ceremonies will be held at the ICAO Regional Offices in Bangkok, Cairo, Dakar, Lima, Mexico and Paris.“

Staff Notice #966, dated 3 December 1964 and signed by B.T. Twigt, on the 20^th anniversary of the signing of the Chicago Convention reads as follows: “I should be very pleased if all members of the Secretariat at Headquarters would join me in a toast in the ICAO Exhibition Hall, on Monday 7 December at 12:00, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.”

During the fifteenth Session of the Assembly held at the Windsor Hotel, Montréal, from 22 June to 16 July 1965, a ceremony commemorating the 20^th anniversary of the signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation was held in the Windsor Hall at 16:00 on 22 June 1965, the first day of the Session; it was attended by a representative of U Thant, the United Nations Secretary General, and by Adolf A. Berle, President of the Conference on International Civil Aviation held in Chicago in 1944.

As a result, philatelic items may bear different years, either 1964 or 1965, as shown hereafter. Strangely and without any known explanation, the United Nations slogan cancellation was dated 8 December 1964 (first day of issue; quantity of first days of use: 8687); the same slogan was used with dates ranging from 8 December 1964 to 7 December 1965 (last day of issue). To commemorate the 20^th anniversary, slogan cancellations were used by various Post Offices for their mail.

To add to the confusion, the two countries (i.e., Cameroon and Gabon) that commemorated the 20^th anniversary with stamps, issued them in 1967 on the basis of the constitution of the new permanent International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on 4 April 1947; the French name of the Organization on those stamps shows an error and should have been spelled Organisation de l’aviation civile internationale, as per Article 43 of the Chicago Convention which reads as follows: ”Il est institué par la présente Convention une organisation qui portera le nom d'Organisation de l'aviation civile internationale.” More information on those two stamp issues can be found at the following links: Cameroon – 1967 - 20th Anniversary of ICAO and Gabon – 1967 - 20th Anniversary of ICAO.

			Excerpt from the ICAO Bulletin Vol. XIX No. 12 - 1964.
			News Release announcing the commemoration of ICAO’s 20^th anniversary on 7 December 1964.
		Meter stamp slogan – 27 October 1964 20^th anniversary of ICAO. Used at ICAO Headquarters between 27 October 1964 and 7 July 1965.
		France – 7 December 1964 20^th anniversary of ICAO Stamp issued on 9 May 1964 for the 25^th anniversary of the first night airmail service. Douglas DC-3 aircraft as shown on the stamp and the maximum card.
The stamp design is based on the stamp issued on 21 March 1959 (Stamp Day and 20^th anniversary of the night airmail service) with 25^e ANNIVERSAIRE added. The night airmail service in France originates in the famous Aéropostale company of Pierre Latécoère, which became well known from the second half of the 1920s through the postal roads in Africa and South America, with prestigious aviators such as Reine, Guillaumet, Saint-Exupéry and Mermoz. The Air-Bleue Company carried mail during more than one year from July 1935 to August 1936, but this experiment, under the aegis of the Minister for the P.T.T., failed, as the public was not pleased about a service strongly surtaxed. It was thus decided to carry the mail without surtax. In July 1937, three new lines were brought into service. The aerial infrastructure however allowed only flights during the daytime, so that time savings were tiny over the railroad. On 10 May 1939, around 22h30, a small Caudron C.440 Goéland series twin-engine aircraft loaded with mail flew from the aerodrome of Le Bourget to link in three hours of flight the town of Pau, after a short stopover in Bordeaux. The night postal aviation was born.
		Service cover sent from ICAO to ITU (International Telecommunications Union). Dated 5 October 1964. Slogan related to the 20^th anniversary of ICAO.
		Cover sent to a Member of the Air Navigation Commission (ANC) at ICAO Postmark of Mexico City dated 7 December 1964 Sticker commemorating the 20^th anniversary of ICAO
		Senegal – 7 December 1964 Slogan commemorating the 20^th anniversary of ICAO
		Explanations of the different First Day of Issue postmarks that were used for ICAO’s 20^th anniversary. With the introduction of UNPA stamps on 24 October 1951, the cancel format always has a dater circle on the left and a slogan on the right.
		United Nations – 8 December 1964 (First day of cancel) 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan – Blue cachet
		United Nations – 8 December 1964 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan – Green cachet Note that there is no date in the cancel.
		20^th Anniversary of ICAO - UNPA Postmark on greener-blue Air Letter. The original air letter (11-cent postal stationery in light blue, blue and light green; plane and gull) was issued on 26 June 1961 and was designed by Ole Hamann, Denmark.
		United Nations – 8 December 1964 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan; stamps issued on 9 February 1955 for the 10^th anniversary of ICAO
		United Nations – 8 December 1964 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan
		United Nations – 8 December 1964 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan Postal stationery issued on 26 April 1963.
		United Nations – 8 December 1964 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan
		United Nations – 8 December 1964 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan Artopages cachet (See footnote 1)
		United Nations – 8 December 1964 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cachet commemorating the 11^th Inter-American Conference of American States Note: This is an interesting cover, as the 11^th Conference, although initially scheduled for 1959 (and later postponed to 1960) in Quito, Ecuador, was never held because of a generally unfriendly atmosphere generated first by conflict between Peru and Ecuador and then between the United States and Cuba. It is also interesting to highlight that the Postal Administration of Ecuador issued on 5 August 1960 a set of nine special stamps (overprinted on 20 April 1964) for this Conference showing various views of Quito. Ecuador had received a 2.5 million loan from the Import-Export Bank to cover the costs of the Conference. Ecuador used this loan for an ambitious spate of construction which ran into extended delays. Herman F. (Captain) Fluegel, the USA, began servicing covers in the 1930s. Fluegel employed artists to create cachets for his line of covers.
		30 April 1965 First flight of the BOAC Vickers Super VC10 from New York to Kingston. Note that Vickers-Amstrong’s Ltd. VC10 entered service in April 1965. Many first flight covers related to this aircraft used the 13-c airmail stamp Bird of Laurel Leaves (Laurel branch in the form of a bird) issued by the United Nations on 17 June 1963 with the cancel commemorating the 20^th anniversary of ICAO.
		United Nations – 7 May 1965 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan
		United Nations – 10 May 1965 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan Postcard
		4 October 1965 20^th anniversary of ICAO Combo Cancel with slogan. Design by KimCover Visit of Pope Paul VI to the United Nations On 4 October 1965, His Holiness Pope Paul VI addressed a plenary meeting of the twentieth session of the United Nations General Assembly and returned to Roma on that day.
		United Nations 20^th anniversary of ICAO On 4 October 1965, His Holiness Pope Paul VI addressed a plenary meeting of the twentieth session of the United Nations General Assembly Artopages cachet A.A. Weigel autographed cachet (See footnote 1)
		United Nations – 1 November 1965 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan Postal stationery UN New York Air letter issued on 18 January 1960
		United Nations – 8 November 1965 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan The second cover shows two single stamps with marginal inscriptions. Picture Credit to the Journal of the United Nations Philatelists, Vol. 48 #1, February 2024, page 5.
		United Nations – 26 November 1965 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan
		7 December 1965 (Last day of cancel) 20^th anniversary of ICAO Cancel with slogan Note that some records indicate that 9 December was the last day of cancel.
		Wind Swiss wristwatch (with gold-plated case and steel cover on bottom) made in 1964 by special order of the International Civil Aviation Organization to commemorate the 20^th anniversary. It was probably manufactured by Longines.
The watch is equipped with a great mechanism, calibre Unitas 6325, so-called Wehrmachtswerk (army movement), 17 ruby jewels. Case: 35 mm wide without the crown, 31 mm dial diameter, gold-plated; lugs width: 18 mm; height: 9 mm with the crystal. Longines is a luxury watches house based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832, Longines manufacturer is known for its Aviators watches. In 1919, Longines became named the official supplier for the Fédération aéronautique internationale (FAI) and developed highly accurate and reliable navigation instruments for use by aviation pioneers. Having made his famous non-stop solo flight over the North Atlantic in 1927, pilot Charles A. Lindbergh designed in 1931 a navigational instrument which he worked out with Longines to bring it to life. Today, Longines remains a widely recognized name in sports watches and chronographs.
		BOSNIA (YUGOSLAVIA) 20^th Anniversary of ICAO Commemorative Covers and card The covers commemorate several events, with an actual mismatch in anniversaries. All texts are in Serbo-Croatian official language. In the blue upper square: “Celebration of 20 years of the United Nations Organization”, with the UN emblem and figures XX. On 24 October 1945, the United Nations (UN) came into force when the five permanent members of the Security Council ratified the charter that had been drawn up earlier that year. At the lower-left: “International Civil Aviation Organization” on 2 lines, followed by: “Established on 4. IV. 1947”. The cancel indicates: 4-4-1965, followed by: “Day of civil aviation” (DAN CIVILNOG VAZDUHOPLOVSTVA), on 3 lines. The actual work of the Organization started in 1945, when the Interim Agreement was accepted by the 26^th State on 6 June 1945; thus, the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization (PICAO) was born on that date. The Convention on International Civil Aviation (i.e., the Chicago Convention) came into effect on 4 April 1947 (30 days after the 26^th State had ratified this Convention) with the constitution of the new permanent ICAO, thus bringing an end to PICAO. The card shows the special postmark and the ICAO emblem in black.
		Cameroon – 15 March 1967 20^th anniversary of ICAO
		Gabon – 15 May 1967 20^th anniversary of ICAO Autographed by the Designer, Claude Durrens

Footnote 1: Alton A. Weigel

The brand name Artopages, derived from a contraction of Art Topic Pages, began producing its first cachets back in 1962; their cachets were originally produced by pioneer designer Alton A. Weigel (1893-1980) from Woodville, Ohio, a former engineer whose initiation into the philatelic business came through designing pages for stamp albums.

Weigel’s early philatelic work drew the attention of Alfred Boerger, a Toledo, Ohio stamp dealer, who suggested he draws some designs for first day covers (FDCs). Weigel started doing so for U.S. stamps in 1960.

Weigel worked for Boerger A.B.C. cachets (the "A.B.C." stands for "Alfred Boerger Cachets"); hence, the similarity between Boerger and Artopages cachets. A.B.C. existed before the Artopages brand.

Artopages has been present also on first day covers for Canadian stamp issues since 1967. The firm named Artopage Covers, consisting of a partnership between Alton A. Weigel and James "Jim" Novotny, was established in 1964 to produce pages for American stamp albums, but diversified to include Canadian issues in 1967.

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