The Postal History of ICAO

Brazil : 40^th Anniversary of ICAO

Issue date: 07/12/1984

Airbus Industry A300 coming in for landing at dusk and world map reflected in its cabin, accentuating Latin‑America and Brazil. The image symbolizes the integration of mankind through aviation.

It may be noticed that, in the text at the bottom, the Organization is qualified as international. In Portuguese, the full name of the Organization is Organização da Avíação Civil Internacional, or O.A.C.I., as ICAO deals with international civil aviation according to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (named Chicago Convention).

Article 43 of this Convention reads as follows: “An organization to be named the International Civil Aviation Organization is formed by the Convention.”

Block of four stamps with margin.

Photographic proof.

Full sheet of 50 stamps. Signed by approving Officer N. Brown ? (at the left side).

Presentation folder of this issue.

The error in the name of the Organization is found on the stamp, in the text and the cancel. In Portuguese, the full name of the Organization is Organização da Avíação Civil Internacional, or O.A.C.I.

Official First Day Cover.

Private First Day Cover. This cover commemorates famous flights made the Concorde and the Latécoère 28-3. These two aircraft are shown by the cachet.

Historical note on the Concorde: In September 1971, the Anglo-French supersonic prototype Concorde 001 (F-WTSS, TSS for Transport supersonique in French) carried out a sales and demonstration tour in South America. On 4 September 1971, the Concorde took off from Toulouse to the Island of Sal, Cabo Verde and from there made its first transatlantic flight (2,175 miles) to land at Rochebeau Airport in Cayenne, French Guiana in 3 hours and 25 minutes at the supersonic speed of 1,300 miles an hour. After that, it landed in Rio de Janeiro on 6 September 1971. The Concorde was the highlight of the France ‘71 exhibition held in São Paulo. The tour ended on 18 September 1971, after 29 hours and 52 minutes of flight.

Speaking in Rio, the President of Aérospatiale, Henri Ziegler, recalled “the ties had united France and Latin America ever since several Frenchmen, the most of whom is still Jean Mermoz, made the first flights across not only the South Atlantic but also the Andes some 40 years ago”.

Moreover, on 21 January 1976, the "co-premier" commercial of the Concorde took off at precisely 11.40am from Paris to Rio de Janeiro (Galeo airport) via Dakar in Senegal. The airliner was greeted in Dakar by Senegal’s President Léopold Sédar Senghor. This Air France flight left Charles-de-Gaulle airport at the same time as a British Airways Concorde took off from London Heathrow to Bahrain, thus achieving the other "co-premier" flight.

Historical note on the Latécoère aircraft: On 12 May 1930, in an effort to connect the North African and South American air mail routes, Jean Mermoz, the chief pilot of Compagnie générale aéropostale, along with co-pilot and navigator Jean Dabry, and radio navigator Léopold Gimié, departed Saint-Louis, on the western coast of Senegal, French West Africa, enroute to Natal, Brazil in the Latécoère 28-3 registered F-AJNQ, a single-engine floater named "Comte de la Vaulx". The actual duration of the flight is difficult to determine. Sources vary from as few as 17 hours to as many as 21 hours. This was the first non-stop flight to cross the South Atlantic. The airplane’s serial number is reported as both Nº 909 and Nº 919. Unfortunately, the plane was lost at sea during the return flight (with no loss of life, nor of mail). The "OJO" registration under the left wing, normally following "F-A" under the right wing, does not correspond to a Latécoère and remains enigmatic; it may due to a design error.