STAMP ISSUES RELATED TO ICAO (1978-1983)

 

Paraguay : 100th Anniversary of Sir Rowland Hill death – 75th Anniversary of aviation

 

Issue date: 08/04/1980

 

 

 

Spad S.XIII (S.13 - French biplane fighter aircraft of World War I, 1917/18, developed by the Société Pour l’Aviation et ses Dérivés - SPAD); Sir Rowland Hill; ICAO emblem.

 

MUESTRA (meaning Specimen) is overprinted diagonally on the set at the right-side.

 

North American P‑51 D Mustang, USA (1944/1945, operated by the US Army Air Forces), serial number 41-3917 – D7-L; Sir Rowland Hill; ICAO emblem.

 

Mitsubishi A6M6c Zero‑Sen Model 53c, Japan (1944, fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, IJNAS from late 1944), serial number 8-15; Sir Rowland Hill; ICAO emblem.

 

Deperdussin Monocoque seaplane, France (1913), manufactured by the Société des Productions Armand Deperdussin, SPAD; race number 19; Sir Rowland Hill; ICAO emblem.

Deperdussin is erroneously spelled with 2 p on the stamp.

The Schneider Trophy was first competed on 16 April 1913, at Monaco and won by this French Deperdussin floatplane flown by Maurice Prévost.

More background information on this stamp can be found at: Philatelic Laxity: Deperdussin.

 

 

Savoia-Marchetti SM.79-II Sparviero (frequently called Il Gobbo Maleditto), Italy (1936; was the most important Italian bomber of World War II), serial number 5-183; Sir Rowland Hill; ICAO emblem. The exact series for this aircraft should have been SM.79-II, instead of SM.7911 as printed on the stamp.

 

Messerschmitt Me 262B-2a, Germany (1942/1945); Sir Rowland Hill; ICAO emblem.

 

 

Nungesser’s Nieuport 24-bis, France (1917-1918), serial number N1895 and type 24 on the fuselage; Sir Rowland Hill; ICAO emblem. The single forward-fighting Lewis or Vichers machine-gun is mounted on the cowling over the engine.

Nungesser’s silver Nieuport 17 plane (marked with serial number N1895 on the tail) was decorated with a black heart-shaped field, with a skull, crossed bones, a coffin, and candles painted inside; Nungesser had adopted the title The knight of Death. It bore prominent tricolor markings on the upper surfaces of the wings and fuselage.

 

 

Zeppelin LZ 104‑L.59 (1917, designated L.59 by the German Imperial Navy and nicknamed Das Afrika-Schiff, "The Africa Ship"), which was a World War I German dirigible, famous for attempting a long-distance resupply mission to the beleaguered garrison of Germany's East Africa colony. Although the mission to East Africa was ultimately unsuccessful, the Afrika-Shiff demonstrated the feasibility of intercontinental flight.

Sir Rowland Hill; ICAO emblem.

Airmail.

 

 

Von Richtofen's Fokker Dr‑I, Germany (1917), serial number F.I 102/17; Sir Rowland Hill; ICAO emblem.

Airmail.

The Fokker Dr.I Dreidecker (triplane) became renowned as the aircraft flown by the Red Baron, the German ace Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen.

 

Se-tenant strip of 7 stamps (cancelled).

Cancelled to Order (CTO).

 

 

 

 

 

Miniature sheet with an airmail stamp showing the Armstrong’s (Vickers) Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX (1942/1945), serial number BS435 – FY-F; Sir Rowland Hill; ICAO emblem.

With control number.

MUESTRA (meaning Specimen) is overprinted diagonally on the second sheet.

The sheet shows the following reproductions:

a)   Sir Rowland Hill’s monument erected at his birthplace of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England.

b)   The first stamp of United Kingdom: Queen Victoria – Penny black (1840).

c)   The first stamp of Paraguay: Vigilant Supporting Liberty Cap - Rose (1870).

d)   Reproduction of a cover sent on 31 August 1933 from Plymouth, Devon, UK to Montevideo, Uruguay, with all cachets and transit markings, and flown on the 6th LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin flight to South America. As an intercontinental commercial airship, the Graf Zeppelin operated regular scheduled services during the summer season mainly from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro between 1932 and 1937. Brazil and Argentina had a considerable German population, and there were strong business and trade connections between these countries and Germany. The cover also bears the green Great Western Railway label in the upper-left corner of the cover.

More background information on this sheet can be found at: Paraguay – Air Mail.

 

Three stamps of this series were mounted on ABO-Reihe hingeless album sheet with explanatory notes in German. The page title Die Landung auf Wolke means The landing on Cloud; it is part of a series titled: Errors and misprints from around the world. The comments in German note the error in the name Deperdussin and that the issue should have more rightly commemorated the 35th anniversary of ICAO (and not its 75th anniversary); it also indicates that the stamps show airplanes in a landing position on a clouded blue sky.

 

Stamps mounted on Borek hingeless album sheet with explanatory notes in German.

 

 

First Day Cover with 5 stamps of the series.

 

First Day Covers with cancellation for the 50th anniversary of Graf Zeppelin first flight from Europe to America (19 April 1930). Flag of Paraguay.

The following first day covers show a cancel which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Graff Zeppelin to America in 1930. In May 1930, the Graf Zeppelin LZ 127 made its first visit to South America as part of a triangular flight (named the Europe-Pan America flight) between Spain, Brazil, and the United States.

 

 

 

First Day Cover on registered service cover from the Dirección General de Correos.

 

First Day Cover with miniature sheet. Picture of Rowland Hill.

 

Background: The first seven stamps of this series were printed se-tenant in strips with the following text in the selvage: SELLOS AVIONES MILITARES, showing a set of military airplanes used during WWI carrying mail during wartime (as indicated on the stamps: Tambien en tiempos de guerra los aviones militares transportaban correspondencia). The last two stamps are airmail values (also with military airplanes) that were printed in separate sheets.

The designer of those stamps included the ICAO emblem, surrounded by 75o Aniversario de ICAO - OACI. Paraguay inadvertently confused the 75th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ triumph, who made the first successful flight of a manned heavier-than-air vehicle on 17 December 1903, with ICAO which, even today, has not yet reached such a milestone. Furthermore, it should be noted that the date of issuance of this set by Paraguay did not correspond to an anniversary of the first flight (which should have been in 1978) nor to an anniversary celebrated by ICAO. This issue should have more rightly commemorated the 30th anniversary of ICAO (in April 1977), and not its 75th anniversary.

 

Some of the cachets of the first day covers show the official flag of the country. The colours of the Paraguayan flag (three equal horizontal bands of red white and blue, with the emblem) were influenced by the French Tricolor flag, which had become a symbol of liberation. The official symbolism of the flag is very rich. To mention only colour symbolism, red stands for patriotism, courage, heroism, equality and justice; white for purity, firmness, union and peace; and blue for tranquillity, love, knowledge, verity and liberty. Centred in the white band of the flag, the coat of arms (a yellow five-pointed star - the Star of May recalls the declaration of independence from Spain on 14 May 1811 - within a green wreath capped by the words REPUBLICA DEL PARAGUAY) is reproduced in the cachet.