Friday, May 13, 2022

SCOTT #C3 CURTISS JENNY AIR MAIL STAMP 24 CENT

On May 13th, 1918, just two days after President Woodrow Wilson signed an act allowing mail to be carried by airplane, the US Post Office Department released the world’s first airmail stamp.  To highlight the importance of the occasion – and to help postmasters differentiate the new stamp from regular issues – a bi-color design was created.  Two-color stamps were uncommon at the time.

The stamp was designed by Clair Aubrey Huston at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  Huston had trouble finding a photograph of the plane to model for the stamp’s design, as only 6 Curtiss Jenny planes in the world had been specially modified to carry mail.  In a stroke of luck, the very plane engraved onto the stamp (Jenny #38262) was chosen for the inaugural airmail flight!


 

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