A country needs a national air line. With Germany divided, there was a race as to who gets to use the famed Luft Hansa name. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The plane on the stamp is the Soviet Ilyushin Il-14. The airplane bears a close resemblance to the American Convair CV-240 that was the first airplane operated by the West German Lufthansa. Both airlines used the same livery and the “Deutsche” on the East German does not stand out because Lufthansa is the German flag carrier. When you look past the picture the equality falls apart. The Il-14 airliner is smaller, shorter ranged and came later than the CV-240. It also lacked the pressurization of the Convair, so was less comfortable to fly in. The East German Lufthansa even started off with Soviet flight crews, while West German Lufthansa had a core of veterans of the prewar Luft Hansa. West Germany for the win.
Todays stamp is issue A80, a 10 Pfennig stamp issued by East Germany on February 1st, 1956. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations that celebrated the inauguration of passenger air service of the then East German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa. The first flight was from Berlin to Warsaw. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.
Both East and West Germany faced many challenges getting a new Lufthansa going. The pre war Luft Hansa had formed in 1926 upon a merger between an airline associated with the Lloyd shipping company and an airline associated with the Junkers aircraft manufacturer. The airline was dissolved at the end of World War II. In West Germany, a company was formed by Luft Hansa veterans bought the rights to the name and ordered a small number of new build Convair CV-240 short range airliners and Lockheed Constellation long range airliners. The lead time to build the airliners gave Lufthansa time to get permission to operate and membership in the International Air Transport Association, the first German carrier to join. Under the post war four power agreement, no German, East or West, airline was allowed to fly to Berlin.
The East Germans had even slower going getting an airline going, but they had one huge advantage. There was a 1930s built airport in the village of Schonefeld. It had been built to serve a Henschel aircraft factory there. Post war it had been used by the Soviet Air Force. The Soviets signed it over in 1955 allowing East Germany to start an airline, and base it just outside of Berlin. The government chose the name Deutsche Lufthansa and livery close to the prewar airline. This attracted court action from new West German Lufthansa and more importantly, denied the carrier membership in the International Air Transport Association. They were not going to allow two airlines with the same name. No membership meant the East German Lufthansa could not fly to the west.
East Germany attacked the problem by starting a second airline named Interflug. It also started with Ilyushin Il-14 airliners that were by now license made in Dresden by Elbe Flugzeugwerk. Deutsche Lufthansa was shut down in the early 60s with the fleet taken over by Interflug, which became the East German flag carrier until liquidated in 1991. The Schonefeld Airport became a home for low cost airlines. This fits into the legacy of Interflug, that raised foreign currency by offering low cost vacation charters to Westerners. A bus service from then West Berlin avoided the need to go through East German customs to get on the flights.
Soon after this article publishes, I will go on vacation in Berlin for the first time. My flights are on the low cost carrier Wow out of Iceland and through Schonefeld airport. It is now being expanded but I will be on the lookout for old Russian airliners parked in some out of the way corner. I will also hit the postal museam while there. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.