Month: January 2020

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Greece 1947, mourning King George II, the man whose most important tool was his suitcase

Many Balkan Kings were really from northern Europe, in the case of Greece, the King was Danish. So perhaps he was not ideal in providing  the stability and continuity of an ideal Royal family. Yet there was always the hope and so King George II kept his suitcase packed whether in country or during his frequent exiles. 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.

I have always admired Royal death stamps with their perforated white area redone with a black frame suitable for mourning. This is perhaps the worst version of such a stamp I have seen. George by all accounts a dower and aloof man. This is reflected in the stamps portrait. The black frame done as a cheap overprint and then the bad situation of 1947 Greece is further shown by overprinting a 50 Drachma new value on a not old I Drachma stamp. Gosh George, we know you were gone a lot, but couldn’t you have left your people in a better place?

Todays stamp is issue A67, a 50 Drachma stamp issued by the Kingdom of Greece on April 15, 1947. It was a 3 stamp death issue for King George II who had died April 1st. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents unused. A mistaken double overprint of the new denomination would up the value to $72.50. The original 1 Drachma version of the stamp from when he was alive is worth 25 cents.

Greece in the early 20th century suffered numerous changes in government. Charles II’s Grandfather was assassinated and soon after assuming the Throne his Father was forced into exile in favor of Charles’s younger brother. This was as preparation to becoming a Republic which then did not happen. Charles received military training in Germany and married German Romanian Princess Elisabeth. After World War I, Charles was invited to come back to Greece and restore the natural Royal Line. Charles and Elisabeth came back but by 1923 they were again back into exile. At first they went to Bucharest where Elisabeth was happy with her family but Charles was bored. He moved to London, taking a house in Belgravia that he shared with his mistress Joyce.

Between 1923 and 1935, Greece had 23 governments. There was increasing support for a return of the Monarchy. When Queen Consort Elisabeth heard of this, she did not desire a return to Greece. Among her lovers was a banker named Alexandru who had made her rich. Without telling George in London what she was up to, Elisabeth divorced George in a Bucharest court on the grounds of his abandoning the family home. He returned to Greece alone and childless but back on the Throne.

Greece was closely divided between communists and the far right. Middle of the road political figures could not gain traction. George supported a far right figure named Metaxas as Prime Minister who ruled as a Dictator but left George on the Throne. During WWII, Greece tried to side with the Allies but was quickly overrun by Germany. George was again off to exile in his beloved London. The Allied victory was complicated for Greece. Britain did not want a return of the prewar far right regime and so did not want George to return to Greece. They forced him to appoint a Cleric as Regent who then appointed a moderate left government. This was not going to do as the numerous communists were in open violent revolt. A 1946 plebiscite that the left boycotted saw a return of a hard right government with a concomitant invitation for George to return to Greece and resume his reign. His now ex wife Elisabeth was financially supporting the communist insurgency. He returned to find his Palace looted and died shortly after returning. His younger brother Paul succeeded him.

Queen Consort Elisabeth continued her interesting life after the divorce. Sensing change coming she became involved romantically with several prominent communists in Romania. The young King of Romania referred to her as his “Red” aunt. She was not allowed to stay in communist Romania but was given several days to pack and a private train to leave on. She much enjoyed looting her own Palaces. She left room on her train for Alexandru. However once in the south of France, she took up with a much younger would be artist named Marc. Unable to secure for him a title so that they could marry, she instead adopted him three months before her death in 1956 at age 62. Marc was 32.

Elisabeth as a young Romanian Princess

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Great Britain 1973, Idealizing a Royal Marriage does not always work out

The oldest daughter of the Queen in 1973 was not likely to assume the Throne as younger male siblings took precedence. That does not mean Anne, Princess Royal’s marriage to Calvary Captain and Olympic Gold medalist Mark Phillips was not worth broadcasting around the world to give a peak at a different sort of life. Maybe that life wasn’t so different after all as infidelities on both sides lead to divorce. 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.

Deciding on a close up face shot was an interesting choice by the stamp designer. It might have worked better with better looking people. On the other hand, Royal style over the top military uniforms and hyper traditional wedding dresses would have annoyed or seemed political in 1973.

Todays stamp is issue A250, a 3 and a half penny stamp issued by Great Britain on November 14th, 1973. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations and colour tints with the same picture. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Untitled Mark Phillips was commissioned as a junior officer into the 1st, the Queens Dragoon Guards, cavalry regiment in 1969. The Regiment still exists and mainly recruits from Wales. It is currently light cavalry  with Jackal Armoured Cars. In 1969, the Regiment had tanks but Phillips was a horseman. He was an alternate on Britain’s 1968 Equestrian Team and won a gold with the team in 1972. He was still on the team as late as 1988. He met Princess Anne at horsing events. After the marriage, Phillips was promoted early to Captain and served as a military aide de camp to Queen Elizabeth. He declined a peerage offered by the Queen and this meant that the couples two children were not eligible for courtesy titles. Queen Elizabeth gifted the couple a country house, Gatcombe Park, with elaborate horse facilities.

The pomp of the wedding attracted some unwanted attention to Princess Anne. In February 1974 her Austin Princess IV limo was forced to the side of the road by a armed would be kidnapper Ian Ball in a Ford Escort. Ball shot 4 people trying to defend the Princess. He intended to hold her for ransom and then give the proceeds to the National Health Service. He instructed her to get out of the limousine but she replied that was “Not Bloody Likely”. She and her lady in waiting eventually escaped out of the other side of the limo and lead away by a passerby. The Queen had many medals to hand out to Anne’s many defenders. Ball has been in a mental hospital since.

You would think that an older Austin Princess would have been suitably discreet for Princess Anne

The marriage of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips did not last. In 1985, Phillips fathered a child out of wedlock with a New Zealand art teacher who later sued for paternity. Princess Anne herself had an affair with a crewman on the then Royal Yacht Britannia. He is now her second husband and an Admiral. Her second marriage had no related stamp issue at least in Great Britain.

Phillip’s second marriage was unsuccessful. He married Sandy Pflueger in 1997 with whom he fathered another daughter. She was from Hawaii, the daughter of a car dealer, and a member of the American Dressage team. The couple lived in Britain on the grounds of Gatcombe Park, where Anne still resides. In 2012 the couple divorced as the second Mrs. Phillips had taken up with a female. With the children grown up, Philips has now moved to America. Phillips received a divorce settlement of 3 million pounds from Princess Anne, which is about 20 percent of his net worth.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another for Anne, Princess Royal, for her active service to Britain. The idea of hyping out of the line Royal Weddings might require a rethink however. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Cuba 1962, Celebrating the 9th Central American and Carribean Games, they almost didn’t happen

Seeing this Cuban stamp from the early days of Fidel Castro. I assumed this would be a story of Cuba fighting to stay part of regional organizations against American wishes. Instead the story is how precarious such organizations are. 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.

This stamp is from the first year of the American embargo on the sale of mint Cuban stamps. The embargo never applied to used stamps which this is. The exemption would prevent American collectors from being penalized from keeping a stamp they may have received in the mail. The embargo is still in effect. All that said, this stamp is not much to look at. This is reflective of how tenuous the games were.

Todays stamp is issue A258, a three centavo stamp issued on August 27th, 1962 by Cuba. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating sports of the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games, in this case baseball. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused. The catalog does list values for stamps covered by the embargo, which seems to have no effect on the low values.

This stamp celebrates the 9th holding of the games that year in Kingston, Jamaica. The first games were in the 1930s and still continue, making the games second only to the Olympics in longevity. They are open to Central American countries, the countries on the north shore of South America and the Caribbean island nations and colonies. They occur every four years on the even off years between Olympics. The hope was to help the area field more competitive teams in the Olympics.

The 1962 Games were especially tenuous. There were initially no bids at all from cities to host the games. The governing body then voted to give the games to San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was against the vote of the sole Puerto Rican representative. They should have listened to him. The Puerto Rican government then announced that they were refusing to host the games. After much additional deliberation, it was decided to award the games to Kingston, Jamaica. Jamaica accepted. The choice however was complicated by Jamaica only receiving independence a few days before the 1962 games. It was also the first times the games were held in a country for whom Spanish was not the native tongue. The games did come off though. 16 countries and territories sent over 1500 athletes. That year a sailing competition was new but gymnastics were discontinued.

So who did the best at the games? Mexico as per the usual had the highest medal count. This reflects the population of Mexico compared to other competitors. Cuba had the highest gold medal count and no other country came close in the medal count.

Well my drink is empty so I will pour another to toast the CASCO organization for keeping the Games going on for so long. The 1962 games shows how difficult it is to make them happen. The next games will come to Panama City, Panama in April 2022. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Warlord Somalia 1997, maybe Barri was right, the Hawiye can’t pull it together

This stamp is not real. There is no evidence that any of the three+ different warlord areas of Somalia circa 1997 had a functioning postal system. Thus whoever printed this stamp either just pretended to have authority to do so or perhaps paid the self proclaimed warlords Minister of Post for the right. Notice the spelling of Somalia is not even the local way. Cute dog though. 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.

Between 1969 and 1991, Somalia had a socialist government under former General Barre. Barre tried to regain what he thought were more traditional Somali borders incorporating areas of Ethiopia gained in WWII and he hoped that French Somaliland  would join with Somalia when it decolonized. This might lead to less fighting between clans and a better chance at progress. He also attempted a move from Arabic to the Latin alphabet as a precursor to a literacy push.

His efforts made many enemies. Trying to retake part of Ethiopia in the chaos after Emperor Selassie was deposed lead to a big war. The eastern bloc cut off arms to him and gave heavy support to the Derg in power in Ethiopia. His attempt to send many Somalis to vote on Djibouti’s plebiscite on their future was not successful. Now Barri had estranged himself from East, from West, and from religious leaders. Trouble was coming.

Several former leaders in Barre’s period formed what they called the United Somali Congress with a political arm in Rome and a military arm in Ethiopia. It leaders were all members of the Hawiye clan. Obviously such a thing would be a front but I wonder if their backers realized they were just one clan of many. The leaders were Muhammed Farah Aided and Ali Mahdi. Aidid, a former General, intelligence chief, and Ambassador to India. He was trained at the Frunze Military Academy in the Soviet Union. Ali Mahdi was an “entrepanuer”. After Barri was forced out of Mogadishu in 1991 the United Somali Congress became less than united. Mahdi was named interim President at a conference in Djibouti that was boycotted by Aidid. Aidid then also declared himself President. Northern Somali, the old British part, did not recognize either and declared itself independent.

Into this warlord mess western powers sent military force in to protect aid shipments to the people and became targets. The USA/UN decided Aidid was the problem and began siding against him. This lead to the famous Blackhawk Down battles. Interestingly Aidid’s son Hussein was serving in the USA Marines having immigrated to the USA at age 17. He functioned as a translator as no Marines spoke Somali. There doesn’t seem any sense that they realized who he was or what his loyalties if any, were. The USA/UN mission ended and the warlord period continued. In 1996 Hussein left the Marines and became a naturalized USA citizen. In 1996 Aidid was killed and the Hawiye clan named Hussein the new head of the clan. Remember his father had declared himself President and now his son did the same.

Hussein was more willing to negotiate. He withdrew his Presidential claims and accepted a role of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works, as if there were any, in a new Djibouti formed transitional government. This was done to get western aid flowing again. He was now marketing himself as leader opposed to Al Queda infiltration. He went into exile in 2008 with a big pile of money.

Well my drink is empty. I would pour another to toast the handsome dogs of Somalia but all the wasted aid lavished on Somalia has left those of us in the West and East strapped. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Iraq 1958, Neither Faisal nor Churchill would have been happy where his tanks were headed

Tanks can be devastating weapons so small countries should keep close track of them. These British gifted Churchill tanks were out of date and unreliable. When they were ordered to Jordan they instead headed for the Palace. The Royal Guard stood down and then the Royal Family was gunned down. 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.

There were two visions of pan Arab unity in the 1950s. Nasser’s socialist vision backed by the USSR. There was also a rival Hashemite vision backed by Britain. Here we see WWII surplus Churchill heavy tanks ready to make the Hashemite case. In Syria and Egypt similar vintage but superior Soviet T34 was backing up their side. Intimately the people decide such things and the Hashemites couldn’t even trust their tank crews.

Todays stamp is issue A34, an eight Fils stamp issued by the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq on January 6th, 1958. This was a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating Iraqi Army Day. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 85 cents used.

King Faisal III came on to the Iraqi throne in 1938 at the age of three after the mysterious death of his father in a car crash in Switzerland. There was then a Regency with an Uncle and a lot of mysterious foreign advisors. In 1941, there was a coup where disgruntaled officers attempted to align with Germany. A British, Arab Legion invasion followed that restored the child King. My British father’s military service included this campaign. In 1953, Faisal reached his majority but the cast of characters didn’t change much. Oil revenue was beginning to flow but the rewards were not making it to the average Iraqi. The Hashemites were counting on oil revenue to grease the wheels of their planned coming together of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait.

At this same period, Nasser in Egypt was offering an alternative socialist pan Arab vision that seemed to offer a more modern choice to the middle class. His United Arab Republic signed up Syria and North Yemen and there was much intrigue going on in Lebanon. In order to bolster Jordan’s position in this, two armored Brigades of the Iraqi Army were ordered to Jordan in 1958. To do so, they had to pass through Baghdad. Their Nasser sympathetic commanders saw the opportunity. Churchill tanks drove to the radio station, the defense ministry and the Palace. The Royal Guard stood down. The Royal Family was marched outside the Palace and shot. One Princess survived being shot and escaped.

The two chief coup plotters both had turns leading Iraq. One was then executed and the other had his plane sabotaged by domestic rivals. Neither followed up on their alleged belief in Nasser’s vision of an United Arab Republic. The oil rich cannot sign on to the level of subsity from rich to poor that union demands.

The Churchill tank was  hopelessly obsolete even before the end of World War II. It was a heavy tank with armor protection on a par with the contemporary German Tiger tank. Where the Tiger had an 88mm gun, the Churchill tank started with only a 40mm gun. The tank was later uprated with a 57mm gun and later some were retrofitted with 75mm turrets taken from American Sherman tanks. The Iraqi ones appear to have the 57mm gun. The tanks would not have been much good against Syrian/Soviet T34s but Syria also possessed old German Panzer IVs passed on from the French. so the old tanks might have had a reunion  in the desert, Iraq had more modern new build British Centurions on order, but the Churchills proved very capable in a coup.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering about middle eastern Royals spending so much on sophisticated weapons when they can’t trust those who will operate it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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St. Chrtopher, Nevis, and Anguilla 1970, don’t worry about Pirates, worry about the Parachute Regiment

The idea for how to escape the British Caribbean was to put all the small islands in a federation that Canada might look after. That did not take into account that each island had ambitious politicians. Well when they get uppity, Britain still had the Parachute regiment. 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.

Saint Christopher is usually now referred to as St. Kitts, and that is what it is called on their more recent stamps. Nevis is still a dependant of St. Kitts, but seems to no longer warrant a mention. Anguilla now goes it alone. When this stamp was issued, the place had become an independent state but not enough independent states according to the residents of Anguilla. Yet this stamp may make you believe that tourist may be able to spot a pirate. Well the Private Bankers may want to take your gold from you.

Todays stamp is issue A25, a half cent stamp issued by the independent state in “free”association with Great Britain, of Saint Christopher, Nevis, and Anguilla on Febuary 1st, 1970. It was part of a 17 stamp issue in various denominations giving a romanticized look at the old battles with pirates with a nod toward the kiddies. He we have pirates burying treasure in Frigates Bay, St Kitts. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or canceled to order. Nobody would have mailed this stamp.

The otherwise unoccupied islands passed several times between England and France and Spain until becoming British in 1783. The islands were jointly administered from a capital on St. Kitts. Sugar cane plantations were founded and large numbers of African slaves were imported, becoming the majority of the population. The 1830s saw end of slavery and most of the planters left the islands. The islands became desperately poor. Britain tried to evacuate the entire population to British Guyana in the 1840s but the population mostly refused to leave.

In the 1950s-1960s Britain had tired of subsidizing these small islands and proposed a West Indies Federation. It did not pan out as Canada was unwilling to step up as protector and there were more would be politicians on the islands than could be accommodated on the elected council. So colony status ended in 1967. Anguilla had never been satisfied being administered from St. Kitts. They rose up in 1969 and expelled the police from St. Kitts. Anguilla then requested administration from the USA but this was denied. The British met with Anguilla’s rebel leaders in Barbados. At first they agreed to rejoin St. Kitts but then reneged. British Labour politician William Whitlock was sent to Anguilla as an envoy to further negotiate but he was expelled. At this point the British were exasperated and landed elements of the Parachute Regiment and 40 Scotland Yard police. They were not resisted and Anguilla stayed with St. Kitts for 10 more years. The islands now make it on tourism, off shore banking, and low standard medical schools.

With this stamp there must also be a pirate story. An English born pirate Bartholomew Roberts sailed his pirate ship “Fortune” off the new world around 1720. His big victory was when he spotted a large group of Portuguese merchant ships waiting for their naval escort to convoy back to Portugal. He captured one ship and then had the captain tell him which of the other ships was the biggest prize. His take on that ship was 40,000 gold coins and a cross with diamonds intended for the King. Black Bart has he would become known renamed his ship the “Royal Fortune”. He spent  booty during a rampage on Devil’s Island off Guyana. Black Bart had further successes off Barbados and Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. Heading back to the Caribbean he was becoming infamous and he took up sailing directly into the harbors of places like St. Kitts and Martinique with his black flag flying and his band playing. The islands would pull down quickly their flags in surrender. This couldn’t continue and Black Bart made for Africa. He had a few more successes before being caught and sunk by HMS Sloop off of Gabon. He died in full regalia holding a sword and two pistols and wearing the King’s diamond cross around his neck on a gold chain.

Well my drink is empty and that will be my last so I can stay awake to spot pirates or the Parachute Regiment. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Yugoslavia 1943, Remembering Black George rising against the Ottomans as Partisans were rising against the Germans

The Royalist government in exile took the opportunity of the 25th anniversary of the founding of Yugoslavia to point out a few people from the past who they felt were worth remembering. This is especially interesting as the choices would not have been those made by the upcoming Tito government. That does not mean that the new government won’t still sell you the stamps, they just won’t let you use them. 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 large 1945 overprint on this stamp was done by the new government of Tito to the large stock of this stamp issue held in the London embassy after they took it over from the former Royalist regime. In theory it celebrated the victory over the German occupiers during the war. What it actually did was cancel the ability of the stamp to be used for postage. The ability of course was already virtually nil when the stamps were printed in 1943 as the country was occupied. It was though theoretically possible via Yugoslav naval ships at sea. This means that this stamp without the overprint are legitimate but the overprint makes them fake. The London Embassy sold the remaining stock of the stamp to stamp  dealers in 1950.

Todays stamp is issue A3 a 10 Dinar stamp issued by the Royalist government in exile of King Peter II on December 1st, 1943. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp without the overprint would be worth $5.50 unused. The overprint makes the stamp fake however so it has no stated value. The six stamps also came as a souvenir sheet showing how the stamps were mainly to raise revenue. The sheet is worth $65.

Black George lead the first major Serb uprising against the then occupying Ottoman Empire in the early 19th Century. He was the founder of the Royal House of Karadordevic. King Peter II in exile in London was the last member of this Royal house to sit on the Throne.

Black George was an ethnic Serb who lead a rebellion in the area around Belgrade. He claimed he was seeking self rule rather than full independence from the Ottomans. However in the areas to which he gained control, Muslims were ethnically cleansed. He met with a good deal of military success and attracted support to his cause from both Austria and especially Russia. Sensing Napoleon’s impending invasion of Russia, the Czar made a deal with the Ottomans that left the Serbs to their fate. Black George kept fighting but without outside help the tide in the long running rebellion turned against him. Black George fled to Austria but was then arrested and sent to Russia who intended to keep him out of Serbia.

The returning Ottomans proved very cruel to the Serbs and two years later there was a second uprising against the Ottomans. This time it was lead by Milos Obrenovic. A quick victory followed a deal with the Ottomans giving Serbia limited self rule. Obrenovic became Prince of Serbia and lead his own separate Royal line. I covered a Serb Prince from his line here,  https://the-philatelist.com/2018/06/21/serbia-unlike-so-many-places-had-its-own-royal-line-or-more-problimatically-two/  . Black George snuck back to Belgrade but when now Prince Milos heard Black George was back he had him killed. He did not want a rival  and thought that the Ottomans would renig on his deal when they found out Black George was back. Black George was axed to death in his sleep. His severed head was then presented to the local Pasha who had it stuffed and then sent to Constantinople. Here the severed head was mounted on a stick and displayed publicly for a week until it was stolen. The rest of his body was buried in Serbia. Black George’s great grandson, now King of all Yugoslavia was able to acquire his skull in Greece in 1923 and return it to the rest of his remains in the Karadordevic Dynasty Mausoleum in the newly constructed Church of Saint George, where he remains.

The Assassination of Black George, as depicted in a later Serb painting.

Well my drink is empty and this better explains to me  how small Serbia ended up with the riches or is it curses of two Royal houses. The Serbs sure seem rough, but with rivals like the Ottomans ready to put your head on a stick, perhaps you have to be. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Turkey 1967, Showing off the new Douglas DC-9

Eventually even shorter run airliners would become fast jets. You wouldn’t imagine that so quickly after introduction, they would be serving in Turkey. No wonder the country decided that fact deserved a stamp, airmail of course. 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 DC-9 was pretty revolutionary in Turkey circa 1967. Two earlier similar size airliners, the Fokker Friendship, and the Vickers Viscount, are shown on this series of stamps. Their Rolls Royce Dart turboprop engines limited them to under 300 miles an hour. The DC-9 cruised at 560 miles an hour with it’s Pratt and Whitney turbofans. The stamp set also includes an aging DC-3 airliner, showing the luck of the draw possible to a Turkish traveler in 1967.

Todays stamp is issue C41, an 130 Kurus airmail stamp issued by Turkey on July 13th,1967. It was a 5 stamp issue in various denominations showing various airliners in local livery. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Douglas Aircraft had long been interested in short haul jet airliners to replace their old DC-3 propeller aircraft. Funds for development however were short. So instead they negotiated a license with Sud Aviation of France to market their Caravelle  short haul jet airliner in the USA. If there were enough orders, USA assembly of the Caravelle would have been part of the deal. Orders were not forthcoming and the license was allowed to expire. Boeing was set to offer their 727 trijet into the short haul market. This relied on much design work from the large 707 and thus was perhaps too much plane for the job. Douglas therefore designed a smaller twin jet with five across seating and with the engines on tail pods. This allowed the plane to sit lower to the ground. It also was able to operate with a crew of two instead of three. Engines on tail pods can be trouble because the wings can block airflow to the engines at certain flight angles causing stalls. Douglas addressed this by designing vortilons on the leading edge of the wings that try to direct more airflow to the engines. The DC-9 entered service in 1965 and was a big success with 2441 planes made over a 41 year production life. Over that time the name changed twice to reflect corporate musical chairs. First the DC9-80 became the MD-80 to reflect Douglas Aircraft’s merger with the McDonnell fighter company and then the MD-95 became the Boeing 717 after being merged.

As with so much these days once manufactured in the West, there is an afterlife in the East. The MD-90 model of the DC-9 was licensed made in China. When that ended the tooling was not returned to the USA. Instead a Chinese company called Comac put it back into production as the ARJ21. The DC-9 remember is now quite old  and more modern airliners are about 25 percent more efficient. So the new model is reengined and has a more modern wing designed for China by Russia’s Antonov. Conarc claims the plane is all new and designed by Chinese supercomputers. Any resemblance to the DC-9 is coincidental. The new wing proved quite challenging and the plane has not sold well taking forever to get certified as airworthy. It did recently get a big order for 25 airplanes from startup Genghis Kahn Airways.

Comac ARJ21 this year in Shanghai

The Turkish DC-9s had an interesting afterlife back in the USA. In the USA in 1993, there was a new low cost startup airline called Valuejet. They bought a second hand fleet of 25+ year old DC-9s including from Turkey. The workers were non union and much plane maintenance was outsourced. Pilots were even required to pay for their own continuing training which no airline had done before. The old airliners proved to be maintenance headaches and there was a big push in the FAA to ground the airline. After a crash, it was grounded for six months. When flights resumed, it was only with 15 of it’s 50 plus airplanes. Valuejet ordered 50 new 717s and changed it’s name to AirTran to overcome the infamy. It was eventually sold to Southwest, an all 737 airline. The 717s were resold to Delta who is finding cheap paid for DC-9/717s hard to replace.

Well my drink is empty and I will put the bottle away. I will need it if the day ever comes when I am to fly on one of Genghis Kahn Airways DC-9 knockoffs. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.