Stamps sure can last along time. When this stamp was new in 1950, the DC6 was the new, fast, almost intercontinental airliner. By this version of the stamp in 1963, the DC-6 was out of date and just serving low cost charter Finnish airlines. 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.
Some might argue that an attractive image of an airplane over a winter wonderland is timeless. That the aircraft was old and not in domestic service only matters to plane nerds. To which I would point out that the stamp required two redrawings over the years to account for currency changes. Finland did not make this mistake on their next airmail issue. Instead the mistake was never making another airmail stamp.
Todays stamp is issue AP5, a 3 Markka stamp issued by Finland on October 10th, 1963. There are two versions of the this last version of this stamp with either 13 or 16 tiny lines through the zero number. My eyesight, even with magnification cannot tell which mine is. Thus there is mystery as to whether according to the Scott catalog my stamp is worth 30 or 40 cents used.
The DC-6 was launched in 1946 as the next development of the smaller DC-4. The plane could fly 300 mph, carried about 60 passengers, and introduced pressurization to enhance passenger comfort. It was almost intercontinental. It could fly nonstop from the east coast of the United States to Europe. From Europe to the USA facing head on the Atlantic’s westerly winds, required a fuel stop.
An early option was a sleeper version, where the daytime seats fold and a bed comes out where the overhead compartments would be. This version can be picked out by a few small circular windows at a higher level. The plane does not have that and may be of the longer freighter version. Some of those had passenger windows like the plane on the stamp, some did not. By 1960, most of the 704 DC-6s built were operating as cargo planes in the third world or in the USA as a firefighting water bombers.
You might notice that the DC-6 on the stamp has no livery. The model was not in service with the Finnish Air Force or Finnair, then known as Aero O/Y. It is not unusual for mail bags to go on foreign airlines, but not something you want to brag about on your stamps. This lack of DC-6s in Finland was rectified in 1961 when two now defunct vacation charter airlines, Karair and Finlantic took used passenger examples. Finland is still not done with the DC-6. A nose section of a plane formally in Canadian service has been restored in Finland and put on static display. Colorado has Finland beat, it was after all an American plane. One is used there statically as a kindergarden classroom.
Well my drink is empty. Come back soon when there is another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.