Wright Flyer

I am trying to identify every US stamp or other postal items (stationary, post cards, anything) that features an image of a Wright Flyer. So far I've come up with these:

1912, Q8
1928, 650
1949, C45
1953, C47
1978, C92
1997, 3142b
1998, 3182g
2002, 3593
2003, 3783

Have I missed any?

What about any other BOB postal category? I've skimmed the Scott US Specialized Catalog a couple of times, just the images, and I didn't see anything. I'd like to compile as complete a list as possible, so if you know anything to include that I've overlooked, please let me know.

Basil

blcjr, I would think perhaps you've made a mistake on your 1928 entry, perhaps you should revisit this one. In my Scott Catalog there are two stamps issued for the Aeronautics Conference Issue, 649 2 cent carmine rose, with the Wright Airplane, and 650 (your mistake) 5 cent blue with an unknown type of aircraft!

You also missed the mark on C91.

Dave

Basil, not sure if this qualifies, but check CL2, 1911 Vin Fiz Flyer.

Humm...was sure I posted a reply.

Dave, you are right, on both counts.

Gator, I would leave off the Vin Fiz Flyer stamp (even if I had one!) because Q8 is usually listed as the first "government" stamp depicting a plane in the design.

blcjr, it's not very often I get one right, thanks.

Dave

I know it's irrelevant but could also the first air advertising too I believe? (I haven't re-read it in a very long time ) The Vin-Fiz flyer- Vin-Fiz was a type of soda pop and the plane flew as a publicity stunt. The pilot ended up getting killed but it was a great story. I think I read it in the American Philatelist. I'll see if I can locate it quick here...

Great story, I don't think the pilot would agree with you. I for one because the pilot was killed does not make this story great!

Dave

Just to be clear, Rodgers ended up in a fatal crash some months later. He did successfully complete his cross country flight. The Vin Fiz was a modified Wright flyer. But I'm not including the "stamp" in my list because it was not official government postage; Scott lists it as semi-official.

I put together the list of stamps at the start of this thread because I'm working on an exhibit, a small part of it being a display of all US stamps with a Wright flyer depicted on them. I suppose, if I had a Vin Fiz stamp, I might want to include it in an exhibit, but only if there were armed guards posted around it!

blcjr: 650 is definitely not a Wright Flyer, if for no other reason that it is a single wing plane, not a bi-plane. I'm also not sure about the Q8 as I haven't found any image of a Wright Flyer in any of its configurations that has wheels. The image in Q8 definitely has wheels.

Alan,

The reference to 650 was a "typo" -- I meant 649.

As for Q8 and the wheels, my list was intended to include all varieties of the early Wright aircraft, such as the Model B depicted on 3142b. The image on Q8 was based on photos taken at College Park, MD, where Lieut. Arnold flew a Burgess-Wright Model F, essentially a Model B produced under license by Burgess. So the wheels are not out of place. What is out of place about the stamp is the banner declaring "Aeroplane Flying Mail." So far as I know, mail was never carried in flights over College Park in 1911-1912. Lieut. Arnold did carry mail in his Wright-Burgess aircraft at the Nassau Boulevard Meet on Long Island in September 1911, however.

Thanks for the reply.

Basil

Basil,

Ah - that makes sense now.

As a completely different, albeit related, side note, it has always irritated me that the North Carolina license plate says "First in Flight", while they missed that mark by over a century, and the reason North Carolina was chosen by the brothers to work on flight was that is was the closest to the Wrights of the sites recommended by Chanute. The first manned flights were undertaken by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783 in France.

Alan

"First in powered, controlled and sustained heavier-than-air flight" is hard to get on a license plate.