Non-Airmail Airmails & Other Rate Oddities?

A couple comments in recent threads brought to mind a question I asked somewhere else a while back, that went without an answer.

Nic asked if stamps with planes on them were airmails, and someone mentioned that the flamingo stamps from the Bahamas might have paid the airmail rate.

So, I'm wondering if anyone knows of a source for historical postage rates around the world? In particular, I'm looking for British Commonwealth during the four kings era (approximately the first half of the 20th-century).

An example of the kind of information I'm looking for: The 65-cent Kenya, Uganda & Tanganyika (Scott 53) depicts an airplane flying in front of Mount Kenya, and I've read that it happened to pay an airmail rate at that time. It isn't considered an airmail stamp, though. It doesn't have a "C" prefix in Scott, and it isn't listed in Sanabria's catalogue.

Is this kind of information collected in one place?

Thanks for reading this far...

Collin

I do know that for the KGVI-era, the flamingos in flight paid the airmail rate.

David

While there is a break in the action, here is the KGVI flamingo, along with a QEII flamingo. Is there even a comparison between these stamps?

If the KGVI paid the airmail rate, that correlation must have ended by the time of the QEII issue. I've also thrown in a small scan of a block of four of the KGV version, which looks a little more old-fashioned than the KGVI version to my eyes...I think I prefer it, though I like them both.



P.S. Two more stamps for the flag-on-stamp and lighthouse topical collectors.

How does that old song go ... "may the bird of paradise fly up your nose..."

You're making me quite a fan of these KGVI issues.

KirkS

No, the KGV block is superb, and should live at my house.

We who use SG exclusively for Empire and Commonwealth are lucky to not have airmails, semi-postals etc as separate listings. That's the thing I find most annoying about Scott. You have to identify the type of stamp before you can find it, rather than looking chronologically.

Yes, it makes you want to yell "Duck!" to the queen, but you already know she'd say, "No, no, silly...flamin-pthhfbbtt." I watched enough of the Muppet Show as a child to know how that would play out.

Is the King facing left gazing into the past and the King facing right looking towards the future? The stamps otherwise have the exact same design to my eyes.

an airmail that isnt an airmail, this would be awesome to see, anyone got a pic of that stamp?

Nic-

I borrowed this scan as a placeholder until I can make a better one...
this particular stamp could have better centering.




Collin