British FDC Need Help

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Need help with this first day cover 40th anniversary of battle of britan
it seems a normal fdc until you look at the back and it has a Cyprus stamo cancelled a month later exactly I have never seen his before would anyone know anyyhing about this or a value
many thanks

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Hi katieh97,

This is not an FDC as the Wales 10p stamp was issued in July.

It's a commemorative cover for the Battle of Britain Open Day held at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk along with a charity sheet created for that event.

The sheet contains two labels but these are not postage stamps.

I can't read the details, but I assume it was sent to an RAF base in Cyprus and was subsequently posted back, hence the Cyprus stamp and cancellation on the reverse.

The significance of the Cypriot stamp on the cover can, I suppose only be appreciated by the person who prepared the cover.
Here are some observations:
- Of all the similar covers I have seen, yours is the only one that has the additional script under the four squadron hand stamps on the back.
- Some of these FDCs do not have the four hand stamps on the back.
- The insignia hand stamped below the Cypriot stamp looks like that of 30 Squadron
-Of the four squadrons represented by the red squadron hand stamps and the additional badge, only one, 6 Squadron has a direct link with Cyprus having being stationed at RAF Akrotiri in the early '50s.

The signature on the back of the cover could shed some more light, I though that it may have been RAF Akrotiri's commander at the time Air Vice-Marshal R L Davis but I don't think that's right.

In any event, the covers themselves are not expensive, however the signature on the back could change that if it belongs to somebody important/famous (Sir Douglas Bader on similar cover is around 150 Pounds). I don't think that the Cypriot stamp is all that significant and it could have been stamped on favour, besides any letter mailed in Cyprus requires an obligatory refugee tax stamp.

Your cover is certainly interesting and may be unique but as for the value.....??

Hi its signed by flight lt R.Humphreys