This 6 cent US Airmail stamp from 1938 was on issued on May 14 in Dayton, Ohio, and St. Petersburg, Florida. It was issued in celebration of National Airmail Week.
The stamp design was personally sketched by President Franklin Roosevelt.
Dayton, Ohio was chosen as a first city for release because it was the home of the Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur who designed and flew the first powered aircraft.
St. Petersburg, Florida was chosen as a co-release city because it was the site of the first passenger flight.
On the day of issue, the American Air Mail Society was holding a convention in St. Petersburg, and a temporary post office was set up for first day cancellations.
To celebrate that week, towns all over the country prepared special first day covers to be flown by aircraft. Even towns without airports cleared fields as landing strips for special transportation.
Many of those first day covers ended up in the mailbox of the designer, President Roosevelt.
Being a two-color stamp, there are of course variations and errors, including one involving the wrong color blue being used on some stamps.
Leave a Reply