Things That Fly

Today's update deals with things that fly. I'm sure you know that will include planes. My cards this time come from Canada, Slovakia, Guernsey, U.S.A., Taiwan and France. These airplane cards will certainly add to my Aircraft/Airlines on Postcards collection.

First up is the card from Canada. It's a Wardair Boeing 747. Wardair was a Canadian airline founded in 1953. The airline was acquired by and folded into Canadian Airlines International in 1989. Wardair was famous for good service at lower than average prices. Quality meals on Royal Doulton china and seats with generous pitch were standard on Wardair. It is remembered as one of the most luxurious Canadian airlines. Sadly I never had the pleasure of flying Wardair or working for Wardair. My card , set by Pam in Kingston, shows aircraft CF-DJC, nicknamed the "Phil Garratt ". Garratt is a member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. Pam used 2 aviation related stamps from 1981 and 1982. The stamp on the left shows a Fairchild FC-2w1, while the other stamp shows the Avro Canada Jetliner. The Avro Canada Jetliner is the second jet airliner to ever fly, having its first flight just 13 days after the DH Comet's first flight. In April 1950 the Jetliner carried the world's first jet airmail from Toronto to New York in 58 minutes.

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Next to land is a Brussels Airlines Avro RJ100 on the tarmac at Poprad-Tatry Airport in Poprad , northern Slovakia. The altitude of the airport in the High Tatra Mountains is 672 metres above sea level. Robert used 2012 stamp, 1 of 2 in a souvenir sheet honouring Jan Koniarek.

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Now on final approach to landing is Aurigny Air Services. Aurigny operates betwen the Channel Islands, northern France and the United Kingdom. It is one of the longest serving regional airlines in the world and is one of the oldest established airlines in Britain behind Loganair and Monarch Airlines. The aircraft pictured here is G-RUND, a Saab SF340A, but Aurigny has since retired this aircraft type. They now operate ATR 72 aircraft. Jean Pierre used 3 Guernsey stamps on the card. The flower stamp on the left is 1 of 7 definitives issued in 2008. The flower stamp in the middle is 1 of 10 issued in 2009 and the stamp on the right was issued in 1984 showing the architecture of Le Variouf.

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Here's a card from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum showing 2 very famous aircraft. In the foreground we seen the Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis and in the background, the Bell X-1. Charles Lindbergh, in his Ryan NYP named Spirit of St. Louis, became the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo and nonstop. It took him 33 hours, 30 minutes at an average speed of 108 mph to fly from New York to Paris on May 20-21, 1927.

Flown by Capt. Charles Yeager, on Oct 14, 1947, the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis was the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound. Under the power of its rocket engine, the X-1 penetrated the sound barrier and attained a speed of 1127 km/h ( 700 mph, MACH 1.06 ) .

That's two great pilots in two great planes.

I had the pleasure of visiting this museum about 15 years ago and saw these planes in the same location shown on the card. They have a lot of other great stuff to see so if you get the chance , it's well worth the visit. You can't go wrong.

Postcrosser Rose is the sender of this card and she used a 2012 Lancaster County stamp.

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This next card comes from Taiwan. It shows a Dragonair Airbus A330-300.That's a nice looking airplane and card.

Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Limited is the flag carrier of and headquartered in Hong Kong. It flies to 33 destinations in 12 countries. It operates an all Airbus fleet of A320s, A321s and A330s. Dennies used a number of stamps , all from 2011, to get this card to me. The 2 larger stamps are from a Tourism set of 20. The smaller stamp from a set of 4 Insects.

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On this last card , of Brittany, France, we aren't seeing an airplane, but these guys can fly, so that keeps this card in tune with things that fly. They're Puffins of course. Now , speaking of flying, puffins beat their wings rapidly ( up to 400 times per minute ) . Now that's moving. Jean Pierre used 2 really nice Puffin stamps . They were issued this year and are a Bird Protection issue.

That's it for today. I promise my next update won't have any airplanes so do come back again.
Thanks go to Pam, Robert, Jean Pierre, Rose and Dennies for all these fine cards.
As always, if you want to let me know how I'm doing here, feel free.
Take care.