Thanksgiving Greetings, a Sopwith Camel, Air Berlin 737, 2 Queens and a B-25 Bomber

It's Thanksgiving Day , so Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, especially those celebrating today. What am I thankful for today ? Many things- my family, near and far , the love of My Lovely Teena, our health, food on the table , a place to live, even the good sunny weather today. I'm even thankful that chemical weapons are being located in Syria,  and destroyed. That can only make for a better world.

In keeping with Thanksgiving I have a themed postcard to start off with today. It is not a card I received but one from my unused stock.

My next card is of a replica Sopwith Camel. The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917.  Though difficult to handle, to an experienced pilot it provided unmatched manoeuvrability. A superlative fighter, the Camel was credited with shooting down 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter of the war. A total of 5490 were produced.

Irina, a Postcrosser from Great Britain used a couple of new Machin definitives along with a  nice commemorative stamp on this card. The East Indiaman Atlas stamp is from a beautiful set of 6 stamps featuring historic trading ships. They were issued just recently, on 19 September of this year. They are a wonderful set of stamps and one I would love to have in my collection.

Now for another addition to my Aircraft / Airlines on Postcards collection. It is an Air Berlin B737-800 and it is from Britta in Hamburg. Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's seventh largest airline in terms of passengers carried. In May 2001 Air Berlin was the world's first airline to take delivery of a Boeing 737-800 retrofitted with the Aviation Partners Incorporated blended, fuel-saving winglets; most of Air Berlin's fleet have now been fitted with this equipment. The Boeing 737 has always been my favourite airplane , even back as far as the 100 and 200 series.

Britta used 2 rather recent large commemoratives. The one on the left was issued in 2009 to honour Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.   The other stamp is from a set of 4 semi-postals issued in 2011 , commemorating Youth, Astronomy.

 

The old and new is next. Some might even say "out with the old , in with the new ". Alvin's card features 2 Queens, Netherlands' Queen Beatrix on the right and their new Queen Maxima on the left. Beatrix is the former queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, having reigned from 1980 to 2013. Following her abdication on 30 April 2013, she is referred to as Princess Beatrix .

After 33 years on the throne, Beatrix was replaced as Dutch monarch on April 30 this year by her eldest son Willem-Alexander. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands is the wife of King Willem-Alexander. On 30 April 2013, she became the first Dutch queen consort since Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont who held that title until 1890. Princess Máxima will take the style and title of Her Majesty Queen Máxima, Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau.

My only question is "what is it about Royals and hats ? Queen Elizabeth has a few , too I believe."

Alvin used a 2013 Windmill stamp from a set of 10 and a 2012 Leaves stamp from a set of 10 called S 

Seasons. I guess the leaves stamp is definitely for Fall. Both sets of 10 are great looking sets.

 

 My final card for today is from United States. It was sent from Brockton, Ma. John card shows us a North American B-25 Bomber. The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber  manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.

Its primary users were the United States Army Air Forces, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Air Force and the United States Navy. A total of 9984 were built. 

John used a 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games stamp and  a 2013 Butterfly stamp. Both are self-adhesives. 

That's all the cards for this time. Just a final comment on that last card, the B-25 Bomber card. That card is the 1900th card I have received from my participation in  Postcrossing .  I received it on Friday, and as of that day I had been a Postcrossing  member for 2773 days. That's not too bad, I think.

Thanks for cards today going out to John, Alvin, Britta, and Irina. Take care, see you again soon. Here's looking forward to tomorrow's mail.