Cards From the USA and Germany

Another week has passed , I hadn't realized that until yesterday. I never intend for a week to go by but then life gets in the way. There was Father's Day, my birthday and grand kids' soccer games, so I couldn't find postcard time - what can I say - I'm making time today before another soccer game.
Strangely all of today's cards are from either the U.S.A or Germany. That wasn't planned , it just fell that way.

Let's start with a card showing Reunion Tower in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.  The tower is a 171 m observation tower and one of the most recognizable landmarks in Dallas.  It is part of the Hyatt Regency Hotel and offers spectacular 360-degree views of the city. The tower is known locally as "The Ball "and was completed on February 2nd, 1978. It sits around  305 m from Dealey Plaza, the site of the assassination of John F Kennedy.

 

This is another card from Mike & Ashley of West Chester, PA. They used 2 more of the new Planets set of 8 issued recently by the USPS. It's Mars and our own Earth on this one.

Thanks to Mike and Ashley I have received all 8 of The Planets on their recent cards. Here they are all together.

A very impressive set indeed and one I'm glad to have in my collection. These stamps were issued on May 31st. While Pluto doesn't make the grade as a planet anymore and is not represented in this set, USPS did issue a Pluto Explored stamp and a New Horizons Spacecraft stamp the same day, May 31st.  And if I do say so myself , Pluto looks just as good as any of the other 8 real planets.

Now let's jump over to Germany. This next card is all about the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis, a German noble family that was a key player in the postal services of Europe in the 16th century. Dominique picked this card at St. Emmeran Palace , the royal residence of the Thurn and Taxis dynasty. The current head of the royal house is HSH Albert, 12th prince of Thurn and Taxis.

Dominique used a recent 2016 stamp here. It is a Polish-German joint issue commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Polish - German Youth Cooperation.

Here's another card from Germany, Offenbach this time. It's located in the middle-south of the country , about 3 km from Frankfurt. Elena's card shows a rather well dressed lady in a ferris-wheel, I do believe.

Elena used a Flower definitive ( we've all seen many of these over the years ) along with a 2016 stamp showing Grey Goose babies. It is from a set of 2 , the 2nd shows Baby Hares.

Now it's back to the U.S, with this Eastern Airlines Martin 4-0-4, shown in Philadelphia in 1962. The Martin 4-0-4 was built by the Glenn L Martin Company. This aircraft type's first flight was on October 21, 1950. One hundred and three were built between 1951 and 1953. Primary users were Eastern Airlines and Trans World Airlines. Eastern Air Lines , shown on the card, flew 4-0-4 aircraft from 1952 until 1962. The last airworthy 4-0-4 was ferried to the Planes of Fame Museum in Valle, Arizona , in February of 2008. Another fine addition to my Airlines / Aircraft Postcard Collection.

   Olga , who lives in New Jersey, but very close to New York City sent this card along. She used the current 2016 Global Forever stamp .

It's back over the pond again to Germany. It's an old  1928 Picture of Hohnstein. Front and center on this card is a local church, however the town is dominated by Hohnstein Castle, built around 1200 on a hard sandstone slab. It is now the major landmark of the town of just over 3,600 inhabitants.

A Postcrosser named Sophia sent this old card from Hamburg. The stamp was issued in 2013 to mark the 100 th anniversary on the Mohnetalsperre. The dam is 40.3 m high and 605 m long.

It's back to the U.S again, or is it ?  This next card did arrive from Reno, Nevada, but was bought in Germany , by Veronika who moved from Germany in 2011. Here we can see the English actress Kate Beckinsale as she appeared in the 2001 movie Pearl Harbour.  

Veronika used a couple of stamps on her card. On the left is a Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly , non-machinable surcharge stamp from 2015. This is the first stamp of this type I have seen, or at least have taken notice of. It pays the surcharge on irregularly sized envelopes such as square greeting cards. It also should be used on oddly-shaped or vertical envelopes, lumpy envelopes or any mail with clasps, ribbons or buttons. At this time the surcharge is 20 cents. On the right is a 2014 Purple Heart Forever stamp. Several Purple Heart stamps have been issued since 2008, with slightly different designs and with different year dates on them. In 2008 it was a 42 cent stamp as opposed to a Forever stamp. The Purple Heart is the medal for combat wounded.

Now for the last card for this time. This one is another great aviation card for my Aircraft Collection. It is an Airbus A300B - Registration F-WUAB. This Airbus was rolled out in Toulouse painted in the original orange and white Airbus house colours that adorned the prototype of the world's first widebody twinjet design on its maiden flight in October 1972.   Although the prototype A300B1 was long ago broken up, an apparently redundant A300B4 has now had the retro paint scheme applied , as well as the original registration F-WUAB. The aircraft is a 23 year old B4 that originally to be in Laker Airways fleet. However the airline ceased operations before the aircraft was completed. It was later delivered to Pan American Airways in 1985. Later it was acquired by Sempati Air in 1993 and by DHL in 1999. It is now withdrawn from use at Airbus's Toulouse Blagnac Airport Headquarters.

Jens sent this card to me under cover. It has a 1973 stamp on it with a 13-5-1973 date stamp. It also refers to Hamburg 95 , so I'm lost. Perhaps there is someone out there that has some idea how all this works, because I don't. Leave a comment if you know something, anything about the cancel.

There you have it. Thanks for cards going out to Mike & Ashley, Dominique, Elena, Olga, Sophia, Veronika and Jens. thanks for reading and here's hoping you can come back again. Take care.