COLLEGE PARK, MD — The United States Postal Service will honor the beginning of airmail service by dedicating the second of this year’s two United States Air Mail Forever stamps at the College Park Aviation Museum and College Park Airport in College Park, MD.
The official first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the blue Forever stamp took place May 1 in Washington, DC, at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum. The second, a red United States Air Mail Forever stamp dedication ceremony will take place Aug.11, in College Park, MD. In conjunction with the dedication ceremony, the museum and airport will host Airmail Centennial Celebration Family Day, featuring hands-on activities for all ages, viewings of the Curtiss Jenny and other historic planes, entertainment and food trucks.
On Sunday, Aug. 12, the 100th anniversary celebration will continue with a reenactment of the first airmail flight in an authentic Curtiss Jenny. Departure time is scheduled between 6:45 a.m.-7:30 a.m., weather permitting, from College Park Airport. The flight will end at the American Airpower Museum at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, NY.
Customers will be provided the opportunity to get stamps, cards or letters stamped with a special first-day-of-issue postmark to commemorate the event. News about the stamps can be shared with the hashtags #AirMailStamps and #USAirMail.
Air Mail Takes Flight
On May 15, 1918, in the midst of World War I, a small group of Army pilots delivered mail along a route that linked Washington, Philadelphia and New York — initiating the world's first regularly scheduled airmail service. The blue Forever stamp, released May 1, 2018, commemorated the pioneering spirit of the brave pilots who first flew the mail in the early years of aviation.
The United States Post Office Department, the predecessor to the U.S. Postal Service, took charge of the U.S. Air Mail Service later that summer operating it from Aug. 12, 1918, through Sept. 1, 1927. Airmail delivery, daily except Sundays, became part of the fabric of the American economy and spurred growth of the nation’s aviation industry. The red stamp commemorates this milestone.
For airmail service to succeed in the early days of flight, the Post Office had to develop profitable routes, such as between New York and Chicago, and to establish the infrastructure for safely making night flights. It set up lighted airfields and erected hundreds of airmail guide beacons between New York and San Francisco so that by 1924 regularly scheduled, transcontinental flying was possible, day and night.
The United States Air Mail stamp is being issued as a Forever stamp. This Forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current First Class Mail one ounce price.
Stamp design
On the 100th anniversary of the beginning of regular airmail service, this stamp celebrates the courage of the pioneering airmail carriers and the foresight of those who fostered the new service and made it a success
The two stamps are identical except in color. Both stamps are printed in intaglio, where the design is engraved into metal plate and then transferred to the stamp paper, and feature a drawing of a plane typically used in the early days of airmail, a Curtiss JN-4H biplane. The biplane was also featured on the stamps originally issued in 1918 to commemorate the beginning of regularly scheduled airmail service.
This type of biplane was also featured on the 24 cent stamp that was issued in 1918 to commemorate the beginning of regularly scheduled airmail service. Stamp designer and typographer Dan Gretta of Philadelphia, evoked that earlier period with this 2018 stamp design. Greg Breeding of Charlottesville, Virginia, was the art director.
Stamp ideas welcome
The public is encouraged to submit stamp suggestions. Visit the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee website for details on the stamp selection process and instructions for submitting suggestions in writing. Due to the time required for research and approval, ideas for stamp subjects should be received at least three years prior to the proposed release. Each submission should include pertinent historical information and important dates associated with the subject.
Many of this year’s other stamps can be viewed on Facebook at facebook.com/USPSStamps or via Twitter @USPSstamps. All postage stamps are available for purchase at Post Offices, online at usps.com, and by toll-free phone order at 1-800 STAMP-24.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
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