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"First Flights" Wing
Cover Flown on First Airmail
Flight between Nome and Fairbanks, Alaska
|Place your pointer
over the photo to see the reverse of the cover
When Noel Wein flew an open cockpit
bi-plane from Anchorage to Fairbanks in 1924, Alaska's first air carrier,
Wein Airlines, was born. Beginning with a three hundred dollar one way
Fairbanks to Nome route, Wein built runways, hired pilots, and brought
planes from as far away as Germany to serve dozens of bush villages.
Cover Flown Aboard First Flight of the
Douglas B-19 Experimental Super Bomber
On September 29, 1936, Douglas Aircraft received an order for a prototype
Long Range Bomber. Designated the XB-19, this airplane was the largest
American bomber ever flown until after World War II. The XB-19 was
essentially used as a test bed for very large bomber construction
techniques and flight characteristics. The Douglas Aircraft Company
actually wanted to cancel the project because of the expense and extended
construction time which made the aircraft obsolete before it ever flew.
However, the Army Air Corps insisted the aircraft be completed for test
Although only one was built, the big plane with a crew of
eighteen did prove to be an invaluable aid in the design of future
Air Force bombers such as the Boeing B-29 and Convair B-36. It
continued to serve as a transport until 1949, when it was sadly cut
up for scrap.
The first flight of the XB-19 took place from Clover Field in
Santa Monica on June 27, 1941 with a crew of seven captained by
Major Stanley M. Umstead. On its first flight, it was flown to March
Field and turned over to the Army for evaluation. Such was the
degree of popular enthusiasm aroused by the XB-19
"Super-Bomber" that President Franklin Roosevelt himself
telegraphed congratulations to Donald Douglas for this achievement.
This original piece of mail was on board as the B-19 made its
first flight from Santa Monica to March Field on June 27, 1941.
The front of the envelope reads:
Initial Flight of World's Largest Airplane
The Douglas B-19 Super-Bomber
for United States Army Air Corps
- Santa Monica California to
March Field - Riverside California
Enclosed is a personal/business letter from the vice president of
Keystone, a tool and supply contractor, to the president of Heller
Brothers, a manufacturer of files used in building the plane, the
contractor noting that "inasmuch as there was just a "helluva"
lot of Heller Files used in the manufacturing of the Super-Giant ship, and
as it is going to be our endeavor to see that Heller Tools are used in the
construction of the duplication of this great ship, we know you will
appreciate receiving this letter that traveled to you on the initial
flight." It should be noted to only one of this aircraft was
ever built. The original was scrapped in 1949.
Do You Have a B-19 Cover?
Wanna Know What It's Worth?
Cover Flown On First Flight of the
Boeing XB-47 "Stratojet"
The Boeing B-47 "Stratojet" jet bomber was a major postwar
innovation in combat jet design, and led to the development of modern jet
airliners. While it
never saw serious combat use, it was the mainstay of
US strategic defense in the
1950s, with over 2000 aircraft built. It was designed to be able to
carry a 1-ton bomb at over 300 miles per hour!
The XB-47 prototype first flew on 17 December 1947 (the 44th
anniversary of the Wright Brother's first flight at Kitty Hawk, NC), with test pilots
Robert Robbins and Scott Osler at the the controls. The aircraft flew from
Runway 13 at Boeing Field in Seattle to the Moses Lake Airfield in central
Washington state (a distance of 145 miles, which it flew in 27 minutes!), in a flight that lasted
a total of 52 minutes.
There were no major problems, except that Robbins had to pull up the flaps with the emergency
hydraulic system and the engine fire warning lights kept popping on, the
sensor technology being very unreliable at the time. Robbins reported that
the flight characteristics of the aircraft were good, and was quoted as
saying that it was a, "very easy aircraft to fly."
One of only three covers flown on that historic day, this cover is
autographed by Robert Robbins. It is addressed to a "Lt. L. Dean
Powell" of Baltimore, Maryland. The stamp, typical of airmail
stamps of that era, was cancelled on December
19th, 1947 (two days after the flight) at Moses Lakes, Washington.
Cover Flown On First Flight of
the Boeing YB-52 "Stratofortress"
cover was flown on the first flight of the Boeing YB-52 "Stratofortress",
which flew from
Seattle to Larson AFB, Washington on April 15, 1952.
The pilot for that first flight was Alvin
M. "Tex" Johnston, one of Boeing's top test pilots. Johnston got
his nickname because of his fondness for wearing fancy cowboy boots, even
during test flights. He became an aviation legend in 1954 when he put the
707 jetliner prototype into a complete 360-degree barrel roll over
Lake Washington — not once, but twice during the plane's first public
display. The co-pilot was Lt. Col. Guy M. Townsend of the U.S. Air
Force flight test center. During World War II, he had flown Boeing
B-17s and B-29s. After a long Air Force career, Townsend retired as a
brigadier general and joined Boeing.
Just before 10 a.m. the pilots in the
cockpit began a final check of all instruments and controls. At 10:45 a.m.
the big plane's eight jet engines came to life with an ear-piercing roar.
At 11:03 a.m. the B-52 headed down the taxiway, turned onto the main
runway at the north end of Boeing Field and stopped. Johnston advanced the
eight throttles to full power and released the brakes. At 11:09 a.m. the
wheels started to roll, and the aircraft took to the skies effortlessly.
Johnston and Townsend kept the plane over the Seattle area for about 40 minutes
as they checked the landing gear, flaps and ailerons. They then climbed to
25,000 feet and headed for Larson Air Force Base at Moses Lake, Washington.
Arriving around noon, the YB-52 flew over
the Moses Lake area for the next two hours as the pilots continued to
perform a series of tests. Johnston radioed back to Boeing Field that the
plane's performance appeared to be just as predicted by the engineers. At
2 p.m. the YB-52 touched down on the 10,000-foot runway at Larson Air
Force Base. The flight had lasted two hours and 51 minutes. At the
time, it was the longest and most successful first flight in Boeing
history. (Source: Boeing)
Postmarked Moses Lake, Wash., April 16,
1952 (although the flight took place on the15th) on Boeing Airplane Company
envelope, and is signed by the flight's pilot, Tex Johnston.