posted 04-26-2015 07:10 AM               

Space Cover #314: X-1 First Supersonic 50th Anniversary Cover

Above is a first day of issue cover for Sc#3173, the 50th Anniversary of the First Supersonic Flight, postmarked at Edwards on October 14, 1997, signed by pilot Chuck Yeager, and flown above Mach 1 on an F-15 fighter by Yeager that day, #901/1000.

On the 50th anniversary of Yeager's Mach 1 flight, the USPS issued a stamp (Sc#3173). The first day ceremony was held at Edwards on October 14, 1997. At the first day ceremony, Yeager flew an F15 fighter (tail #1046) past Mach 1. Loaded in the forward equipment bay were 3390 #10 sized First Day Covers similar to that shown above. These were prepared by Philip Dockter and were sold to raise money for construction of the Air Force Flight Test Museum at Edwards. 1000 of these covers were numbered and signed by Yeager in pencil (as shown above) and sold initially for $50. Another 100 were considered proofs and not sold. The cachet designer received 30 of these proofs and numbered them AP1 - AP30.

Additionally 2290 covers flew unsigned and unnumbered and sold initially for $10. Instead of the inscription shown in the lower right of the cover above, these carried the simpler inscription 'Flown at MACH 1 on the 50th Anniversary of Supersonic Flight by Brig Gen CHARLES E. "Chuck" YEAGER'.

After the first day of issue, Mr. Dockter printed an additional 450 cachets using a red/black color scheme (vs. the original orange/black shown above) and lacking the wording about being flown. These have been put to many uses including first day cancels after-the-fact at the USPS Philatelic Service Center, and other X1 flight anniversaries. This version is shown below – please note the slight color difference and the difference in the first day cancel (this one being applied after-the-fact at the Philatelic Service Center, vs the actual day of issue at Edwards, above).

posted 04-29-2015 10:20 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by onesmallstep:
And you can count the WW2 Iwo Jima flag-raising stamp issued in 1945 as being the only time in USPS history it actually pictured three living people by design...

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posted 04-29-2015 11:19 AM               

This 32-cent stamp marks the 50th anniversary of the first supersonic flight by US Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager, depicting his "Glamorous Glennis" Bell X-1 aircraft, but the microprinting misspells the name as "GLAMOROUS GLENNA". The lower word is also curved instead of straight.