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Author Topic:   Space Cover 400: Apollo Fire at 50
micropooz
Member

Posts: 1580
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 01-15-2017 06:52 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for micropooz   Click Here to Email micropooz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Space Cover of the Week, Week 400 (January 15, 2017)

Space Cover #400: Apollo Fire at 50

Above is a Swanson self-serve cachet, machine canceled at Patrick Air Force Base, FL the evening of January 27, 1967. That evening, at 6:31 pm, the Apollo 1 crew of Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee perished when the interior of their Apollo capsule was consumed in fire during a closed-hatch test at Cape Canaveral. Their mission was to have launched less than a month later.

Patrick Air Force Base (we'll call it PAFB for short now) was the headquarters for the Air Force operation at Cape Canaveral and was about 15 miles down the coast from the Cape. So, why a PAFB cancellation and not a Cape Canaveral cancellation for this event? Well, the accident happened at 6:31 pm. The Cape Canaveral post office closed at 7:00 pm. The consensus among collectors is that it is highly unlikely that news of the accident got out to the public, that someone gathered envelopes, took them to the Cape post office, and got them postmarked within 29 minutes after the accident. Cape cancels for January 27, 1967 have been seen, but are generally considered to be backdated. However, the PAFB post office was open later that night (does anyone here know the exact closing time?) and is considered more likely to have actually serviced covers that night. So, that's why the PAFB cancel was shown here.

I've also seen KSC postmarks and Satellite Beach postmarks for January 27, 1967, and have heard all kinds of opinions on whether they could have been legitimately postmarked that night or were backdated. And I don't remember seeing any of that lore written down.

So, do any of you have the rest of the story on January 27, 1967 covers and backdates?

yeknom-ecaps
Member

Posts: 719
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005

posted 01-15-2017 10:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for yeknom-ecaps   Click Here to Email yeknom-ecaps     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
  • KSC - PO closed 6:30 pm - backdated exist
  • CC - PO closed 6:30 pm - backdated exist
  • Cocoa - PO closed 6:30 pm - backdated exist
  • PAFB - PO open to 8 PM - covers exist
  • Satellite Beach - PO open to 8 pm - covers exist
  • Houston - PO personnel at PO until midnight - covers exist
Plus the popular covers:
  • A.M.F. Kennedy NY - open?
  • Port Washington NY - likely closed

Eddie Bizub
Member

Posts: 103
From: Kissimmee, FL USA
Registered: Aug 2010

posted 01-15-2017 03:43 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Eddie Bizub   Click Here to Email Eddie Bizub     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nice cover Dennis! My dad has a very similar cover in his collection. He purchased it from Art Molnar right around the time I was born in March of 1967.

Art Molnar I believe was one of the cover servicers producing covers for Eastern Test Range launches at the time. Dad said he paid $5 for it. A high price for a cover back then!

I have never seen any issues concerning these covers with machine cancels from Patrick AFB being backdated. Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center post offices were in fact closed at the time of the fire.

The Patrick AFB post office was still open and there was time to cancel maybe a handful of covers. Many years ago I saw an estimate that maybe 40 covers were cancelled at the Patrick AFB post office that night.

astrobock
Member

Posts: 152
From: WV, USA
Registered: Sep 2006

posted 01-15-2017 11:50 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for astrobock   Click Here to Email astrobock     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nice cover. Thank you for the information. Here is one that's likely backdated:

NAAmodel#240
Member

Posts: 342
From: Boston, Mass.
Registered: Jun 2005

posted 01-31-2017 06:01 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for NAAmodel#240   Click Here to Email NAAmodel#240     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here is a hand-painted by Alec Bartos:

This was done by artist Ed Hengeveld:

Antoni RIGO
Member

Posts: 216
From: Palma de Mallorca, Is. Baleares - SPAIN
Registered: Aug 2013

posted 02-02-2017 03:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Antoni RIGO   Click Here to Email Antoni RIGO     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This is cover with the very common Port Washington NY postmark.

All times are CT (US)

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