posted 03-08-2026 06:51 AM
   
I bought this cover recently on impulse. I usually like to know at least a little about any astrophilately covers I buy and use a variety of sources to check out any potential purchases. This one failed to pass with flying colours. For a start it had the dreaded 'rockets' in the cachet caption which usually denotes an extended period of time in which some or many rockets are launched, not ideal when what you actually want is an astrophilatelically correct launch cover for a single rocket. As it was a Canadian launch, McMahan's catalog does not mention it. The cachet is also composed of two parts, one of which is a generic pictorial RSC for missile launches - and Black Brants are sounding rockets not missiles! And although Black Brant is a Canadian sounding rocket, and the cover is postmarked from Port Dufferin, a Canadian township in Nova Scotia, neither the Astronautix website nor a plethora of books on sounding rockets I own had any reference to Port Dufferin as a launch site. But I bought it anyway. I have since discovered that Port Dufferin is adjacent to an empty stretch of land in Nova Scotia called East Quoddy, which was a sounding rocket launch site for solar eclipse UV and X-ray missions back in the early '70s. Apparently (according to Astronautix) eight Black Brant launches occurred there. Four on 7th March 1970, with a further four fired off on 10th July 1972. As acquiring launch covers from every sounding rocket launch site is one of the aims of my collection I am very glad I took a gamble on buying this. I am intrigued to know however, has anyone seen or does anyone have launch covers from East Quoddy for the 1970 series of Black Brant firings? | 
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