CALTAPEX 2018

October 13 and 14 Kerby Centre, 1133 - 7 Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta SHOW COMMITTEE

Chairman Walter Herdzik Dealer liaison Ray Villeneuve Auction Jim Senecal and Doug Kollar

Show catalogue Dale Speirs Posters Peter Fleck Show covers Dave Bartlet

Exhibits Dave Russum Frames Walter Herdzik Awards and Palmares Donna Trathen

Facilities and publicity Erika Peter Judges and Awards Banquet Janice Brookes

PHILATELIC SOUVENIR OF CALTAPEX

The theme of this year’s show is the centennial of the first airmail in Alberta, flown by Katherine Stinson on July 9, 1918, from Calgary to Edmonton. The cover was designed by Dave Bartlet. They are franked with a Picture Postage design showing Stinson, the design of which was not available at the time this catalogue went to press.

2 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Events are in the Kerby Centre, except the Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Danish- Canadian Club, 727 - 11 Avenue SW. Tickets are required for the Banquet; all else is free.

Saturday, October 13

Show opens 10h00 Canteen opens 11h00 Canteen closes 14h30 Show closes 17h00 Awards Banquet 18h00 to 22h00

Sunday, October 14

Show opens 10h00 Judge’s Critique 10h00 Canteen opens 11h00

Auction lots accepted 13h30 Canteen closes 14h30 Show closes 16h00 Auction begins 16h00

3 MESSAGE FROM THE SHOW CHAIRMAN by Walter Herdzik

Welcome to CALTAPEX 2018. A little over a year has passed since the Calgary Philatelic Society and the local BNAPS Regional Group hosted the BNAPS 2017 show in Calgary.

It is nice to get back to our usual facility for our annual show. We are pleased to have present a full complement of dealers along with exhibits, junior and club tables and our auction.

On reflecting on my own philatelic collecting interests in Central Africa, I was fortunate earlier this year to travel to Zambia and Zimbabwe and revisit a part of the world where I had spent over two years of my life in the 1970s.

As a member of the Rhodesia Study Circle celebrating its 70th year, I attended a gathering of about 50 members of that society for a few seminars and a visit to the Victoria Falls area. Philately is not just collecting little pieces of paper (stamps and covers) but it allows one to broaden horizons by learning about the history and people who occupy the country or countries we collect from.

This year, our show theme is the 100th anniversary of the Stinson flight on July 9, 1918. A few of our Calgary Philatelic Society members, who are also members of the Canadian Aerophilatelic Society, along with Westjet and others participated in the flight re-creation and the transport of mail from Calgary to Edmonton.

While our own society is a general stamp collecting club, I realize there are other clubs and societies that specialize in topical, thematic or other geographic areas in the philatelic world. I encourage you to seek out other clubs and societies that have more specialized knowledge and information. In particular, I encourage members to consider exhibiting which is a sharing of philatelic knowledge.

This year, our club is initiating a single page competition without any rules. Judging for the best one-page exhibit will be selected by People’s Choice judging. To all the CALTAPEX 2018 committee, volunteers, dealers and attendees, I would like to express a sincere thank you for making the show a success. I hope that we can enhance your collecting horizons and interests.

4 SHOW AWARDS

Medal Levels Five levels of ribbons and certificates are awarded. Gold, Vermeil, Silver, Silver-Bronze and Bronze. Exhibits are judged according to RPSC Regional guidelines.

Special Awards

Grand Award

One-Frame Grand Award

Jon Johnson Award for the Best exhibit of two frames or more in any category by a Calgary Philatelic Society (CPS) member.

Youth Grand Award to the best exhibit in any category submitted by an entrant under the age of 21.

American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors (AAPE) Silver Award of Honor to recognize excellence of presentation by an exhibitor who has not been awarded a Gold Ribbon.

American Philatelic Society (APS) Medals of Excellence may be awarded in each of four time periods: - Pre 1900 Material - 1900-1940 Material - 1940-1980 Material - Post 1980 Material

American Philatelic Society (APS) Research Medal

American Topical Association - ATA First Award for best topical exhibit - Award of Merit for Best Single Frame - ATA Youth Award

British North America Philatelic Society Award - Best BNA exhibit - Best Elizabethan BNA award

Canadian Aerophilatelic Society Exhibition Award from the CAS for the best airmail exhibit.

Sterling Achievement Award from WE (Women Exhibitors) to recognize an exhibit that has been awarded a Bronze, Silver-Bronze, or Silver medal that shows notable accomplishment in the exhibit’s treatment.

Thunderbird Award from the NW Federation of Stamp Clubs to recognize an exhibit of merit, one that has potential or special appeal.

5 LIST OF EXHIBITS

Invited Exhibits

Mike Ley Burma: The First Two Issues - selected frames Mike Ley Exclusive Uses of the 50 Cent Prexie Dave Bartlet Booklet varieties of the Admiral issue Dave Bartlet 100 years of Airmail in Eastern and Western Canada

Youth

Amelia Kelbert World of the Monarch Butterfly

Competitive

Donna Trathen Horses: Origins, Breeds and Roles Dale Speirs Postal history of the Calgary Winter Olympics Dave Russum Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II - Their reigns and postal service

Ray Villeneuve Special Delivery Service in Canada: Forms and Labels Dave Bartlett Funding for WW1 through the Post Office Sandy Freeman Lampooning the Three Axis Amigos

Steve Davis Canada War Issue 6c & 7c Airmail Stamps: Rates and Usages Jon Johnson Canadian Merchant Navy , Sept 1943 - Sept 1945 Walter Herdzik How do they know it is Airmail? Jim Taylor Earth Sciences

Non-Competitive

Various One to four page exhibits (People’s Choice Award) Penny Borrowman Sightseeing in China Janice Brookes Evolution of the World Wildlife Fund logo

6 CHIEF JUDGE: MIKE LEY

Mike Ley graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1971. He worked in the freight industry for various trucking companies. When he retired in 2015 he was the manager of sales and service for the Old Dominion Freight Line Service Center in Grand Island, Nebraska.

Mike started exhibiting in the 1980s. He has shown exhibits of material from the United States, Finland, and Uruguay. He is best known for his exhibits of Burma. He has won Single Frame Grand Awards at World Series of Philately shows with three different exhibits, and has won a total of five multi-frame Grand Awards at WSP shows with two different exhibits.

He has written a number of articles and is serving as the exhibits chairman of the WSP Omaha Stamp Show. He became an accredited APS judge in 2009 and a Chief Judge in 2017. He currently serves as the secretary of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors.

7 DEALER BOURSE

Don Kaye 17131 Coral Beach Road, Winfield, British Columbia V4V 1B9 [email protected]

Doug Kendig 805 Bolton Road, Tappen, British Columbia V0E 2X3

Firmin Wyndels Victoria, British Columbia [email protected]

Jim Miller The Stamp Collection Connection Suite 2029, 61 Broadway Boulevard, Sherwood Park, Alberta T8H 2C1 [email protected]

J. Garvey & Sons 10403 - 140 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T5N 2L8 [email protected]

Luciano Bassetto 30 Kootenay Street North, Vancouver, British Columbia V5K 3P7 [email protected]

Zatka Philately Box 1181, Station M, Calgary, Alberta T2P 2K9 [email protected]

MJR Postcards & Covers Box 36027, Castledown P.O., Edmonton, Alberta T5X 5V9 [email protected]

Peter Fleck Box 16, Site 2, R.R. #4, Red Deer County, Alberta T4N 5E4 [email protected]

Royal William Stamps Box 69058, Kensington P.O., Edmonton, Alberta T5L 4Y5 [email protected]

Wayne Dods 420 Christleton Avenue, Kelowna, British Columbia V1Y 5H7 [email protected]

Ihor Rudyk Edmonton, Alberta [email protected]

8 KATHERINE STINSON AND CALGARY by Dale Speirs

2018 is the centennial of the first airmail flown in Alberta, which was also the second airmail flight in Canada and the first airmail in Canada flown by a female pilot (she also was the first woman to fly American airmails). Katherine Stinson was a pioneer aviator from the USA who barnstormed around North America.

In The Beginning.

Airmail is taken for granted these days, but prior to World War Two it was front-page news in any city that received it. Air transport began after World War One, but its greatest problem, and the thing that held back airmail routes, was reliability. The earliest reports of airmail routes are replete with crash or forced landings due to untrustworthy aircraft or unexpected bad weather.

Delays were frequent due to lack of weather forecasting. Navigation by pilots consisted of taking along a road map and following train tracks. Aircraft could not fly over mountains and had to zigzag along valleys. The pilots had to pray they could get their planes over mountain passes without flying into something.

Calgary is the major city of southern Alberta, the petroleum capital of Canada, and thus a logical choice for airmail routes. Lethbridge, however, keeps popping up as the southern Alberta terminus in most of the early airmail flights. This was because the Crowsnest Pass through the Canadian Rockies was the preferred route for unpressurized aircraft. The Crowsnest Pass opens onto the prairies in the Lethbridge vicinity. After World War Two, when pressurized aircraft were added to routes, the terminus was moved to Calgary.

Katherine Stinson.

Katherine Stinson had an easier time of it when she pioneered the airmails in Alberta by flying from Calgary to Edmonton on July 9, 1918. The distance is flatlands, and she only had to follow the railroad that runs in a straight line between the two cities. Even so, her plane made a forced landing moments after takeoff in the Beddington district. There was a delay while she sent back for parts, but she managed to finish the flight the same day she started it.

Stinson had made some exhibition flights around Calgary in 1916 and 1917. The 1918 flight carried about 250 pieces of mail. Most items were letterheads folded over and closed with red seals. A rectangular cachet was used to mark the mail. The cachet read “Aeroplane Mail Service/July 9, 1918/CALGARY, ALBERTA”. An Edmonton backstamp was applied on arrival.

The front cover of this show catalogue is a scan of a real-photo postcard in my own collection, showing Stinson as she prepared to depart Calgary on the day.

9 The typical cover from this Stinson flight is shown in Figure 1. These covers are the ones most likely to be encountered in philatelic auctions.

A unique piece was owned by the late Sam Nickle, shown in Figures 2 and 3 on the next page. Sam was a wealthy Calgary oilman prominent in local philately. He was active in the 1950s and 1960s on the executive of the CPS and served a term as President, as well as being Chairman of several stamp shows in the 1970s and 1980s. Back in the 1980s, I wrote a history of Calgary airmails and Sam was kind enough to give me a photocopy of his Stinson cover.

The document is a piece of the road map Stinson used as a guide. She tore it off and wrote a message to the Edmonton Exhibition manager on one side, then folded it as a letter. This was sold off as part of Sam’s philatelic estate. It is currently owned by a Calgary collector.

Figure 1: The majority of flown covers were folded letterheads sealed by red tape.

Figure 5 (postmark) and Figure 6 (Picture Postage stamp) are from BNAPEX 2007, hosted in Calgary, and show the Stinson Special biplane she flew, which was customized from a Jenny biplane. Her flights were done as benefits for the Red Cross, which explains the cross on the tailfin.

Figure 5 (left)

Figure 6 (right)

10 Figure 2: Outside of letter. Richardson was the manager of the Calgary Industrial Exhibition. (The Stampede did not yet exist.)

Figure 3: Message of letter.

Dear Mr Richardson. As I’ve no note paper along, am taking part of the map I will use on the trip up. Hoping you soon have a regular route between Calgary and Edmonton. Thanks for your assistance. Yours sincerely, Katherine Stinson

11 CENTENNIAL OF KATHERINE STINSON FLIGHT photos by Walter Herdzik and John Chalmers

On July 9, 1918, Katherine Stinson flew the first airmail in Alberta from Calgary to Edmonton. It was the second airmail in Canada, and the first flown by a woman.

In honour of the occasion, the Canadian Aerophilatelic Society and WestJet Airlines staged a special flight on July 9, 2018. A ceremony was held at Calgary International Airport at 10h00.

At left: CPS member Sandy Freeman adds a letter to the centennial mailbag from Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi to Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson.

Below: The mailbag with the flight crew and cabin attendants of the Q400 NextGen turboprop. From left to right are: First Officer Janna Breker Kettner, flight attendants Sandra Ostertag and Rabia Saghen, and Captain Athenia Jensen.

12 For the centennial flight, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi sent this letter to Edmonton.

13 A special postmark was used for the centennial flight. The Canadian Aerophilatelic Society did a lot of the work in arranging the flight.

There is a Canada Post retail outlet on the southern edge of Calgary International Airport called Airways. Local philatelists had covers canceled there, using a Picture Postage stamp prepared by Dave Bartlet. The cover below was prepared by Dale Speirs.

14 ABOUT THE CALGARY PHILATELIC SOCIETY

The Calgary Philatelic Society was founded in April 1922 by Dr. Edward George Mason, and has been in continuous existence since. The CPS provides a meeting place for local stamp collectors to get together and share their interest in stamps and postal history. It is Chapter 66 of the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada, Chapter 1360 of the American Philatelic Society, and Chapter 91 of the American Topical Association.

Some of the benefits to members: 1) enjoying social interaction with other stamp collectors 2) opportunity to buy, sell, trade, and exhibit philatelic material. 3) subscription to our award-winning bulletin, the Calgary Philatelist 4) access to our excellent library, with resources for all aspects of philately 5) two philatelic shows per year: CALTAPEX in October, and a Spring Bourse in April.

Visitors and guests are always welcome. Meetings and Auctions are held beginning at 19h30, with the doors opening at 18h30. The location for the General Meeting and the monthly Auction is: Kerby Centre, Room 205 (Lecture Room), 1133 - 7 Avenue SW, Calgary. (If you park in the Kerby parking lots, you must register your licence plate on the terminal inside the building.)

General meetings, are held on the first Wednesday of the month except July, August, and December. They include a silent auction, a short business meeting, and a philatelic presentation by one of our members. Coffee and doughnuts are served after the presentation. Regular auctions are held on the third Wednesday of the month, except July, August, and December. Auction lots should be in before 19h00 to allow viewing.

The Calgary Philatelist is published seven times per year. Every issue contains club news, original articles on philatelic subjects or postal history, members' advertisements, and a schedule of meetings and upcoming events.

The CPS Website is located at: www.calgaryphilatelicsociety.com Real-mail address is Box 1478, Calgary, Alberta, T2P 2L6.

15 SEE YOU NEXT YEAR! CALTAPEX 2019

Saddle up and ride out here on October 19 and 20, 2019

More information in August 2019 at: www.calgaryphilatelicsociety.com

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