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A Historical Census and Study of Its Epic Journey

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A Historical Census and Study of Its Epic Journey LINN’S STA m P NE stamp WS ’ nEWs LinnWorld’s Largest Weekly Stamp News and Marketplaces AUGUST Vin Fiz v in f I z f lye r Flyer A historicAl census And study of its epic journey Inside chile’S fIrst stamps From Inca chasquis to postal reform AUGUST 2019 hARRY POTTEr U.S. STAmPS Popularity of commemorative booklet continues SmALL INSEcT, GIANT PEST NEW LISTINGS Mosquitoes on UPDATE worldwide stamps 31083 August Cover.indd 1 7/30/19 3:02 PM spotlight on philately By ken lawrence a p o s ta l t r i b u t e : cal rodgers’ 1911 coast-to-coast flight in Vin Fiz Flyer biplane THE 25¢ VIN FiZ FlYER sTAMP IS iCONIC, BUT PiCTURE POsTCARDs — sOME IN THE FORM OF ORiGINAl PHOTOGRAPHs, OTHERs PRINTED — ALSO ARE sPlEnDiD COLLECTiBlE sOUVENIRs OF CAlBRAiTH PERRY RODGERs’ EPiC 1911 CROSS-COUnTRY ADVEnTURE IN HIS VIN FiZ FlYER BiPlAnE. 44 / August 19, 2019 / linns.com 31083p044-63.indd 44 8/1/19 3:45 PM albraith Perry Rodgers performed one of the greatest feats in early aviation history when he completed the first transcontinen- tal trip by air from Sept. 17 to Nov. 5, 1911. CDespite the importance of his achievement as a mile- stone on the path to practical applications of aero- nautics for travel, transport of goods, commerce and postal communication, it has been largely neglected by historians. Rodgers and his Wright Model EX biplane (named by Orville Wright as short for “exhibition racer”) are missing not only from school textbooks, but even from The History of Air Cargo and Airmail from the 18th Century by Camille Allaz, a seminal 400-page volume published in 2004, “the most comprehensive refer- ence available on this subject [which] will become an indispensable aid to anyone involved or interested in aviation or postal history,” according to the publisher. Figure 2. Nine months after the air meet, newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst offered a $50,000 prize to the first aviator who could complete a coast-to-coast flight in 30 Here Linn’s will recount the heroic and ultimately days or less by Oct. 10, 1911. His announcement headlined his papers, including the San tragic story that historians ought to tell about Rodg- Francisco Examiner front page shown here. ers’ flight, illustrated by collectible keepsakes that are prized by both airmail and picture postcard hobbyists and letters to and from post offices. That was how the who compete to possess them. Rodgers Aerial Post functioned. Vin Fiz Flyer stamps seldom change hands, but POsTAl AnD PHILATELIC MEMEnTOs when they do, they are expensive, at the five-figure OF THE VIN FiZ FLIGHT level. Vin Fiz picture postcards that were flown but do Among philatelists the semiofficial black 25¢ Vin Fiz not have the special stamps affixed are valued in four Flyer airmail stamp, Scott CL2, is legendary. It was the figures. But no one needs to pay four- and five-figure first stamp in the world that featured an airplane as prices to collect precious postal mementos of the first its pictorial element. A historical census that accom- transcontinental airplane flight. A collection of less panies this article (page 64) explores every recorded pricey Vin Fiz souvenir cards that were not flown can example of the Vin Fiz stamp comprehensively. provide a comprehensive visual narrative of Rodgers’ The Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States adventure. Stamps and Covers calls the stamp “semi-official,” The American Air Mail Catalogue 7th edition (2017) but the CL numbering prefix classifies it as an airmail values Vin Fiz souvenir postcards “mint or used (not equivalent of stamps and postal stationery franks is- flown)” at $200 each. Internet auction sales have sued by private local and express carriers that oper- brought consistently more than that, in the $250 to ated out of the mails, though often conveying cards $500 range. Part of the disparity is caused by the AAMC’s failure to take account of features that enhance post- card values. In a 1969 article, Henry M. Goodkind offered these guidelines: The Vin Fiz picture post cards with- out the stamp can be classified and valued as follows: 1. Post cards written and canceled from September 20th to November 16, 1911 from places where Rodgers is known to have flown. These are the most desirable. 2. Post cards mailed and canceled after the Vin Fiz flight, mostly in April and May 1912. These are far less valu- able than a No. 1 post card. 3. Picture post cards never used. These are not too scarce and, thus, the least valuable. Figure 1. This unused postcard advertised the first international air meet in the United States, held Jan. 10-20, 1910, at Dominguez Field, Los Angeles, where newspaper publisher Vin Fiz picture postcards are William Randolph Hearst got his first taste of aviation. Continued on page 46 linns.com / August 19, 2019 / 45 31083p044-63.indd 45 8/1/19 3:47 PM spotlight on philately participants in the events and speed and combinations of with witnesses who watched those categories, both as solo and assisted them conflict with flights and with passengers. one another and with original Paulhan was the biggest win- references. ner, carrying a passenger al- The Vin Fiz story challenges most 110 miles and setting a historian’s duty to sift sources a world record for altitude. in search of the best evidence, Curtiss set a record for speed some of which were not avail- in the air, and he won another able to earlier authors. I have prize for the best quick start. appended a sidebar (begins On the next to last day of the on page 46) that summarizes meet, Paulhan carried seven and offers my evaluations of passengers on demonstration the principal published refer- flights. Among his passengers ences. It includes Scott Trepel’s was newspaper tycoon William contrary opinion to mine about Randolph Hearst. The experi- Figure 3. Robert G. Continued from page 45 one controversial set of Rodg- ence so impressed Hearst that Fowler, a West Coast more difficult to acquire today than they ers Aerial Post cachets. nine months later he published automobile racer who were in 1969. In addition to Goodkind’s an offer of a $50,000 prize to had been trained to fly points, deltiology (the postcard collecting at the Wright brothers’ WILLIAM R. HEARsT’s the first aviator who could com- aviation school in Ohio, hobby) often adds a valuation premium $50,000 PRiZE CHALLEnGE plete a coast-to-coast flight in was the first entrant to a photographic postcard (printed from The Los Angeles Interna- 30 days or less by Oct. 10, 1911. to take off in hopes a film or glass plate negative onto pho- tional Air Meet, held Jan. 10-20, Figure 2 shows his front-page of winning the Hearst tographic paper), designated “Real Photo 1910, at Dominguez Field, was headline announcement in the prize. Pictured with Post Card” or “RPPC.” the first major air show in the San Francisco Examiner. his mother beside his Model B Wright Flyer The significance and difficulty of the United States. The Figure 1 post- By early September 1911, on this photo postcard, flight that begat the stamp and other card promoted it. In addition eight applicants had quali- he departed Sept. 11, postal and philatelic keepsakes related to American aviators such as fied to compete for the Hearst 1911, from Golden Gate to Rodgers’ achievement are not as well Glenn Curtiss and about three prize. Only four of them got Park in San Francisco known as the collectible relics. This ar- dozen others, four French pilots off the ground: Robert George on an eastbound route. ticle’s mission is to narrate that story, and competed for prizes: Louis Paul- Fowler, James J. Ward, Earle to illustrate most of it with postcards from han, Didier Masson, Charles Mis- Lewis Ovington and Calbraith my collection, occasionally adding images carol and Baroness de la Roche. Perry Rodgers. Fowler had at- from auction catalogs of expensive items An average of more than 20,000 tended the Wright brothers’ that exceed my airmail collection budget. spectators attended every day; aviation school at Dayton, Ohio. Writing this history can be tricky, be- a total of about 254,000 tickets Ovington had learned to fly cause contemporaneous news reports were sold. in January 1911 at Louis Ble- often contradicted one another, and be- Cash prizes were awarded for riot’s school in France. Ward, a cause interviews conducted later with endurance, altitude, distance, member of Curtiss’ exhibition v i n f i z R e s e a RC h Figure 1. This map from E.P. Stein’s book, Flight of the Vin Fiz, published in 1985, makes it easy for his readers How to study to follow the twists and turns of Cal Rodgers’ 1911 aerial and research the odyssey from New York to California. aviators. Un- pointing doses of mistaken epic Vin Fiz Flyer til then, stu- information, misleading in- journey dents of early terpretation and misguided airplane his- speculation. Part of the expla- by KEN LAWRENCE tory must rely nation for those lapses is that on published before the 1980s there were Unfortunately, the 20th- books and ar- few widely available accounts century struggle to conquer ticles. that interested students could the air has not yet met its Accounts of easily consult. Homer. Someday Cal Rodg- to the Wright brothers’ origi- the Vin Fiz journey published To mark the 50th anniver- ers’ aerial odyssey might be- nal drama if Hollywood fash- in philatelic journals, even by sary in 1961, Rodgers’ me- come the self-evident sequel ion shifts to biopics of pioneer experts, have included disap- chanic Charles Wiggin pub- 46 / August 19, 2019 / linns.com 31083p044-63.indd 46 8/1/19 3:47 PM But he was tall, strong and athletically inclined.
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