Air Mail & Express

As mentioned on the previous page, the Fascists are very much in control of th ecountry at this point. They no longer look to promote and celebrate the king. So for the new air mail stamps, there are images of wings, Pegasus and the minor deity, Victoria. Pegasus was the emblem for many of the Roman legions and it was associated with Emperor Augustus Octavian. So, these stamps continue the message that the Fascists are rebuilding the Roman and a republic. The king’s image is relegated to express mail only, which wasn’t used by most people.

Transatlantic Flights

In 1933, the Italian Air Force headed by General Italo Balbo. Balbo organized a series of flights accross the Atlantic Ocean. His style was not to fly one plane, but a squadron of seaplanes to show the might of the Italian Air Force, which he founded, and to promote Italy to the world. His first flight was in 1930 with twelve seaplanes flying from the Orbetello Seaplane Base, located near Rome, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and then back.

The single stamp on the third row is in commemoration of this flight. There are more stamps commemorating his other flights on page 33 of this album.

Note

This album page is complete with unused stamps. For a long time, I was missing the one by itself on the third row. It’s a bit expensive for me. However, there was a dealer in Milan that had one selling for less than the other dealers in the area, and fairly well centered. So I bought it, recently. I’m glad to have this page finished.

Contains 11 spots: own 11 – 11 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Apr 6, 2023

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot

own

catalog

subject

description

comment

Air Mail

1.1	✓	A10	Wings Air Mail	25c (apr 1932) air mail, green
1.2	✓	A11	Pegasus Air Mail	50c (mar 1930) air mail, black siena
1.3	✓	A12	Victoria Air Mail	75c (apr 1932) air mail, brown
1.4	✓	A13	Wings Air Mail	80c (mar 1930) air mail, orange
1.5	✓	A14	Victoria Air Mail	1₤ (mar 1930) air mail, purple
2.1	✓	A16	Pegasus Air Mail	5₤ (mar 1930) air mail, green
2.2	✓	A15	Arrows Air Mail	2₤ (mar 1930) air mail, sky blue
2.3	✓	A17	Pegasus Air Mail	10₤ (jul 1930) air mail, red

Italian Air Armada

3.1

✓

A25

Sea-Planes & Southern Cross
Transatlantic Cruise of Air Fleet

7.70₤ (dec 1930)
air mail, sky blue

Express Mail

4.1	✓	E15	Vittorio Emanuele III Express Mail	1.25₤ (sep 1932) express, green
4.2	✓	E16	Vittorio Emanuele III Express Mail	2.50₤ (mar 1933) express, orange

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.