Zepplin & Armada
Graf Zeppelin Airship’s Voyage
Graf (i.e., Count) Ferdinand von Zeppelin was a German military general and an inventor. While in the U.S. during its Civil War, he rode in a hot air balloon used by the military to observe troop movements. The problem he observed with hot air balloons was that they cannot be directed. Still, he was inspired by their potential. This led to the development of an airship that included engines, a keel, and a rudder to be able to steer and propel it forward. He also added a long, large cabin for the transporting of several people. The LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin air ship was one of those airships.
During the 1930s, the Graf Zeppelin airship flew over much of Europe, as well as went to the U.S. and South America. The second half of this album page is for stamps commemorating its flight over Italy, showing the airship flying over historical sites in Italy, mostly in Rome.
Italian Air Force Armada
In 1933, the Italian Air Force, headed by General Italo Balbo organized and led a series of flights consisting of twenty-five seaplanes crossing Atlantic.
They flew from Italy to the Netherlands, to England and to Iceland before flying to North America: Newfoundland, to Montréal, Chicago and then New York, landing Jamaica Bay near Manhattan. Coming back, because Balbo’s popularity was rising so much, Mussolini made him skip his plans to go to London, Paris and Berlin. Instead, he was sent to the Azores and then to Lisbon, before returning to Rome.
The stamps used on this flight are shown on the bottom of the page, but overprinted with Isole Italiane Del’Egeo. You can see them without this overprint, and read more about this flight and the stamps on the North Atlantic Cruise page in my Kingdom of Italy album.
Note
There’s only the set of Zepplin stamps missing on this page. It’s a little pricey, but not too much. I really want to get them, but I’ve spent too much money on stamps, lately. So I’ll wait until my next bonus check from work – maybe at the end of the month, if the dealer isn’t closed for the holidays.
Contains 8 spots: own 8 – 8 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Jan 22, 2024
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
✓ |
|
3₤ (may 1933) |
|||
✓ |
|
5₤ (may 1933) |
|||
✓ |
|
10₤ (may 1933) |
|||
✓ |
|
12₤ (may 1933) |
|||
✓ |
|
15₤ (may 1933) |
|||
✓ |
|
20₤ (may 1933) |
Italian Air Armada
✓ |
|
5.25+19.75₤ (may 1933) |
|||
✓ |
|
5.25+44.75₤ (may 1933) |
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.
