Item: poster stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first manned flight in Canada, which occurred on February 23, 1909 when the “Silver Dart”, built by Alexander Graham Bell and colleagues and piloted by J. A. D. McCurdy, flew half a mile on the frozen Bras d'Or Lake, near Baddeck, Nova Scotia. The stamp was issued in 1959 by the National Coordinating Council for the Golden Anniversary of Flight in Canada. Along with the “Silver Dart”, the stamp features the Avro Arrow, a delta-winged interceptor aircraft with the promise of near-Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), whose development program was halted abruptly by the government of John Diefenbaker on February 20, 1959, nearly to the day of the Golden Anniversary. The cancellation essentially ended Canada’s aeronautics development program with many Avro engineers moving to the U.S. to become key players in NASA's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo manned space programs.
Condition: Mint with original gum and a small hinge remnant.
Catalog number: cc0475 in Field Guide to the Cinderella Stamps of Canada (2nd edition) by R.G. Lafrenière.
Voir plus