The "Curtiss Jenny" Air Mail Stamps of 1918

On September 25, 1911, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock presided over the first "official" air mail flight, a flight of only a few miles from Garden City Park to Mineola, on Long Island, N.Y. By 1918, only seven years later, the Post Office Department had authorized carrying mail via airplane as well as a stamp to promote this air travel. The rate was to be 24¢ per ounce, 14¢ for the "air" portion and 10¢ for the special delivery fee. Since this was a new service the stamp was issued in a distinguishing bi-colored format, in the patriotic colors - red, white and blue.

The 24¢ stamp has the distinction of bringing about perhaps the most famous U.S. stamp, the "upside down airplane stamp", also known as the "inverted jenny". Much has been written about this error, and we will not repeat it here. What we find most interesting about the error, is that the only sheet so issued was issued on the first day, May 13, 1918. When the collector who was inadvertently given the error sheet went back to ask for any others like it, the postal clerk immediately realized his error and, although unable to retrieve the one he had sold, was able to inform higher-ups of the error and no further error stamps were released.  Johl states that, of these one hundred stamps, thirteen were somehow lost by the great collector Colonel Green, leaving a balance of 87 stamps. 

On July 11, less than two months after the twenty-four cent was issued, the sixteen cent stamp was released to reflect a rate drop in the air mail fee from 14¢ to 6¢, meaning the new rate would be 16¢, including the 10¢ special delivery fee. Since the reduced rate did not go into effect until July 15, the July 11 First Day Covers necessarily included an additional eight cents postage. Covers bearing the First Day cancellation of the new rate, July 15, 1918, bring a premium, but are nowhere near as scarce or valuable as covers dated July 11, of which only three are known.

Finally, on December 10, about five months later, the six cent stamp was issued to pay for air mail service without special delivery, when it was decided that an air mail letter could be handled as a first class letter for the "ground" portion of the delivery. Special Delivery was still available, but was to be paid with a ten cent Special Delivery stamp.

It is somewhat unfortunate that Scott decided to number these three stamps in order of denomination rather than chronologically. Many collectors are unaware of this and reasonably assume that the six cent stamp, Scott C1, was the first airmail stamp issued. In fact, the order of issue is entirely reversed from the order of appearance in the catalog.

In summary, three rates for mailing a domestic airmail letter existed in that first year of 1918: a twenty-four cent rate reduced to sixteen cents on July 15 and six cents on December 15. This six cent rate would remain in effect until 1924 - see the air mail stamps of 1923.


For more on the exceptionally rare First Day Covers of these stamps, Ken Lawrence has written an excellent article: An Amazing Fake - First Day Fiction for Christmas Eve, in the March 2003 edition of the American Philatelist.