Member ACCC (Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club of NSW) 03 May 2016 08:07:07am
WASP (Western and Southern Provincial Airlines Ltd) from Narromine. Also showing the Harbour Bridge being a mere 2 years old; the old Sydney skyline and an aborigine with spear.
This is a full mint unhinged set of 6 vignettes (worth about $110-$115 today).
Man standing beside Western and Southern Provincial Airlines Monospar twin engine monoplane VH-UST 'Narromine Wasp' with engines running, ca. 1935. Same plane shown on vignette.
Some information on the airlines.
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"Specialised Collector of Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Stamps"
So, the other day I noticed that I was missing the 1932 Australia 5s Sydney Harbour Bridge stamp, I have the 2d and 3d. And then I went to eBay and saw how much the 5s is selling for. And then I decided not to buy the stamp, at least for a bit. They must not have printed too many of the 5s. The series is quite nice.
The WASP plane flying over the bridge stamps you have are very cool.
Member ACCC (Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club of NSW) 03 May 2016 12:28:52pm
re: Cinderella - 1935 WASP Airlines
"That's awesome! I wonder how many people could fit in that thing! "
Here is a little info on the aircraft Ernie.
Capacity: four (excluding pilot)
Length: 26 ft 4 in (8.03 m)
Wingspan: 40 ft 2 in (12.24 m)
Height: 7 ft 10 in (2.30 m)
Wing area: 217 ft2 (20.16 m2)
Empty weight: 1,840 lb (835 kg)
Gross weight: 2,875 lb (1,304 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × de Havilland Gipsy Major 4-cylinder inverted inline piston engine, 130 hp (97 kW) each
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"Specialised Collector of Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Stamps"
Very cool Rob,
That plane pictured on the stamp is almost certainly a forerunner of the de Havilland Mosquito. Covered in plywood, it escaped radar and gave the Germans fits at night.
Member ACCC (Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club of NSW) 03 May 2016 05:45:35pm
re: Cinderella - 1935 WASP Airlines
Those mosquitoes also gave the enemy reason to carry an extra pair of pants when the planes flew under their radar strafing and dropping bombs right onto their laps.
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"Specialised Collector of Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Stamps"
Member ACCC (Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club of NSW) 04 May 2016 02:22:39pm
re: Cinderella - 1935 WASP Airlines
"So, the other day I noticed that I was missing the 1932 Australia 5s Sydney Harbour Bridge stamp, I have the 2d and 3d. And then I went to eBay and saw how much the 5s is selling for. And then I decided not to buy the stamp, at least for a bit. They must not have printed too many of the 5s. The series is quite nice."
The only CTO in my entire collection, I have arranged with a specialist to partially trade this for a well centred mint unhinged 5/- Harbour Bridge stamp.
There is 7 to the complete set, I have 6 (5 x Engraved).
And one Typographic (darker and better defined).
The mintage for the 5/- was 900 printsheets (72,800 stamps). They were used for parcels and as telegraph stamps. They were issued during the height of the 1929-39 Great Depression, the value was out-of-reach by the average public sector.
The stamp is scarce and as such are not seen in many collections. And when it comes to purchasing such stamps from eBay it is a very risky business as anything could be wrong with them such as thinning, repairs (tears, missing perforations and holes, re-gummed, forgeries, rust and so on).
Actually the Monospar was produced by General Aircraft ( which later amalgamated with Blackburn Aircraft ). De Havilland (who designed and built the Mosquito) only provided the engines. At the time small manufacturers did not have sufficient production to justify designing and building their own engines so they bought their engines "off the peg" from either specialist ( and car) manufacturers or other aircraft builders - rather like the practice of the airliner builders of today buying in from Rolls Royce or Pratt & Whitney. De Havilland was the major manufacturer of small aircraft - rather like Piper and Cessna in the U.S. - and so their engines were eminently suitable for fitting to an aircraft of this size
During the war like the majority of small aircraft manufacturers they were subcontractors building components for the major aircraft manufacturers, who tended to concentrate on assembly rather than start to finish construction.
It is difficult to envisage this aircraft being economical to operate with a payload of only 4, when De Havilland themselves were building the DH84 Dragon and later the DH89 Dragon Rapide carrying 8 to 12 passengers for probably very little extra cost.
Rob, very nice Sydney Harbour stamps you have, thanks for posting. And great information! Could I ask what source you are using regarding the numbers of stamps printed? Scott or SG or another catalogue?