Wrights to Be Honored on US Postage Stamp

The U.S. Postal Service will issue a 37-cent First Flight commemorative postage stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of the first controlled, powered, sustained flight in a heavier-than-air flying machine. The design was shown, for the first time publicly, during opening ceremonies at the AEA Convention and Trade Show in Orlando, FL, on Thursday. The unveiling was a keynote at the Thursday morning General Session where the Orlando Postmaster assisted AEA President Paula Derks (seen below, right) in showing it to an enthusiastic audience of aviation professionals. 

The official first day of issue ceremony for the First Flight stamp will take place in two cities on May 22. The stamp will be issued at 10:30 a.m. ET at both the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, and the Wright Brothers National Memorial Park in Kill Devil Hills, N.C.

The First Flight stamp will be available for sale at post offices in Dayton and Kill Devil Hills on the day of issuance and at post offices nationwide starting the following day. "Just as the Postal Service touches the lives of every American in every city and in all walks of life, our stamp program continues to honor and pay tribute to the meaningful events in our history that have touched all of our lives," said Ralph Moden, Postal Service Senior Vice President, Government Relations.

"With the issuance of the First Flight stamp, we honor a moment in history that has taken us all beyond the horizon of our wildest dreams," he added. "Showcasing aircraft ranging from a reproduction Wright 1909 Military Flyer to the latest in Air Force technology, the U.S. Air Force Museum offers an appropriate stage for issuing the First Flight stamp," said Major General (Ret.) Charles Metcalf, Director of the U.S. Air Force Museum. "The museum is proud to join with the U.S. Postal Service, the 'Inventing Flight' organization and the city of Dayton for this historic event."

Inventing Flight: Dayton 2003 was founded in 1989 to promote aviation, the Wright Brothers and especially Dayton, Ohio's role in the birth and future of aviation. Inventing Flight has partnered with some of the greatest names, faces and locations in aviation and aerospace to bring a truly special series of personalities, events and programs to Dayton in 2003. Inventing Flight: The Centennial Celebration will consist of three weeks of action-packed adventure, leading audiences through a world of discovery based on the powerful example provided by the achievement of manned, powered flight.

"Given that Kitty Hawk Postmaster Bill Tate served such an important role in convincing the Wright brothers to come to the Outer Banks a century ago, this year's First Flight stamp is a fitting tribute to the U.S. Postal Service's role in the first flight and a perfect addition to the First Flight Centennial," said Lawrence A. Belli, Superintendent, Outer Banks Group, National Park Service.

Eighty-five million self-adhesive First Flight stamps will be printed and made available in a souvenir sheet of 10 stamps of one design. The stamp illustration by McRay Magleby of Provo, Utah, depicts Orville Wright at the controls of the 1903 Wright flyer. Text at the bottom of the design reads: "First Flight * Wright Brothers * 1903." The front of the souvenir sheet features a detail of a photograph of Orville and Wilbur Wright taken in Pau, France, in 1909.

In addition to the souvenir sheet of 10 stamps, the following philatelic products will be available at Postal Stores and by toll-free phone order at 1 800 STAMP-24: Cancellation Keepsake including a First Day Cover and pane of the First Flight stamps ($5.20); First Day Cover ($0.75); Commemorative Panel ($8.75); and Matted Print Keepsake ($27.95).

FMI: www.usps.com/shop