Italy 1930 – Flying boats and Southern Cross
A pioneering Italian aviator, Italo Balbo (1896-1940) made a number of mass
formation flights in the late 1920s and early 1930s. His South Atlantic
crossing from Rome to Rio de Janeiro in 1930–31 with a formation of Savoia Marchetti flying boats is commemorated by this
stamp, which shows the seaplanes with the Southern Cross above. My criterion
for a truly realistic Southern Cross is that it should show all five main
stars, but this goes one better by showing a sixth, Zeta Crucis.
This is an expensive stamp, and used versions cost considerably more than mint
ones. There is a rare design variant, now almost unobtainable, that shows a
seventh star – one stamp per sheet of 50 had this additional star.
A subsequent and even more celebrated Balbo flight, across the North Atlantic,
is commemorated by a 1933 stamp from Cyrenaica.
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||