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.
In the 2001 Gibbons catalogue this stamp
was valued at £120 mint (£375 used) but prices of
around £250/$400 unmounted mint are now quoted. 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.
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