The Third Reich issued their first and only airmail definitive
postage stamps in 1934.
The eleven airmail definitive airmail postage stamps shown above were issued on January 21, 1934. They are all typographed on paper with the swastika watermark.
The design of the 5 Pf. through the 100 Pf. denomination stamps features a majestic-looking
eagle, flying in front of a world globe, with the sun
emblazoned with a
swastika rising behind it. This is an allegorical
representation of the "symbolic rising" of the new German Empire.
The designs of the two highest denomination stamps are as follows.
The catalog attributes are as follows.
Lightly
hinged mint sets of these Third Reich definitive airmail stamps are reasonably priced. Never hinged
sets are VERY expensive. Used examples of the Pfennig denominations are
inexpensive.
These airmail stamps come with both the gum ridges
horizontal and with the gum ridges vertical. The ones with the vertical
ridges are the more expensive of the two varieties.
These
airmail stamps were valid until the end of 1939. After that, definitive and
commemorative postage stamp combinations could be used to pay the air
postage rates.
The plane in the photo above is a Junkers JU-52 in about
1934.
These airplanes were manufactured between 1931 and 1952, and they were the primary passenger and transport planes of Lufthansa, the airline
that carried air mail for the German postal service.
As an airliner, the Junkers JU-52 was capable of carrying seventeen passengers.
During World War II, they were also used by the German military as troop transport aircraft, and occasionally, as bombers.
These popular German-built aircraft of the 1930's and 1940's were purchased and used as civilian passenger and transport aircraft by 52 other countries, including the United States.
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