My 1964 JFK (USA - Scott 1246) FDC Collection

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 17 Jan 2017 10:30

White House fdc (Scott 3445) with JFK (Scott 2246 & 2219h) & US Flag (Scott 1208) added & cancelled with Washington D.C. hand fdi cancel & cds:

John Ranto was a prolific US First Day Cover collector and producer of a special line of his own hand made Postal Bulletin FDC's. He produced these covers starting in the 1960's and created them up to just a few years ago. These covers were created by hand folding US Postal Service Bulletins into a standard FDC size and then applying the current issue for the cover in addition to related combination stamps. He cleverly crafted these covers into mostly one-of-a-kind cachets or productions. In the beginning, Mr. Ranto created these covers for his personal collection, but as he enjoyed the process, he did start to create extras that he would trade or sell. Each of his covers is normally signed or initialed on the reverse side, and also coded, but not in every case. John lived in Hamilton Township NJ. He was an active member of the Hamilton Township Stamp Club as well as a Life Member of the American First Day Cover Society (AFDCS). These covers are one-of-a-kind items, although typically he did prepare anywhere from 1-5 of an issue, using different combinations of stamps.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 17 Jan 2017 13:53

Limited Edition souvenir cover by Dennis Gelvin of Olympia Washington for the 50th Anniversary of JFK's Inauguration. Cover is cancelled with a nice special event pictorial postmark of Washington D.C.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 17 Jan 2017 13:57

Limited Edition souvenir cover by Dennis Gelvin of Olympia Washington for the 50th Anniversary of JFK's Inaugural Address. Cover is cancelled with a nice special event pictorial postmark of Washington D.C.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 17 Jan 2017 18:04

That was the last of my Washington D.C. covers to show.

As you have seen, I have only shown Washington D.C. & it may surprise that there have been at 123 Post Offices in D.C. of which 44 were open at the time that JFK (Scott 1246) was issued.

Those 44 include:

Andrews Air Force Base
Benjamin Franklin
Customs House
National Airport
Naval Research Lab
Pentagon
Treasury
US Naval Station

Next we go back to Florida for some sunshine

Brad

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 Jan 2017 00:54

But before we leave D.C., a late entry:

Starcraft cachet fdc (Mellone # 136) cancelled with Washington D.C. straight line machine cancel & addressed to the "mystery" owner of P O Box 103, Cypress, California.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 Jan 2017 10:03

Florida (Spanish for "land of flowers") is a state located in the southeastern region of the U S. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama & Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, & to the south by the Straits of Florida & Cuba. Florida is the 22nd most extensive, the 3rd most populous, & the 8th most densely populated of the U.S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state & is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. The Miami metropolitan area is Florida's most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital.

A peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, & the Straits of Florida, it has the longest coastline in the contiguous U S, approximately 1,350 miles & is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico & the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the state is at or near sea level & the climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south.

Since the first European contact was made in 1513 by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León – who named it La Florida "land of flowers") upon landing there in the Easter season, Pascua Florida – Florida was a challenge for the European colonial powers before it gained statehood in the U S in 1845. It was a principal location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans, & racial segregation after the American Civil War.

Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited & settled by Europeans. The earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted & landed on the peninsula on April 2, 1513. He named the region La Florida ("land of flowers"). The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north & French claims to the west.

On March 3, 1845, Florida became the 27th state to join the United States of America. The state was admitted as a slave state & ceased to be a sanctuary for runaway slaves.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 Jan 2017 10:42

Tallahassee is in Leon County & is the capital of Florida. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. It was chosen as it was roughly equidistant from St. Augustine & Pensacola, which had been the capitals of the Spanish territories of East Florida & West Florida. It has a population of almost 190,000, & an area of 103.5 square miles, making it the 126th largest city in the U S. Tallahassee is the largest city in the Northwest Florida region as well as the main centre for trade & agriculture in the Florida Big Bend & Southwest Georgia regions. The name "Tallahassee" is a Muskogean Indian word often translated as "old fields" or "old town". The post office opened here in 1825.

Artcraft cachet fdc with nice machine slogan cancel "ABCD Your Mail for Better Business Service".

Artcraft started making cachets in 1939 & were most popular. They used plain black ink engraved designs. Sometimes they had more than one design for an issue. They were published by Washington Press, a business that was started by Leo & Sam August.

The reverse shows a "fuzzy" Number 1 duplex hand cancel from Granite Falls dated May 31, 1964 which was a Sunday. Believe it or not the addressee's home town of Granite Quarry is almost 70 miles east of Granite Falls.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 21 Jan 2017 21:09

Anona was in Pinellas County, Florida, on the west coast of the Florida panhandle about 20 miles west of Tampa, however it now could be bettered described as a ghost town. In 1883, Captain John Lowe landed here & it was named after Anona apples from Key West. The original intention was to name it Lowe's Landing. In December 1883, the town gained a post office with Jefferson Lowe as its postmaster. There was a railroad spur that had crossed over the island via a trestle bridge that allowed for transportation of goods. The post office was later converted to a General Store. In 1916, a bridge for cars & pedestrians was built with a toll of 25 cents. The community of Anona eventually disappeared & became a part of the larger area of Largo. What remains today of Anona is only the church & cemetery, where many of the original pioneers are buried. The post office having opened in 1883, closed in 1922. I find this quite odd as the USPS Post Office CPU Anona, Largo, Florida currently exists at 13870 Walsingham Road.

Uncacheted fdc with nice 4 bar cds hand cancel.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Jan 2017 00:29

The city of Cape Canaveral is located at the southern tip of a barrier island on the Atlantic coast of Florida. It is due south of the geographical feature Cape Canaveral (known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973) & separated from the mainland by the Banana River, Merritt Island & the Indian River from east to west.

Cape Canaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, near the centre of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.

It is part of a region known as the Space Coast, & is the site of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Since many U.S. spacecraft are launched from both the station & the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, the terms "Cape Canaveral," "Canaveral", or "the Cape" have become metonyms that refer to both as the launch site of spacecraft.

A post office in the area was built and listed in the US Post Office application as Artesia & retained this name from 1893–1954; & then became Port Canaveral from 1954-1962; & lastly the City of Cape Canaveral from 1962 to 1963 when a larger post office was built. But it appears the post office did not change it's name!

From 1963 to 1973 the area had a different name as US President Lyndon Johnson renamed the area "Cape Kennedy." President John F. Kennedy who set the goal of landing on the moon. After his assassination in 1963, his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, suggested to President Lyndon Johnson that renaming the Cape Canaveral facility would be an appropriate memorial. Johnson recommended the renaming of the entire cape, announced in a televised address six days after the assassination. Accordingly, Cape Canaveral was officially renamed Cape Kennedy.

Although the name change was approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names of the Interior Department in December 1963, it was not popular in Florida, especially in the neighboring city of Cape Canaveral. In 1973, the Florida Legislature passed a law restoring the former 400-year-old name, & the Board went along. The name restoration to Cape Canaveral became official on October 9, 1973. The Kennedy family issued a letter stating they "understood the decision". NASA's Kennedy Space Center retains the "Kennedy" name.

So I believe the postmarks of Cape Canaveral are from the City of Cape Canaveral, not the Space Centre of the same name. Was there a post office at the Space Centre called "Cape Kennedy"? No there was not, but there now appears to be one there now called "Kennedy Space Centre" although it is not included in my listing of US Post Offices!

A Treyco Top Hat souvenir cachet to celebrate the name change of Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy with 4 bar cds hand cancel on 29th November 1963, 6 days after the death of JFK.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Jan 2017 00:48

Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a cape in Brevard County, Florida. It has a population of almost 10,000 & an area of 2.3 square miles. Cape Canaveral is about 50 miles east of Orlando & is about 25 miles north of Melbourne (Florida).

Clyde Sarzin cachet (Mellone # 53) fdc with nice wavy line machine cancel & addressed to Clyde Sarzin.

Clyde J Sarzin of Long Island New York was a prolific fdc & souvenir cover producer. Not only have I seen US covers done by him but also UK, France & Italy. His cachets are nearly always a stick on cachet & usually a metallic cachet. Although he died in 1986, his cover business continued under the control of his daughter.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Jan 2017 00:55

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978), who has signed the fdc below, was an American politician who served as the 38th Vice President of the United States under President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1965 to 1969. Humphrey twice served in the U S Senate, representing Minnesota from 1949 to 1964 & 1971 to 1978. He was the nominee of the Democratic Party in the 1968 presidential election, losing to the Republican nominee Richard M. Nixon.

Humphrey ran for two failed Presidential campaigns in the 1952 & 1960 Democratic primaries. After Lyndon B. Johnson inherited the presidency after John F. Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, he chose Humphrey to be his running mate in 1964 against Republican Barry Goldwater & the Democratic ticket was elected in a landslide in 1964.

Clyde Sarzin cachet (Mellone # 53) fdc with nice wavy line machine cancel & addressed to Clyde Sarzin.

Clyde J Sarzin of Long Island New York was a prolific fdc & souvenir cover producer. Not only have I seen US covers done by him but also UK, France & Italy. His cachets are nearly always a stick on cachet & usually a metallic cachet. Although he died in 1986, his cover business continued under the control of his daughter.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Jan 2017 01:30

Artcraft cachet (Mellone # 4) fdc with nice wavy line machine cancel.

Artcraft started making cachets in 1939 & were most popular. They used plain black ink engraved designs. Sometimes they had more than one design for an issue. They were published by Washington Press, a business that was started by Leo & Sam August.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Jan 2017 01:34

Artcraft cachet (Mellone # 4) fdc with nice 4 bar cds hand cancel.

Artcraft started making cachets in 1939 & were most popular. They used plain black ink engraved designs. Sometimes they had more than one design for an issue. They were published by Washington Press, a business that was started by Leo & Sam August.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Jan 2017 01:44

Artopages cachet (similar to Mellone # 8, but otherwise not in Mellone) fdc, who first produced cachets in 1962, with nice wavy line machine cancel.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Jan 2017 01:51

Centennial cachet (Mellone # 53) fdc with nice wavy line machine cancel.

Centennial did a series of towns for the State Capitals & major towns of significance to JFK.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 23 Jan 2017 12:00

Unknown cachet fdc, not in Mellone, with nice wavy line machine cancel.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jan 2017 00:22

Unknown cachet fdc, not in Mellone, with nice wavy line machine cancel which included "Cooper's Prayer" as an insert. He most likely said this prayer on May 16, 1963.

Cooper was launched into space on May 15, 1963, aboard the Mercury-Atlas 9 (Faith 7) spacecraft, the last Mercury mission. He orbited the Earth 22 times & logged more time in space than all five previous Mercury astronauts combined—34 hours, 19 minutes & 49 seconds—traveling 546,167 miles at 17,547 mph. Cooper achieved an altitude of 165.9 statute miles at apogee. He was the first American astronaut to sleep not only in orbit but on the launch pad during a countdown.

Fleetwood cachet fdc with nice wavy line machine cancel.

Fleetwood (which was the business name of the Unicover Corporation of Wyoming at this time) commenced making covers in 1929, with their first fdc in 1941. Their covers are always branded with the Fleetwood Insignia & have a linen-finish paper & usually have a narrative on the reverse. Mystic Stamp Company acquired Fleetwood in 2007.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jan 2017 01:03

A nice comparison on the cachet of the one man Mercury capsule versus the two man Gemini capsule:

Clyde Sarzin cachet (not in Mellone) fdc with nice wavy line machine cancel & addressed to Clyde Sarzin.

Clyde J Sarzin of Long Island New York was a prolific fdc & souvenir cover producer. Not only have I seen US covers done by him but also UK, France & Italy. His cachets are nearly always a stick on cachet & usually a metallic cachet. Although he died in 1986, his cover business continued under the control of his daughter.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jan 2017 01:21

Unknown cachet (not in Mellone) fdc with nice 4 bar cds hand cancel.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jan 2017 01:32

This cachet would appear to have been prepared by the same cachetmaker as the fdc in the previous post:

Unknown cachet (not in Mellone) fdc with nice 4 bar cds hand cancel.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jan 2017 01:46

For want of a better term I would call this a bookmark & there is no indication who made this item.

Cancelled with a Cape Canaveral wavy line machine cancel, it also has a Cape Kennedy circular mark. The "waves" in this wavy line cancel appear larger than the others from Cape Canaveral".

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jan 2017 09:56

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 25

Launch Complex 25 (LC-25) was a four-pad launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida built for test flights of the US Navy's submarine-launched ballistic missiles Polaris, Poseidon and Trident from 1958–1979.

Pads 25A and 25B were built in 1957. Pads 25C and 25D were added in May 1968 for the larger Poseidon. The blockhouse eventually served all four pads. It was extensively reinforced when the Poseidon pads, 25C and 25D, were added.

Pad 25B was initially built with an underground launch mechanism known as a ship motion simulator to simulate the roll and pitch of a submarine. It was first used August 14, 1959 and was mothballed in October 1961.

The launch complex was dismantled in 1979.

In November 2012, ground was broken for a new $185-million Navy missile test facility to be built over the underground structures at LC-25 and LC-29 called the Strategic Weapons System Ashore. The facility will allow the testing of fire control, launch systems and navigation for submarine-fired missiles to be conducted at one facility instead of being done by contractors in different locations around the country.

Launch history
Polaris FTV: 19 launches (April 18, 1958–October 2, 1959)
Polaris A-1: 16 launches (March 9, 1960–December 5, 1961)
Polaris A-2: 14 launches (November 10, 1960–March 5, 1965)
Polaris A-3: 11 launches (February 11, 1963–July 3, 1964)
Poseidon: 16 launches (August 16, 1968–June 29, 1970)
Trident I: 18 launches (January 18, 1977–January 22, 1979)

The cover below relates to a missile launch on July 16, 1964 which according to the launch information above must be for Polaris A-2. However the information below contradicts that as it states it was Polaris A-3.

1964 July 16 - . 16:54 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral ETR. Launch Platform: SSBN 629. LV Family: Polaris. Launch Vehicle: Polaris A3.
Operational test - . Nation: USA. Agency: USN. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi).
1964 July 16 - . 17:24 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral ETR. Launch Platform: SSBN 629. LV Family: Polaris. Launch Vehicle: Polaris A3. FAILURE: Failure.
Operational test - . Nation: USA. Agency: USN. Apogee: 500 km (310 mi).

It seems that this test was a failure.

Unknown cachet souvenir cover for the failed test launch of a Polaris A-3 missile on July 16, 1964.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jan 2017 10:14

Mariner 4 (together with Mariner 3 known as Mariner–Mars 1964) was the fourth in a series of spacecraft intended for planetary exploration in a flyby mode. It was designed to conduct closeup scientific observations of Mars & to transmit these observations to Earth. Launched on November 28, 1964, Mariner 4 performed the first successful flyby of the planet Mars, returning the first pictures of the Martian surface.

Marvin the Martian

It captured the first images of another planet ever returned from deep space; their depiction of a cratered, seemingly dead world largely changed the view of the scientific community on life on Mars.

Clyde Sarzin souvenir cachet with nice wavy line machine cancel & addressed to Clyde Sarzin.

Clyde J Sarzin of Long Island New York was a prolific fdc & souvenir cover producer. Not only have I seen US covers done by him but also UK, France & Italy. His cachets are nearly always a stick on cachet & usually a metallic cachet. Although he died in 1986, his cover business continued under the control of his daughter.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jan 2017 10:44

Cape Canaveral wavy lines appear to have some differences:

1.

Date stamp section 23mm in diameter with 7 wavy lines in cancel.

2.

As above except the "wave" appears more pronounced.

3.

Date stamp section 20mm in diameter with 6 wavy lines in cancel.

I am not certain why the different shapes & sizes but from examination of later cancels I think postmark 3 may have replaced postmark 1. Postmark 2 is the only example I have seen of the more pronounced wave & have been specially made/printed for the bookmark.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 24 Jan 2017 11:08

For easier comparison of the Cape Canaveral wavy lines:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 25 Jan 2017 17:21

Cape Kennedy Local Post.

November 22, 1964 was the official date of issue of the Cape Kennedy Local Post & the Satellite Beach Local Post, using specially prepared Kennedy Memorial Local Post Stamps. So far I have seen 10 different stamps issued on this date.

The stamps featured JFK with various space vehicles & astronauts & are printed "We shall reach the Moon".

Designed by Robert G Rank (American FDC Society), they were the first tri-colour local post stamps & were highly sought after. As explained before when I have shown other local post stamps, local post stamps can be issued for the carrying of mail where no carrier service exists but the cover must also have US postage paid at the applicable rate.

The anomaly here as with most other local posts is that there is no local post service that is actually provided. It might have been a bit of fun if there was a service between Satellite Beach & Cape Canaveral & back, but sadly there was none.

A Cape Kennedy local post stamp with JFK & Alan Shepard cancelled with a Gemini Capsule fdi postmark in red & JFK stamp cancelled a nice Cape Canaveral 4 bar cds hand cancel.

Don't forget there is not US Post Office named Cape Kennedy

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 Jan 2017 10:29

Rear Admiral Alan Bartlett "Al" Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American naval officer & aviator, test pilot, one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts who in May 1961 made the first manned Mercury flight. Shepard's craft, Freedom 7, entered space, but did not achieve orbit. He became the second person, & the first American, to travel into space, & the first person to manually control the orientation of his spacecraft.

Ten years later, at age 47 & the oldest astronaut in the program, Shepard commanded the Apollo 14 mission (1971), piloting the lander Antares to the most accurate landing of the Apollo missions. He became the fifth & oldest person to walk on the Moon, & the only one of the Mercury Seven to do so.

A Cape Kennedy local post stamp with JFK & Alan Shepard cancelled with a Gemini Capsule fdi postmark in red & JFK stamp cancelled a nice Cape Canaveral 4 bar cds hand cancel. It is also signed by Robert G Rank, the designer of the local post issue. Presumably Robert G Rank added the additional information on Shepard to the cover.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 Jan 2017 10:42

Alan Shepard was born in Derry New Hampshire, so the East Derry postmark on the cover below is a good tie in. However the date of the postmark cancelling the "Project Mercury" stamp, June 9 1962, is a mystery to me. The added "Liberty" stamp is postmarked on the first day of the Apollo 14 moonflight where Shepard became the 5th & oldest to person to walk on the moon.

Hand drawn Project Mercury souvenir cover postmarked with nice 4 bar cds. The East Derry Post Office opened in 1870.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 Jan 2017 10:57

Dual fdc for Project Mercury & the 50th Anniversary of Shepard's first space flight. I am not sure why it is postmarked May 4, 2011 instead of May 5, when that day was a Thursday:

A nice pair of Cape Canaveral & Kennedy Space Center fdi cancels on this add on cachet by Webcraft.

It is not clear when the Kennedy Space Center post office opened, however as I have stated before the Cape Canaveral Post Office did not change it's name.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 26 Jan 2017 11:03

Decade of Space Achievements fdc, signed by Alan Shepard, who with Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk upon the Moon, is pictured in the cachet.

Artcraft fdc cancelled with nice Kennedy Space Center fdc machine cancel.

Artcraft started making cachets in 1939 & were most popular. They used plain black ink engraved designs. Sometimes they had more than one design for an issue. They were published by Washington Press, a business that was started by Leo & Sam August.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 00:03

I omitted to mention earlier that these Cape Kennedy Local Post fdcs are cancelled on the first Anniversary of the Assassination of JFK, but I am sure you all knew that already.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 00:14

A Cape Kennedy local post stamp with JFK & John Glenn cancelled with a Gemini Capsule fdi postmark in red & JFK stamp cancelled a nice Cape Canaveral 4 bar cds hand cancel.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 00:28

John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was a U S Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, & U S Senator from Ohio. In 1962 he was the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times. Before joining NASA, Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II & Korea with six Distinguished Flying Crosses & eighteen clusters on his Air Medal.

He was one of the Mercury Seven: military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA as the U S' first astronauts. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission; the first American to orbit the Earth, he was the fifth person in space. He received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990, & was the last surviving member of the Mercury Seven.

After Glenn resigned from NASA in 1964 & retired from the Marine Corps the following year, he planned to run for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, Glenn first won election to the Senate in 1974 & served for 24 years until January 3, 1999.

In 1998, still a sitting senator, Glenn was the oldest person to fly in space as a crew member of the Discovery space shuttle & the only person to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

A Cape Kennedy local post stamp with JFK & John Glenn cancelled with a Gemini Capsule fdi postmark in red & JFK stamp cancelled a nice Cape Canaveral 4 bar cds hand cancel, cancelled on the first anniversary of the assassination of JFK. It is also signed by Robert G Rank, the designer of the local post issue. Presumably Robert G Rank added the additional information on Glenn to the cover.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 01:01

On John Glenn's successful return from his 3 earth orbit flight which lasted 4 hours 55 minutes & 23 seconds, the US Post Office issued the Project Mercury stamp to celebrate the achievement on February 20, 1962:

Fleetwood cachet fdc with nice machine Cape Canaveral fdi cancel.

Fleetwood (which was the business name of the Unicover Corporation of Wyoming at this time) commenced making covers in 1929, with their first fdc in 1941. Their covers are always branded with the Fleetwood Insignia & have a linen-finish paper & usually have a narrative on the reverse. Mystic Stamp Company acquired Fleetwood in 2007.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 01:03

Although one Post Office jumped the gun:

Uncacheted fdc postmarked Midvale Utah on February 19, 1962, one day before Glenn's historic flight.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 01:13

Autograph of John Glenn:

Space Craft Project Mercury cachet fdc cancelled at Patrick Air Force Base on February 20, 1962 but unfortunately it does not have the Project Mercury stamp.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 01:31

The USS Noa was John Glenn's recovery ship although the cover has been backdated as Noa did not receive the Project Mercury stamp until February 23, 1962, as she was on the high seas.

USS Noa (DD-841) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy, the second Navy ship named for Midshipman Loveman Noa (1878–1901). On 20 February, at precisely 14:40, five hours & 53 minutes after launch, Friendship Seven re-entered the atmosphere with a loud sonic boom that was clearly audible in Noa. She sighted & recovered Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr., USMC, Project Mercury astronaut, after he had completed his three orbits of the Earth & splashed down three miles from the destroyer. Col. Glenn remained aboard Noa for three hours before a helicopter transferred him to the Randolph (CV-15), the primary recovery ship.

Unknown cachet souvenir cover postmarked with nice 4 bar cds hand cancel & signed by John Glenn.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 01:36

The New Concord home of John Glenn

Fleetwood cachet souvenir cover with nice machine slogan cancel "Home of Astronaut Glenn.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 01:36

The New Concord home of John Glenn

Fleetwood cachet souvenir cover with nice machine slogan cancel "Home of Astronaut Glenn.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 01:43

Dual Therome cachet fdc for Project Mercury & the 45th Anniversary of John Glenn's Friendship 7 Project Mercury space flight.

A nice pair of Cape Canaveral fdi & Cleveland Ohio 45th Anniversary pictorial cancels on this add on cachet by Therome.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 01:47

A nice pair of Cape Canaveral fdi & 4 bar cds hand cancels on this add on unknown cachet fdc.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 27 Jan 2017 21:21

Alan Shepard - I omitted to mention earlier that his recovery ship was the USS Lake Champlain.

The USS Lake Champlain (CV/CVA/CVS-39) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the U S Navy. She was named after the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812.

The USS Lake Champlain was selected as the prime recovery ship for America's first manned space flight. She sailed for the recovery area on 1 May, & was on station on 5 May when Commander Alan Shepard was recovered, along with his spacecraft Freedom 7, after splashdown some 300 miles down range from Cape Canaveral. Helicopters from the carrier visually tracked the descent of the capsule & were over it two minutes after splashdown. They skillfully recovered Shepard & the Freedom 7 capsule, delivering them safely to Lake Champlain's flight deck.

While the USS Lake Champlain was Alan Shepard's recovery ship, the date of this cover relates to Wally Shirra's Sigma 7 flight.

Unknown cachet souvenir cover postmarked with nice 4 bar cds hand cancel.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 28 Jan 2017 09:40

Walter Marty "Wally" Schirra Jr. (March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007), (Capt, USN), was an American naval officer & aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, & one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury. He flew the six-orbit, nine-hour Mercury-Atlas 8 mission on October 3, 1962, becoming the fifth American, & the ninth human, to ride a rocket into space. In the two-man Gemini program, he achieved the first space rendezvous, station-keeping his Gemini 6A spacecraft within 1 foot (30 cm) of the sister Gemini 7 spacecraft in December 1965. In October 1968, he commanded Apollo 7, an 11-day low Earth orbit shakedown test of the three-man Apollo Command/Service Module. He was the first person to go into space three times, & the only person to have flown in Mercury, Gemini, & Apollo

A Cape Kennedy local post stamp with JFK & Walter Schirra cancelled with a Gemini Capsule fdi postmark in red & JFK stamp cancelled a nice Cape Canaveral 4 bar cds hand cancel, cancelled on the first anniversary of the assassination of JFK. It is also signed by Robert G Rank, the designer of the local post issue. Presumably Robert G Rank added the additional information on Glenn to the cover.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 28 Jan 2017 09:55

Unknown cachet souvenir cover signed by Walter "Wally" Schirra & cancelled with nice Cape Canaveral 4 bar cds hand cancel on the date of his mission.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 28 Jan 2017 10:07

USS Kearsarge (CV/CVA/CVS-33) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the US Navy. The ship was the third US Navy ship to bear the name, & was named after a Civil War-era steam sloop. Kearsarge was commissioned in March 1946. Kearsarge was the recovery ship for the last two manned Project Mercury space missions in 1962–1963. The cover below is postmarked long after those Project Mercury missions.

Unknown cachet souvenir cover postmarked with nice wavy line cancel.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 28 Jan 2017 10:08

Shirra was born in Hackensack New Jersey but lived in Oradell New Jersey:

Orbit Covers souvenir cachet cancelled with nice Oradell New Jersey machine slogan cancel 'Welcome Home Astronaut "Wally'' Shirra.'

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 Jan 2017 11:59

Project Gemini was NASA's second human spaceflight program. It was a U S space program that started in 1961 & concluded in 1966. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury & Apollo. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten crews flew low Earth orbit (LEO) missions between 1965 & 1966. It put the United States in the lead during the Cold War Space Race against the Soviet Union. Its objective was to develop space travel techniques to support Apollo's mission to land astronauts on the Moon.

A Cape Kennedy local post stamp with JFK & the Gemini Capsule cancelled with a Gemini Capsule fdi postmark in red & JFK stamp cancelled a nice Cape Canaveral 4 bar cds hand cancel, cancelled on the first anniversary of the assassination of JFK. It is also signed by Robert G Rank, the designer of the local post issue. Presumably Robert G Rank added the additional information on Gemini to the cover.

A revisit to this cover where the cachet compares the size of a man to the Mercury & Gemini capsules:

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 Jan 2017 12:21

The Saturn family of American rocket boosters was developed by a team of mostly German rocket scientists led by Wernher von Braun to launch heavy payloads to Earth orbit & beyond. Originally proposed as a military satellite launcher, they were adopted as the launch vehicles for the Apollo moon program. Three versions were built and flown: Saturn I, Saturn IB, & Saturn V.

The Saturn name was proposed by von Braun in October 1958 as a logical successor to the Jupiter series as well as the Roman god's powerful position.

Between 1960 & 1962, the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) designed a series of Saturn rockets that could be used for various Earth orbit or lunar missions known as C-1 through to C-5. In January 1962, NASA announced plans to build the C-5. The three-stage rocket would consist of: the S-IC first stage, with five F-1 engines; the S-II second stage, with five J-2 engines; & the S-IVB third stage, with a single J-2 engine. The C-5 was designed for a 90,000-pound payload capacity to the Moon.

President John F. Kennedy identified the Saturn I SA-5 launch as being the point where US lift capability would surpass the Soviets, after having been behind since Sputnik. This was last mentioned by him in a speech he gave at Brooks AFB in San Antonio on the day before he was assassinated.

To date, the Saturn V is the only launch vehicle to transport human beings beyond low Earth orbit. A total of 24 humans were flown to the Moon in the four years spanning December 1968 through December 1972. No Saturn rocket failed catastrophically in flight.

A Cape Kennedy local post stamp with JFK & the Saturn V Rocket cancelled with a Gemini Capsule fdi postmark in red & JFK stamp cancelled a nice Cape Canaveral 4 bar cds hand cancel, cancelled on the first anniversary of the assassination of JFK. It is also signed by Robert G Rank, the designer of the local post issue. Presumably Robert G Rank added the additional information on Saturn V to the cover.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 Jan 2017 12:51

Mariner 2 (Mariner-Venus 1962), an American space probe to Venus, was the first robotic space probe to conduct a successful planetary encounter. The first successful spacecraft in the NASA Mariner program, it was a simplified version of the Block I spacecraft of the Ranger program & an exact copy of Mariner 1 (which crashed 4 minutes into the flight). The Mariner 2 spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral on August 27, 1962 & passed as close as 34,773 kilometres to Venus on December 14, 1962. The primary mission was to receive communications from the spacecraft in the vicinity of Venus & to perform radiometric temperature measurements of the planet. As it flew by Venus, Mariner 2 scanned the planet with its pair of radiometers, revealing that Venus has cool clouds & an extremely hot surface.

After encounter, cruise mode resumed. Spacecraft perihelion (closest point to the Sun) occurred on December 27,1962, at a distance of 105,464,560 km. The last transmission from Mariner 2 was received on January 3, 1963, making the total time from launch to termination of the Mariner 2 mission 129 days. Mariner 2 remains in heliocentric solar orbit.

A Cape Kennedy local post stamp with JFK & the Mariner 2 Probe cancelled with a Gemini Capsule fdi postmark in red & JFK stamp cancelled a nice Cape Canaveral 4 bar cds hand cancel, cancelled on the first anniversary of the assassination of JFK. It is also signed by Robert G Rank, the designer of the local post issue. Presumably Robert G Rank added the additional information on the Mariner 2 Space Probe to the cover.

BigSaint · Post by **BigSaint** » 29 Jan 2017 13:08

Project Apollo was the third United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished landing the first humans on the Moon from 1969 to 1972. First conceived during Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration as a three-man spacecraft to follow the one-man Project Mercury which put the first Americans in space, Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal of "landing a man on the Moon & returning him safely to the Earth" by the end of the 1960s, which he proposed in an address to Congress on May 25, 1961.

Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first manned flight in 1968. It achieved its goal of manned lunar landing, despite the major setback of a 1967 Apollo 1 cabin fire that killed the entire crew during a prelaunch test, including Project Mercury Astronaut Gus Grissom.

A Cape Kennedy local post stamp with JFK & the Apollo Capsule cancelled with a Gemini Capsule fdi postmark in red & JFK stamp cancelled a nice Cape Canaveral 4 bar cds hand cancel, cancelled on the first anniversary of the assassination of JFK.