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Author
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Topic: Cuba's Oct. 15, 1939: First rocket mail stamp
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cosmos-walter Member Posts: 691 From: Salzburg, Austria Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 07-26-2014 05:14 PM
I am researching pioneer rocket flights. As for the Cuba's Oct. 15, 1939 rocket flight my story reads: On Oct. 15, 1939, the world's first rocket mail stamp was issued in Cuba. 200,000 10 C airmail stamps were printed. They are emerald green instead of dark gray and overprinted "Experimento del Cohete Postal, Ano de 1939". Because of the failed rocket flight, the stamps were withdrawn on Oct. 18, 1939. The remaining copies were destroyed.2,581 covers with this rocket stamp were submitted. The rocket was launched the Casino Deportivo de La Habana — Havana sport club. It contained 200 letters — including 50 that were already treated as registered letters at the post office Havana on Oct. 14, 1939. The rocket launched, but quickly lost his balance and buried itself 15 meters from the starting point into the earth. Previously, its head fell off. All covers and cards got the rocket cachet. Most non-registered items were postmarked with a machine cancel Habana, Cuba 15 OCT 1939. The flown were not marked. Additionally 500 green and blue on beige cards were processed with rocket cachet and a Habana, Cuba 15 OCT 1939 hand cancel. They are franked with 10 C rocket mail stamp or overprinted 25 Centavos revenue stamp of province Matanzas. ![](http://www.collectspace.com/review/cosmos-walter/cuba_rocketmail01.jpg) ![](http://www.collectspace.com/review/cosmos-walter/cuba_rocketmail02.jpg)
I still have several questions left: - Are there an objections?
- At which time was the Oct. 15, 1939 rocket launch?
- Do full sheets of overprinted emerald green 10 C stamps exist?
- How many stamps comprised each sheet?
- How many stamps were destroyed after being withdrawn?
- On the backside of covers sent abroad is an oval cancellation of the foreign trade department of Cuban postal authorities. In its middle is the date it left Cuba. Was this an approval by censorship? I suppose this, as the event took place during second world war.
It seems the postage rates were not obeyed carefully. I remember a registered cover sent abroad with only one 10 C stamp. | |
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