posted 08-02-2017 10:00 AM               

Space Cover #428: Apollo 15 Insurance Cover

A "Wings" Insurance cover came up in a NovaSpace sale a couple of years ago and I immediately bought it. Not only was it an Insurance Cover, but it was the first, and only time that I ever saw one that was cancelled aboard the prime recovery ship (PRS), the USS Okinawa. Additionally it bore a pair of the Decade Achievement stamps that were from the 800 mailed to Al Worden in care of the PRS.

At the time I wondered how it had gotten aboard the ship and not cancelled at KSC with all of the others. Was this an unreported flown to the moon cover? Who took it on board the ship if not? How did it get into the hands of General McDivitt? To try to get some answers I sent a photocopy of the cover to General McDivitt. He responded with a short note at the bottom of the photocopy sheet with the following handwritten text.

The means by which the cover got to the PRS is still a mystery, but I did learn how and why Gen. McDivitt received this highly unusual use of a "Wings" Insurance cover. And subsequently I find this cover to be worthy of being shown singly on a page within my "How We Got Men to the Moon", eight-frame exhibit. Have any of you readers own or ever seen a cover like this? I'd like to determine just how unique it might be.

posted 08-02-2017 01:22 PM               

Batches of the covers were indeed signed by the crew, but prior to their launch to the moon, it may now not be the case as I had originally thought for so many years.

Al Worden, however, had indicated that he didn't recall hardly signing any "wings" cachet covers before their launch. He went on the say, based on his memory, that he could only recall one "insurance type" cachet cover that would qualify for that title; the MSC Stamp Club cachet variety prior to their flight.

When asked by Worden and myself, Col. Scott gave no comment on the topic and I never did ask Irwin about the Bishop covers possibly being an insurance type.

During my many conversations though with Bishop, I was led to believe that Bishop had distributed a whole box (500 or more envelopes) to the crew, but it looks now to me that those covers may had been delivered within only a few days before their lunar journey, and why did Worden not pick up a bunch of them as I know Irwin did?

To the best of my knowledge, Ray, I can't recall seeing an astronaut insignia unflown cover for Apollo 15 posted for splashdown day aboard the carrier ship. Yours may indeed be a first, however, Bishop did distribute hundreds of them before launch, as indicated above, and to other astronauts (perhaps how McDivitt got his?), family members and personal friends, but without any postage stamps applied.