Air Mail Service Stamps Take Flight

The U.S. Postal Service honors the beginning of airmail service by dedicating two United States Air Mail Forever stamps this year.

The first stamp (pictured above) will be dedicated May 1, 2018, at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, DC.

On May 15, 1918, in the midst of World War I, a small group of Army pilots delivered mail along a route that linked Washington, DC; Philadelphia; and New York City — initiating the world's first regularly scheduled airmail service. Airmail delivery, daily except Sundays, became part of the fabric of the American economy and spurred the growth of the nation’s aviation industry. The U.S. Post Office Department took charge of U.S. Air Mail service later that summer, operating it from August 12, 1918, through September 1, 1927. 

The second stamp (pictured above) will be issued on August 11, 2018, in College Park, MD. The stamp, printed in red, commemorates “United States Air Mail Service” as an official part of the United States Post Office Department, the predecessor to the U.S. Postal Service. Airmail delivery, daily except on Sundays, operated from August 12, 1918, through September 1, 1927.  More information on this stamp will be forthcoming.

Both stamps, printed in intaglio — a design engraved into the stamp paper — feature a drawing of the type of plane typically used in the early days of airmail, a Curtiss JN-4H biplane. The biplane was also featured on the stamps originally issued in 1918 to commemorate the beginning of regularly scheduled airmail service. The stamp design evokes that earlier period.