First powered flight 75th anniversary
In 1978 it was commemorated that the Wright brothers,
Wilbur and Orville, succeeded for the first time in flying a heavier-than-air
engine-powered machine and ushered year I in the history of aviation.
ICAO marked this event and commemorated the pioneers
of the many countries who contributed to this achievement with an exhibit in
the newly-opened Unesco Pavilion at Man and His World - the Expo 67 site in Montreal. The exhibition featured large photo
reproductions of historic model aeroplanes from the Qantas Collection and as a
preview of future aircraft as well as historic photographs from the Librairie
Flammarion archives. A special children's corner was set aside.
ICAO was also sponsoring with the help of some 40
national airlines an international children's contest
on the theme "A World that Moves on Wings" as seen with the eyes of
children all over the world. In Canada, the contest was sponsored by the UN
Association of Canada. In addition to honouring aviation pioneers, the contest
will help in still an appreciation of the benefits of civil aviation and the
universally-accepted standards and practices that help make air travel
possible. Winning entries from the participating countries were displayed at
ICAO headquarters in February and March 1979 as part of celebrations for the
International Year of the Child. The overall winner was Cristina Labardi (14
years) from Italy. One of the honourable mentions was for Patrick Houtkamp from
the Netherlands who received an engraved plaque.
At the initiative of ICAO and the Universal Postal
Union (UPU) the 75th Anniversary of Powered Flight was also marked by
commemorative stamps in many countries.
In addition,
the United Nations Postal Administration issued on 12 June 1978 sets of ICAO
stamps on the theme "Safety in the Air ". The UN also issued
commemorative ICAO medals on the same theme.
Finally, a one-hour documentary film on international
civil aviation in 1978 was produced by the French Television (TF1) in
co-production with ICAO and Radio Canada/Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for
showing over French and English speaking television stations all over the
world. This film was produced with the assistance of Air Canada, Air Afrique,
Varig, Air France and British Airways.
The stamps listed in the catalogue are only those that
have a clear link to ICAO.
Catalogue
Bophuthatswana 1 December
1978
UNOstamps subject page 245
last revised: 26 August 2010