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NEWSLETTER #66 - MARCH 2009 EDITORIAL IMPRESSIONS BY DOUG BASTIN
From a strictly aviation postcard perspective, we seem to be at a turning point in that new issues are few and far between and the surplus of supply over demand of most antique cards leads to price polarisation. As regards new issues, the airport card is almost extinct except for a few minor regional airports, and reprints of past views from old slides or negatives. “Security” may be one of the causes, which is strange as almost every airport layout in the world can now be examined in detail from home via the medium of Google earth. The airline issue postcard is likewise an endangered species. The Berlin travel show this year yielded few issues – Germany seems to be last market where the postcard is still used for airline promotion as witness this Air Namibia A.340 – incidentally the text reads “overnight the world looks completely different” . Even new Lufthansa issues now count as hard-to-find by contrast to those from the 80s/90s that fill the junk boxes. All this means that it is now not unknown for a new issue to outpace, say, the more common Imperial Airways cards.
As regards content for this issue, we feature the last active British class of flying boats – the Short Solent, and resume tracking the pioneers of 100 years ago with Brabazon . Another famous name, Lindburgh, features in Worth a Second Glance and there is a return of contributions from Leonardo Pinzauti with cards featured THE two classic airliners Constellation and DC-3.
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INTERESTING TIMES……..LESS INTEREST IN CARDS ?