Deutsche Version - English version below

Eine Vielzahl von Aktivitäten geht auf seine Initiative zurück bzw. war er wesentlich mitbeteiligt, so etwa Werbe- und Verkaufsstände auf Flughäfen, gemeinsame Veranstaltungen mit anderen Vereinen oder bei der Vorbereitung der AeroBerlin 2019. Seinem Wirken ist es zu verdanken, dass der APCD in den nunmehr dreißig Jahren seines Bestehens eine kontinuierliche Arbeit leisten konnte und national und international Anerkennung fand. Der APCD ist seit dem 1. Januar 1993 Mitglied der FISA - dem internationalen Dachverband der aerophilatelistischen Vereine.

Reiner Stimm hat auch die aerophilatelistische Literatur bereichert. 1995 erschien die Broschüre „Luftpost in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern“, 2014 eine Gedenkschrift „90 Jahre Aero-Philatelisten-Club Deutschlands (APCD) e.V.“. Der von Erich Haberer begründete „Katalog der deutschen Luftpost“ erfährt ab Teil 16 seine Fortführung durch Reiner Stimm. Für diese Literaturarbeit wurden die Autoren Reiner Stimm und Horst Teichmann mit der FISA Ehrenmedaille in Silber im Jahre 2019 geehrt.

In den „Luftpost-Nachrichten“ finden sich eine Vielzahl von Beiträgen aus Reiners Handschrift zu verschiedenen Themen der Luftpost und Luftfahrt. Die Luftpostsammler erinnern sich sehr gerne an die jährlichen Zusammenkünfte. Die Jahreshauptversammlungen waren stets auch mit einem guten Teil Gemütlichkeit verknüpft. So hatte Reiner auch schon für 2021 konkrete Pläne. Er kann es nicht mehr erleben.

Reiner, wir vermissen Dich! Wir werden Dir stets ein ehrendes Gedenken bewahren und danken Dir für alles.

Unser Mitgefühl und unsere trauernde Anteilnahme gelten seiner Gattin Karin und den beiden Söhnen mit ihren Familien.

Horst Teichmann, Ellefeld

Dick was also very involved in organized philately. Among his many roles he was an international judge; Editor-in-Chief for the first edition of The Air Mails of Canada and Newfoundland - part of the 6th edition of The American Air Mail Catalogue; a Past President of the Canadian Aerophilatelic Society; and a former Chair of the American Air Mail Society's Awards Committee.

Dick was elected a member of the Aerophilatelic Hall of Fame in 1996. He also received many other awards over the years, including election as a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada in 1986, as a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society of London in 2005, and was presented with a Golden F.I.S.A. Pin “for his service and devotion to aero- and astrophilately”, by the Federation Internationale Des Societes Aerophilateliques in 2009.

In spite of all his achievements and awards, Dick never seemed to slow down: he was a judge at ORAPEX in 2018, on the organizing committee of ORAPEX for 2019, and continued to support and encourage other philatelists. He will be missed by many people.

A detailed philatelic biography of Dick Malott has been posted on The Canadian Aerophilatelic Society's website at www.aerophilately.ca

It's a sad day for the American Air Mail Society with the passing of President Lee Downer in July 2019. Despite his battle with a brain tumor, Lee continued to take his duties seriously and worked tirelessly in his final days and months to implement programs and changes to help carry the AAMS into the future.

One of those duties was preparing the digital version of the Airpost Journal for email circulation. Although the email had my name on it, the message was Lee's. That job is now mine. I just spent about three hours on the phone with Constant Contacts' technical support and hope I got this right. I expect I can get it sent out this month and hope I can remember how to do it again next month.

Lee will be missed but I know through recent communications that David Ball is stepping into the president's role. I hope we'll all support him as he assumes the duties.

Vickie Canfield Peters, Editor of the AIRPOST JOURNAL

Reiner Stimm, President of APCD, reported on April 15th that Dr. Karlheinz Herdt passed away on April 9th, just before his 86th birthday.

Dr. Herdt was Honorary Member of APCD. He was President of the "Zentralen Arbeitskreises Luftpost - ZAKL)" in the DDR, and was a well known national and international as an author, exhibitor and judge.

APCD and FISA will always have the best remembrances and we will always remember him.

I.L.A., the Interessengemeinschaft Lufthansa Aerophilatelie e.V., has to announce the death of its Vice-President Dr. Hans Langisch.

Dr. Langisch was a indefatigable philatelist and visited almost every philatelic fairs with the “ILA-Aktiven”. He was always ready to help other collectors and was the right hand in preparing the magazine “Rundschreiben” of the society. Quite and humble, he was always there when needed.

I.L.A. will always remember him and offer sincere condolences to the family.

Donald Holmes will be known to many aerophilatelists as the author of Air Mail: An Illustrated History 1793-1981. This beautifully illustrated, thoroughly researched book, was an attempt to introduce the general public to the fascination of aeropostal history, by means of a coffee table style book. Although published in 1982, it is still widely regarded as the best one volume history of the early air mail flights and services around the world.

Donald was also a regular contributor of letters and articles on a wide variety of topics, to the American Air Mail Society's Airpost Journal, and the Canadian Aerophilatelic Society's Canadian Aerophilatelist. In the years after this book was published, Donald moved from the U.S.A. to Scotland, then to England, to France, and then back to England. Donald was interested in not just the “facts” of history, but the significance of different events in the development of aviation and air mail.

One of his particular interests, was the relative importance of the Wright Brothers’ flights at Kitty Hawk on December 17th1903, and Wilbur Wright’s flight at Le Mans in France on August 8th 1908:

• the Wright Brothers first flights in December 1903 received little attention at the time. - There was in fact great scepticism as to whether they had actually flown. In 1906, for example, the Paris edition of the Herald Tribune carried an article on the Wright Brothers with the headline “Flyers or Liars?”. In 1908, when there were delays before Wilbur Wright’s first demonstration flight in France, the press often referred to them as “Bluffeurs”.

• it was the August 8th 1908 flight from Les Hunaudieres race track at Le Mans, when Wilbur Wright amazed the crowd with his ability to make controlled turns, that turned the Wright Brothers into international celebrities. - The Paris daily newspaper Figaro wrote that, “It was not merely a success, but a triumph; a conclusive trial and a decisive victory for aviation, the news of which will revolutionize scientific circles around the world.” When they returned to the U.S.A. in 1909 there were two days of festivities in Dayton.

Nowadays, however, the first flights on December 17th 1903 are frequently regarded as one of the most significant events of the 20th Century, but Wilbur’s flight on August 8th 1908 receives little attention. In a “Letter to the Editor” in the May 1999 Air Post Journal, Donald wrote that: “It seems to me that this easy to remember date 8.8.08 has been short changed in our awareness. This flight –Wilbur’s first flight in France – was the one that awakened the world to the importance of what happened at Kitty Hawk in 1903.” During his years in France, Donald became very involved with the Centenary celebrations for the 1908 flight being organized in Le Mans, and in the group Aero-Retro which built a replica of the Wright Flyer III that flew as part of the Centenary celebrations.

As part of the Centenary commemoration, and to try and raise awareness of Wilbur Wright’s flight at Le Mans, Donald wrote a second book: Wilbur’s Story - a Personal View of the Role of France in Wilbur Wright’s Life. It is profusely illustrated with reproductions of old postcards, etc, and provides a thoroughly researched and highly readable account of the events before and after Wilbur’s flight on 8-8-08.

Donald was elected to the Aerophilatelic Hall of Fame in 2005, to honour “his dedication to aerophilately and aeropostal history”.

He is survived by his wife Lesley, and his daughter Carolyn.

Chris Hargreaves

Dr. Teddy Dahinden was born on January 6th 1926 in Switzerland.

He was the initiator and strong promoter of Astrophilately. As founder and President of the Society of Space Philatelists in Zürich in 1969 he organised the first 3 WERABA specialised Space Philately Exhibitions in Zurich and Luzern 1970-73.

In 1976 was elected President of the Swiss Philatelic Federation, chairing it for eleven years, where he continued the promotion by succeeding in the acceptance of the new Class Astrophilately.

He was also a great Thematic collector. His exhibit “The Dog: Man's Friend and Helper”, built together with his wife Henrike, reached several Large Gold medals.

He was Director and FIP Vicepresident.

Dr. Dahinden passed away on the September 12th 2015 at the age of 89 years.

Source: FEPA News

The Aerophilatelic Society of Argentina reports that on Thursday, April 28 passed away our former vice president, Avedis Ketchian as a result of an accident on the street that could not be recovered.

He was 79 years old and was President of Sociedad Argentina de Aerofilatelia (Aerofila), FIP Juror Aerophilately Class, and a leading exhibitor of Aerophilately. It is an unfortunate loss for Philately and their many friends. Our condolences to his beloved family. Rest in peace.

Alexander Newall FRPSL

Alexander Newall, FRPSL, who died on Wednesday, 8 November, aged 92, was a well known aerophilatelist and a founder member of the British Aerophilatelic Federation.

Alex started stamp collecting as a child, as most of us did, and later went on to form specialised collections of classic Switzerland, Swiss Airmails and later on British Airmails and latterly the Siege of Przsemsyl, all to a very high standard. With these collections he received many awards, at both national and international levels, including the Grand Prix at Ameripex '89, two Gold Medals at Israphil '85 and Stockholmia '86 followed by three Large Gold Medals at Polska '93, Bangkok '93 and Singapore '95.

When he came into organized aerophilately in the 1970's there were two national aerophilatelic organisations in the UK, the Aero Philatelic Club, London, founded in 1923 and the British Air Mail Society, founded 1958. Alex could not understand why there should be two separate organizations and he was the driving force behind bringing us together into the British Aerophilatelic Federation.

In the early 1980's we held three exhibitions at the RAF Museum at Hendon and one of my lasting memories is of Alex standing with Francis J. Field (Doyen of Aerophilately), Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader (Of Battle of Britain Fame), Group Captain Bill Randle (First President of BaeF) and myself in front of the Blackburn Beverley watching a parachutist, John Irving of the Irvin Parachute Company, landing in the grounds with a bag of souvenir covers for our event. On the same day we had Wing Commander R.H. McIntosh ("All Weather Mac") of Imperial Airways fame, and Group Captain Randle autographing covers with Alex supervising the event. A final memory is of Alex driving Dennis Edwards and myself up to Sutton Coldfield to a celebratory dinner for Francis J. Field on his 90th birthday. Memorable occasions.

Alex was a national and international judge and wrote two books "Fakes and Forgeries of Airmail Stamps" and "British External Airmail until 1934" (Two editions), as well as numerous articles.

He was a Vice-President of the International Federation of Aerophilatelic Societies (FISA) and edited their bulletin for many years. Also he was a former Vice-President of the Aerophilatelic Commission of the International Philatelic Federation (FIP) and had been elected to the Aerophilatelic Hall of Fame in the USA. Alex was a Past President of the BaeF and he was still a Patron at the time of his death.

Brian Asquith, President British Aerophilatelic Federation