Bletchley Park/BBMF Press Release
Secret post office flies high
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will carry an unusual cargo for its 50th Anniversary Year. It is a special stamp issue from Bletchley Park’s secret little post office. During World War Two enemy messages decoded at Bletchley Park enabled the RAF to win the war in the air against overwhelming odds. For 2007 they are working together again but this time to provide a unique memento of the 50 years the BBMF has been thrilling audiences across the country and overseas.
The limited edition stamp issue will be announced on BBMF day at Duxford, Cambridgeshire on 5th May. It comprises a souvenir sheet of 10 Royal Mail stamps carrying images of the flight’s famous aircraft, Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane and Dakota. Just 500 individually numbered sheets will be issued. Individual stamps will also be available as commemorative covers. 5 special envelopes, each featuring a different image and stamp, will also be released during 2007. Each stamp will be postmarked for the first day of a major UK air show using the BMMF anniversary logo. All the stamps and covers will have been flown in the aircraft to make them even more special.
Bletchley Park Post Office will be alongside the BBMF ground display at Duxford on 3rd May and at other air shows during the year. Six flypasts over Bletchley Park’s historic mansion are also planned during the summer. More information can be found on the web site at www.bletchleycovers.com, calling 01908 272690/631797 or writing to Bletchley Park Post Office, The Mansion, Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, Mk3 6EB.
Bletchley Park was established as a code breaking HQ in 1938 in anticipation of World War 2. The post office was originally its undercover mailroom. When Bletchley Park opened as a museum in 1994 it began issuing the first of its highly collectable first day covers. Sought after by collectors and souvenir hunters around the world values often soar above t he original issue price.
Stamp Sheet is £40 plus £1.50 p&p. Commemorative cover is £10 plus £1.50 p&p
In the years immediately following World War Two it became traditional for a Spitfire and Hurricane to lead the Victory Day flypast over London. From that event there grew the idea to form an historic collection of flyable aircraft, initially to commemorate the RAF’s major battle honour, The Battle of Britain, and latterly with broadened scope, to commemorate the RAF’s involvement in all the campaigns of WWII. Thus in 1957 the Historic Aircraft Flight was formed at Biggin Hill in what, even then, had become a predominantly jet-powered Air Force. The Flight experienced variable fortune before emerging in its current form as one of the world’s best-known historic aircraft collections, maintaining in airworthy condition a Lancaster, a Dakota, five Spitfires, two Hurricanes and two Chipmunks.
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