COVER N.196 - POLAND

Postmark: BOŻE NARODZENIE (Christmas) Gdansk 50 - 28.11.2022

Posted on the 28 November; Received on the 10th January 2023
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The first month of the year is already half past but cheerful echoes of Christmas still linger in my letterbox, as proved by this letter with great stamps and postmarks. Thank you so much, not only for the stamps, but also for the cards, Roman. I truly appreciated it.

One of the oldest flag carrier airlines around has to be LOT, Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A..

Established in 1928,  LOT took over and furthered the role of the Polish domestic carriers Aerolot and Aero, its first flight having taken place on the 1st of January, 1929.

Such a long standing airline could not make it to this day without having to go  through a lot of fleet changes all through its history.

 It all started First with a fleet of the then ubiquitous Junkers F13 and Fokker F. VII, that would in time be replaced with such remarkable passenger planes as the DC2 and the Lockheed Electra, that served until the end of the 2nd world war. 

The integration of Poland in the Soviet block meant that soviet made aircraft were the rule after a period of acquisition coexistence that lasted until 1962 during which  a mix of soviet and western built aircraft such as the Ilyushin 12 and 14 and the Vickers Viscount and Convair 240 were procured. 

After 1962 and until the collapse of the Soviet Union, only soviet designs  would integrate the fleet that had in the TU 134, which began flying in  LOT's colours in 1968, its first representative of the jet age era.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, LOT became a good Boeing and Embraer customer, its current fleet  being composed of a mix of Boeing 737-800 and Max 8; Boeing 787 type 8 and 9 and Embraer E170/175/190/195 aircraft.

Celebrating the 90th anniversary of LOT,  Poczta Polska (Polish Post) issued on 31JAN2019 the beautiful  5,20 Zloty stamp that can bee seen on my cover. The main element in the stamp, which has the aura of a vintage advertising poster, is LOT's logo, which like many other contemporary logos, (TAP, Lufthansa, BOAC, to name but three,  all outstandingly beautiful, if my opinion can be expressed), evolved around the stylized image of a bird.

To achieve the regular tariff, Roman used a stamp with a face value of   3.30 ZL issued on 17JAN2020, as part of a definitive series started in 2018, dedicated to the cities of Poland. 

The lovely Christmas postmark with the star of Bethlehem and a branch of holly hails from the city of Gdansk, the cradle of the famous Solidarność union.