Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks

Battle of Britain Smilers Sheet and Retail booklet - 15 September 2010

To mark the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Royal Mail is issuing a retail booklet and generic Smilers Sheet.  The stamp used is, of course, the Spitfire stamp from the Design Classics set issued in January 2009.  A retail booklet containing Spitfire and Concorde stamps was announced for September last year, but somebody obviously saw sense and it was postponed to coincide with this 70th Anniversary.


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Battle of Britain generic Smilers sheet of 20 Spitfire stamps.


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Alongside the 20 Spitfire stamps are 20 labels depicting images and narrative describing the period. Among these we can see:

1. The Battle is Named. Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill who said "The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin."

2. The Dowding System. Air Chief Marhsall Hugh Dowding's Early Warning Radar system (colum 3/1).

3. Brendan (Paddy) Finucane one of many notable flying aces among the fliers from 14 countries (column 3/5)

4. St Paul's Cathedral - the iconic picture showing the dome surrounded by burning London.

5. Firefighters - similar picture to that included in the Britain Alone set issued in May.

6. The Battle of Britain Memorial in London, one of several memorials in the country is on the final label.

The top margin shows the Principal RAF Planes flown in combat during the Battle of Britain:
Bristol Blenheim, Boulton Paul Defiant, Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, Gloster Gladiator.

The bottom margin shows the number of Allied Pilots by Country alongside their 1940 national flags:
Great Britain 2341, Poland 145, New Zealand 127, Canada 112, Czechoslovakia 88, Australia 32, Belgium 28, South Africa 25, France 13, Ireland 10, USA 7, Jamaica 1, Southern Rhodesia 1, British Mandate of Palestine 1.

Retail booklet containing 2 spitfire stamps. Pre-issue publicity image of self-adhesive retail booklet containing two Spitfire and 4 definitive 1st class stamps.



Technical details:

Designed by Demgrafic, the A4 (297 x 210mm) Smilers Sheet is printed in litho by Cartor Security Printing.  The booklet is printed by Walsall Security Printers Ltd and the definitive stamps to have MCIL and MA10 codes.  The Spitfire stamp - like all the Design Classics stamps - was designed by HGVand photographed by Jason Tozer.   All images are Copyright 2010 by Royal Mail.


Special Postmarks
Postmarks available on the day of issue will be shown here. This is not regarded by Royal Mail as a new issue, so there will be no official First Day postmarks available. These may not be to scale, and cannot be obtained after 15 September.

Postmark showing Spitfire aircraft. Postmark showing Spitfire aircraft. Postmark showing Spitfire aircraft. Postmark showing Concorde supersonic airliner. Postmark showing Spitfire aircraft. Long term postmarking marking 70th anniversary of world war 2.
Ref L11848 70th Anniversary The Battle of Britain, Ruislip Middlesex Ref L11845
70th Anniversary The Battle of Britain, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent
Ref M11857
Spitfire Stamp Book, Spitfire Road, Birmingham
Ref L11847
70th Anniversary The Battle of Britain, Stanmore Middlesex
Ref L11846
70th Anniversary The Battle of Britain, Croydon Surrey
Ref L11844
70th Anniversary WWII, Whitehall, London SW14


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This page updated 11 September 2010


2010 stamp issues
Visit our online shop!
January
7 Classic Album Covers
7 Olympic Games retail book 1
26 Business & Customised Smilers MS
February
2 Girl Guide Centenary
25 350th ann of the Royal Society
25 Olympic Games retail book 2
March
1 Castles of Wales
11 Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
23 House of Stewart
30 Machin & Country Definitives
30 Festival of Stamps retail advertising book
April
13 Endangered Mammals
May
6 Accession of George V*
8 The King's Stamps* &
London 2010 Souvenirs *
13
Britain Alone (1940)*
* London 2010 Festival of Stamps issues
18 Halley's Comet Commemorative Sheet
June
15 House of Stuart
15 Endangered Mammals Retail Booklet
July
8 British Grand Prix Commemorative Sheet
27
Olympics & Paralympics II
& Olympic Games retail book 3

August
10 London Eye Commemorative Sheet
19 Great British Railways I
19 Retail booklets: 12x2nd, 6x1st
September
15 Battle of Britain - Spitfire Generic Sheet & Retail booklet
16 Medical Breakthroughs
17 Faststamps: Bird pictorials
October
12 Children's Books
12 Olympic Games retail book 4
26 Special Delivery Machins
28 Remembrance: the National Arboretum
November
2 Christmas - Wallace & Gromit

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Norvic Philatelics, PO Box 119, Dereham, NR20 3YN, GB. -- UK Phone: 08450 090939 -- Skype:ian.billings-norvic