Lithuania
Post honoured the Lithuanian Aviation Museum and its aircraft on December 17,
2003, the 100th anniversary of the first controlled powered flight, but also the
90th anniversary of the birth of glider designer Bronius Oskinis. This 20 litai
souvenir sheet shows eleven different gliders and sailplanes, powered planes and
a model rocket, as well as the logo and aerial view of the Museum at the Darius
and Girenas airfield in Kaunas.
Date
of Issue: December 17, 2003.
Country:
Lithuania.
First Day of Issue Site:
Kaunas.
Title: From the Lithuanian
Aviation Museum's Collection.
Designer:
Gediminas Pempe.
Opposite:- The sheet
showing aircraft from the Lithuanian Aviation Museum. | 
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What
makes this colourful souvenir sheet so special? If you, dear reader, are thinking
of starting to collect stamps showing gliders, this would be the perfect starter
kit, available through the Internet without having to go to a stamp dealer.
The
BK-7 sailplane flying high above the Lithuanian Aviation Museum. | 
The
prototype BrO-12 flying over the old town of Kaunas. | 
The
beautifully restored BrO-12 is now part of the Museum's collection. |
The
BK-7 sailplane, Lietuva, was designed by Balys Karvelis and first flown in 1972.
The postage stamp designer shows this ship flying high above the Museum complex
at Kaunas. The BK-7 prototype was built at the Experimental Sport Aviation Workshops
in Prienai and was the first glass-fibre sailplane designed and built in the former
USSR, according to information received from the Museum. It is generally
considered the beginning of a long line of high performance, Open Class sailplanes,
which have since been built at the Sportine Aviacija Company in Pociunai. The
prototype BK-7 is part of the Museum’s collection. A line drawing of this
ship can also be found on the edge of the sheet. The second postage stamp
in the souvenir sheet shows the recently restored BrO-12 sailplane, also part
of the Museum’s collection. This wooden sailplane was designed for advanced
training by Bronius Oskinis; the prototype, BrO-12, was built in 1957 in Kaunas.
The USSR DOSAAF accepted this type for serial production and about 120 were built
at the Simferol Workshops |
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