United States, 1918 (24 cents, Jenny)
A biplane in flight inside a red frame.
Illustration of a historical stamp for learning, shown at screen size. Not valid for postage.
How to read it
U.S. POSTAGE on the arch.
- 1U.S. POSTAGE
- 224 CENTS
- Inscription
- U.S. POSTAGE · 24 CENTS 24
- Meaning
- U.S. stands for United States; the stamp does not say airmail.
- Issued by
- United States
- Today
- the United States Flag of United States
- Year
- 1918. Issued in May 1918 for the first scheduled airmail.
- Made by
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing (printer)
One fact
The Curtiss Jenny biplane flew the first US airmail route in 1918. This one is the right way up; a sheet printed with the plane upside down became famous as the Inverted Jenny.
Source and public-domain rule
United States, published before 1931. Engraved and printed by the federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing and published 1918. Works published in the United States in 1930 or earlier are out of copyright there (the longest term, 95 years from publication, ended on 1 January 2026 for 1930 works), and stamps made by the federal government itself are not protected at all. Under the EU comparison of terms a work from outside the EU is protected no longer than in its country of origin. Legal sources: Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain, 17 U.S.C. § 105.
Scan: US stamp 1918 24c Curtiss Jenny -C3.jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 1011443336), licence templates {{PD-USGov}}. Downloaded 2026-10-21, sha256 38305384d412…; cropped and cleaned for this site. Facts checked 2026-10-22 against source 1 and source 2. Research record, not legal advice; a second check of these rights by a person is planned, and a stamp that turns out not to be free to use will be removed. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
