Page 6 - Demo

National Air Mail Week Covers of Indianacasts. Boy Scouts and college fraternities, along with civic and veterans organizations, got involved in various NAMW festivities. Importantly, postal employee organizations, the airline industry, and famous aviators participated. The fervor was so great at the New York State postal headquarters that 600 reams of paper were consumed, although it%u2019s unclear, today, what it was used for.The American Air Mail Society (AAMS) encouraged its aerophilatelist members to create attractive displays, take part in speaking engagements, furnish the media with publicity material, assist local postmasters, and enter cachet design contests. In addition, the AAMS created special souvenir covers of its own.A New StampFrom the beginning, it was planned that NAMW would have its own new Air Mail stamp%u2014and President Franklin Roosevelt, an avid stamp collector, designed it. With minimal art ability, he came up with a crude pencil sketch of a left-facing eagle. He noted that the bird should be blue on a red background, and that the words %u201cU.S. Postage%u201d were to be at the top, with %u201cAir Mail%u201d at the bottom. The final rendition followed the President%u2019s basic concept, but reversed the colors, switched the positions of the wording, and faced the eagle to the right. It was more distinctive than previous Air Mail stamps, and printed in a special-delivery size.On Saturday, May 14th, the new stamp made its debut%u2014in a denomination of 6-cents, the going rate for a letter sent via Air Mail. It was released simultaneously in Dayton, OH (home of the Wright brothers) and St. Petersburg, FL (where the first passenger flight took off). To help promote interest in the stamp, the AAMS moved up the date of its national convention in St. Petersburg from May 26%u201328 to May 14%u201316, so it would coincide National Air Mail WeekAir Mail stamp issued during NAMW.President Franklin Roosevelt%u2019s sketch for the new 6-cent stamp to be used during NAMW.