LITHUANIA

LITHUANIA / LIETUVA.

Tribute to Lithuanian aviation pioneers Darius and Girėnas.
Flight of the Lituanica plane over the Atlantic.
Airmail. Second stamp in a set of 6, issued on 18.05.1934.
Face value: 40 Lithuanian centas.
Printing: Recess.
Print: 2,500,000 copies.
Size: 38.5 x 26 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 386.
- Michel No. 386.
- Scott No. C80.
- StampWorld No. 390.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 390.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA85. 

Lituanica was a Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker airplane flown from the United States across the Atlantic Ocean by Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas in 1933. After successfully flying 6,411 km (4,043 mi) from New York, it crashed near present-day Myślibórz (Poland, then on German territory) on July 17, 1933, due to undetermined circumstances, 650 km (404 mi) from its destination, Kaunas, Lithuania. The planned route was: New York – Newfoundland – Atlantic Ocean – Ireland – London – Amsterdam – Swinemünde – Königsberg – Kaunas airport (a total of 7,186 km). Due to weather conditions over Ireland, they veered to the north and reached Germany via Scotland and the North Sea.