Curtiss Jenny airplane on display at Denver International Airport

Philatelic Foreword by Jay Bigalke

Sometimes you stumble across mail-related items in the strangest of places, and sometimes the most appropriate of places.

Over the years, I probably had walked by the 1918 Curtiss Jenny JN-4D airplane at the Denver International Airport at least two dozen times and never stopped.

But recently, the plane caught my attention, and I noticed the nearby placard that reads:

“1918 Curtiss Jenny, JN-4D. The standard pilot trainer of World War I, it is powered by a liquid cooled V-8 90 H.P. Ox-5 engine. The first air mail was flown in a Jenny between New York and Washington, D.C. on May 15, 1918.

“It was also the mainstay of the U.S. signal corps and the barnstormers of the twenties and early thirties. Restored by Antique Airplane Association of Colorado.”

Besides being famous to stamp collectors because of the first United States airmail stamp series (Scott C1-C3), the planes themselves, when compared to the 100 inverted stamp examples (C3a), have even fewer still known in existence today.

According to the Selfridge Military Air Museum, Curtiss produced approximately 4,000 JN aircraft, and only seven have survived and are known to exist today.

And now I know one of them is hanging at the Denver International Airport, allowing anyone to take photos of it anytime when traversing the terminal.

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