Aviation on World Banknotes

[mmarotta]

I am sorry not to have scanned more of these before selling them all.  A couple of years ago, I placed an exhibit at MSNS filling three cases with examples. 

Brazil was happy to tout Alberto Santos-Dumont.  Indeed, his airships were wonders.  Only tacking the wind, he was able to circumnavigate Paris in his dirigible balloons.  Alas, though the International Aviation Federation granted him credit for the first heavier-than-air flight, his box kite could not turn and performed little more than a controlled crash.  It remained for two American poiseurs ("posers") the Wright Brothers to actually turn the track at LeMans.  Nonetheless, Alberto Santos-Dumont deserves acclaim and fame for his airships.

[mmarotta]

Antoine de Saint-Exupery on the French 50 Franc.  This is an error note.  His name has an unnecessary accent.   You can find his books Night Flight; Wind, Sand, and Stars.  They are famous romances of early aviation. (Flight to Arras and Southern Mail are less well known.)  Later a friend of the Lindberghs, he was shot down on patrol for the Free French in 1944.  Everyone knows his Little Prince. As a security feature, the note has a boa constrictor which swallowed an elephant.

[BCNumismatics]

Mike,
  Don't forget that Singapore had a $20 note that depicted the Concorde.

There is one misnomer about the design - Singapore Airlines never had Concordes.

Only British Airways & Air France had Concordes.

Aeroflot flew the Tupelev equivilant of the Concorde - which had the nickname 'Concordeski'.

Aidan.

[mmarotta]

Netherlands Antilles 2-1/2 Gulden 1970 and Russia 5 Rubles 1938.