Israel ATMs 2019 - ISRAEL POST

2019. Fighter jets in the Israeli Air Force

In 2019, Israel Post's annual ATM series is dedicated to tracing the 70-year history of the Israeli Air Force through the various fighter aircraft that have formed part of its squadrons.

Founded on May 28th 1948, just two weeks after the Declaration of Independence, the Israeli Air Force is an integral part of the Israel Defense Force, the IDF. In its beginnings, the Air Force was established using civilian aircraft that had been requisitioned and/or donated, and obsolete and surplus World War II combat aircraft. At present, the Israeli Air Force has about 700 aircraft and 34,000 active personnel ... a similar size to the French Air Force and almost twice the size of the Spanish Air Force.

As in earlier annual issues, the first design introduces the series, with a composition depicting the image of one of the first fighters used by the fledgling Air Force, the Supermarine Spitfire, and the latest addition, the modern Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft.

The design of the issue and the first day cover are by Ra'anan Weiss & Igal Gabay.

The rolls of labels are manufactured, on self-adhesive paper with a flexo digital imprint, by Tadbick Ltd. The size of the label is 58 x 27 mm, with perforated vertical edges.
The postal equipment prints the machine code on the stamp (00001, used by the philatelic service, in the image) and the face value (NIS 2.50), in the upper right hand corner. Data in black is thermal transfer printed.

This first design was only obtainable, from January 1st 2019 and later on, from all aCon SPU STAMP postal kiosks. In some cases, the design will be used throughout the year, whilst in some machines it will only be available for a few months, until the introduction of the next new design of the series.

With no changes in the main postal rates since 2018, the six values programmed in the postal kiosks, on the date of issue, were NIS 2.50 (domestic postage rate) - 4.10 - 6.50 - 7.40 - 8.30 - 9.00.

The images below show the introduction dates of the new design in the ten postal kiosks in operation at different post offices across the country. New in 2018, the Ashdod kiosk prints the code 0300 instead of 00300, and the machine initially installed in Akko, with code 00920, was moved to the Afula post office at the end of December 2018, with the new code 00930.


Detail of the special postmark, and pictorial first day cover

In chronological order, the second design of the series is dedicated to one of the first fighters in service with the Israeli Air Force, the Supermarine Spitfire IX.
The Spitfire was a British single-seater fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other allied countries during World War II. The first Israeli Spitfires were built from RAF Spitfire wrecks and parts recovered from downed Egyptian aircraft. In 1948, Israel bought 59 Spitfires from the Czechoslovakian Air Force, and 35 from Italy, in 1952.
The design of the issue is by Ra'anan Weiss & Igal Gabay.

This design was available, from March 5th 2019, from postal kiosk 00220 installed in the Be'er Sheva post office, and also from the back office printer used by the philatelic service (code 00001).


Detail of the special postmark, and pictorial first day cover

The third design of the series depicts a Dassault M.D. 454 Mystère IVA, a single-seater fighter and bomber aircraft built in France in the 1950s.
The Israeli Air Force acquired a total of 60 Dassault Mystère aircraft, which were in service for about 16 years, between April 1956 and March 1972.
The design is by Ra'anan Weiss & Igal Gabay.

As with the previous issue, this design was also available from March 5th 2019, and with two different codes, 00001 of the philatelic service, and 0300, the code of the postal kiosk installed in the Ashdod branch.


Detail of the special postmark, and pictorial first day cover

The two previous designs of the series dedicated to the 70th Anniversary of the Israeli Air Force were released together on the same day in 2019 by Israel Post (see articles, also published in VARIABLE 52). Far from this being the exception, it seems to be a change in Israel Post's issuing policy, and this series depicting fighter aircraft may possibly be the longest of all the thematic series issued since 2009. In the same vein, two new designs were released on May 1st.

The fourth design of the series is dedicated to the Douglas A-4H Skyhawk, a fighter aircraft capable of operating from aircraft carriers and designed in the 1950s for the United States Navy and Marine Corps.
In 1966, the Israeli Air Force acquired 48 A-4H Skyhawk aircraft, some of which remained in service until 2015.
The design is by Ra'anan Weiss & Igal Gabay.

This stamp with code 00001 was obtainable from the philatelic service, and also with code 00930 from the postal kiosk installed in the Afula branch in the north of the country.


Detail of the special postmark, and pictorial first day cover

The fifth stamp in the series depicts a Dassault Mirage IIICJ, a single-seater supersonic fighter designed and produced in France in the early 1960s by Dassault Aviation. This plane was widely used by the French Air Force.
The Israeli Air Force acquired 70 Mirage IIICJ fighters between 1962 and 1964, and it remained in service until 1986.
The design of the issue is by Ben Kashels and Igal Gabay.

The Dassault Mirage IIICJ stamp was also released on May 1st, and as with the previous issues, was obtainable with two different codes, 00001 from the philatelic service and 00714 from the the postal kiosk installed in the Haifa post office.


Detail of the special postmark, and pictorial first day cover

As a pleasant break from the long running series showcasing the country's military air strength, Israel Post dedicates an ATM design for the 2019 Eurovision song contest.
In fact, commemorative ATM designs had previously been released on the occasion of some of the main philatelic and non-philatelic events held in the country, such as Wikimania in 2011 (see article, also published in VARIABLE 22) or the Pope's visits in 2009 (article and VARIABLE 13) & 2014 (article and VARIABLE 33).
The Austrian postal administration also issued two ATM designs dedicated to the Eurovision song contest held in that country in 2015 (article and VARIABLE 39).

Following its victory at the 2018 Eurovision contest, the world's largest and most-watched music event, Israel again hosted the contest for the third time in 2019. This 64th Eurovision song contest was held from May 14th to 18th 2019 at the Tel Aviv Convention Center. Forty-one countries took part in the event, and the winning song was the one representing the Netherlands.

The ATM issue illustrates the Eurovision 2019 logo and slogan. The logo is a design by the Adam Feinberg studio, consisting of three superimposed triangles designed to resemble a star, reflecting the 'stars of the future'. The slogan of this show was 'Dare to dream'.
The designer of the issue is Meir Eshel.

The Eurovision 2019 design was obtainable from May 5th, with the code 00001 from the back office equipment used by the philatelic service, and also with code 00450 from the postal kiosk installed in the Tel Aviv - Yafo post office, the city hosting the contest.

	Detail of the postmark, and pictorial first day cover
In addition to the ATM issue, Israel Post produced a pictorial first day cover, a souvenir sheet (see image above) and up to four postmarks, three of them dedicated to the different phases of the song contest.

The series dedicated to the 70th Anniversary of the Israeli Air Force continues with two new designs issued on July 16th 2019.

The sixth stamp depicts a McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II, a two-seater fighter and supersonic bomber aircraft manufactured in the United States from 1960.
Between 1969 and 1976, the Israeli Air Force acquired a total of 220 F-4E aircraft, both new and secondhand from the USAF, which were in service until 2004.
The design is by Ra'anan Weiss and Igal Gabay.

As with the previous issues, this design was obtainable with two codes; 00001 from the philatelic service and 00220 from the kiosk installed in the Be'er Sheva branch.


Detail of the special postmark, and pictorial first day cover

The seventh stamp in the series depicts the F-16A Fighting Falcon, a single-seater fighter and bomber aircraft manufactured by the American company General Dynamics in the 1970s.
From 1980, the Israeli Air Force acquired a total of 362 F-16A aircraft in different versions which were in service until 2016.
The design is by Ra'anan Weiss and Igal Gabay.

Released together with the previous design in July 16th 2019, this issue was obtainable with two different codes, 00001 from the philatelic service, and 0300 from the postal kiosk installed in the Ashdod branch.


Detail of the special postmark, and pictorial first day cover