Front:
POLAR STAR
EARSWORTH TRANS ANTARCTIC FLIGHT
INGTO
SEP
14
1988
USA25
20066
Lincoln Ellsworth
DC
Back:
LINCOLN ELLSWORTH
First Day of Issue: September 14, 1988
First Issue Location: Washington, D.C.
Airplanes opened Antarctica for more detailed explora-
tion. Soaring above the barren lands of ice and snow, an
airman could see vistas which had been barred to men for
centuries. Within the ice-bound borders of Antarctica,
great glaciers rise into snow-covered mountain ranges as
rivers of pale, green ice flow slowly towards the sea. In
certain spots — called "oases" – there are ice-free
clearings, lakes of open waters, and simple plants of
algae, lichens, mosses and fungi. The 1930's brought
more reliable air transportation, and men who had here-
tofore only dreamed of the mysteries of the unexplored
continent could now exalt in the promise of the future.
Among them was Lincoln Ellsworth. Between 1933 and
1939, Ellsworth explored Antarctica from the air. He saw
things that no man before him had ever seen. In 1936,
Ellsworth set off in his plane, The Polar Star, on a thirteen-
day flight across the “Unknown Southland." He also dis-
covered the Ellsworth Highland and American Highland
in the cold Antarctic region.
No. 88-55
©1988 The Maximum Card Collection
A Division of Unicover Corporation • Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007
Original painting by Tom McNeely