About This Stamp
The Postal Service issued two X-Plane stamps in two denominations on March 17, 2006, in New York, New York. The $4.05 (Priority Mail) stamp and $14.40 X-Plane (Express Mail) stamp were issued in pressure-sensitive adhesive panes of 20. The stamps were designed by Phil Jordan of Falls Church, Virginia.
The X-plane is a series of U.S. aircrafts developed for technological experiments. Featured in the stamp is a computer-generated image of the X-15 plane from NASA studies. The North American X-15, a rocket-powered research aircraft, bridged the gap between manned flight in the atmosphere and space flight. After its initial test flights in 1959, the X-15 became the first winged aircraft to attain hypersonic velocities of Mach 4, 5, and 6 (four to six times the speed of sound) and to operate at altitudes well above 30,500 meters (100,000 feet). Its wings that sweep backward, along with the skinny shape and pointy nose, help this airplane fly so fast by minimizing shock waves at supersonic speeds. The stamp shows the X-15 rotated upward to reveal the most surface area.
The design includes a ghosted "X" on the left side of the stamp and text under the image reading, "Computer-generated aerodynamic study of an X-Plane." 100 million stamps were printed by the Banknote Corporation of America, Inc. and Sennett Security Products in the offset process with microprinting "X-PLANE" and "USPS."
Stamp Designer, Stamp Art Director
Phil Jordan
Phil Jordan grew up in New Bern, North Carolina, and attended East Carolina University. After Army service in Alaska, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in visual communications. He worked in advertising and in design at a trade association before joining Beveridge and Associates, Inc., where he provided art direction for corporate, institutional, and government design projects. A partner in the firm, he left after 18 years to establish his own design firm where he managed projects for USAir, NASA, McGraw-Hill, IBM, and Smithsonian Books, among others. He was Design Director of Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine for 15 years. His work appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications such as Graphis and Communications Arts. A past president of the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, he was an art director for the U.S. Postal Service from 1991 to 2014. A resident of Falls Church, Virginia, he is a retired glider pilot and a member of the Skyline Soaring Club.