Design errors

Motion and Transportation

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Moon projectile Stamp illustrating Jules Verne's story 'Flight to the moon'. The manned projectile is shown with a trail of fire and smoke behind it, as if it were rocket-propelled. In Verne's book however, it was fired from a cannon, and not self-propelled. (HUNGARY - 1969)


Strange sky meeting Yes, the Concorde is a supersonic plane ! But crossing a satellite in the atmosphere is still out of range ! (ZAIRE - 1978)


Smoking rocket A rocket in space, outside the atmosphere, does not leave a trail of smoke behind ! (HUNGARY - 1965)


Identical registration numbers ! Often considered as an error : two planes with identical registration numbers DM-WKM. But take a closer look at the upside-down plane : its registration number is slightly different : DM-WKN ! (GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC - 1968)


Arrested engines ! A plane flying high in the sky with arrested engines ! (GUATEMALA - 1930)


Missing tail You do not need to be a specialist to understand that a plane cannot fly correctly without a tail ! (FRANCE - 1936)


Forgotten escaper tower The escape tower is still attached to the Mercury capsule, while it is flying around the earth. (CZECHOSLOVAKIA - 1964)


Smokefree zeppelin ! Windows in the gas reservoir of a zeppelin ? I do hope they have told the passengers to wear their gasmasks, and not to smoke ! (PARAGUAY - )


Inverted cross Inverted German cross on the tail of this plane (GERMANY - 1944)


Landing on the Moon Stamp showing the Luna 9 circling around the Moon, with panels outspread as it would be landing shortly (ROMANIA - 1966)


Upside down The green earth lies on top, this plane is flying upside down… Not a common view for a stamp, as the only place where you can see such a view, is from another plane, also flying upside down ! (CANADA - 1981)


Strange plane To avoid advertising any particular type of plane, this stamp shows a composite type which not only never existed but would never have flown. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1941)


Why planes ? There were no planes in the sky during the parade organized to celebrate the liberation of Paris. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1945)


Missing propeller No appearance of propellers on the right engine of this plane (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1987)


Arrested engines ! A plane flying high in the sky with arrested engines ! (AUSTRALIA - 1931)


Inversion or not ? Seems an inverted Nazi-cross, but ...the blus swastika is a symbol a goor fortune in Finland, going back to 1918. (EQUATORIAL GUINEA - 1977)


Wrong registration marks. Series of stamps showing a plane flying over various Belgian cities. However this plane does not bore the Belgian marks (OO) but the Italian registration marks (I). (BELGIUM - 1930)


Unrealistic rocket Unrealistic rocket …. Or unrealistic plane ? (BULGARIA - 1959)


Strange Concorde Wrong representation of the Concorde : where is the broken nose, wings and tail are too large, strange square engines … (BULGARIA - 1990)


Big shadow As the sun is far away, the shadow of a plane on earth can never be larger than the plane itself. (CAMEROON - )


Unsafe plane The upper wing of this airplane has no connection with the fuselage, and the propeller is at an impossible angle (CHINA - 1921)


Blocked propeller Plane high in the sky with immobile propeller (COSTA RICA - 1934)


Wrong time This spatial vessel landed on the moon exactly at 22h02min24sec. The DDR stamp is correct, the stamp from Hungary missed the landing by 10 seconds (HUNGARY - 1959)


Wrong name This stamp depicts the TRANSIT 2A satellite, but labelled it as the SAN MARCO-satellite. (HUNGARY - 1965)


Wrong language If a name was written outside this russian vessel, it ought to have been in Cyrylllian letters, not in the Latin alphabet. (HUNGARY - 1965)


Wrong side. As shown by the picture, the LZ-HINDENBURG touched the ground with his rear before being destroyed. (MALI - 1977)


Large shadow. As the sun is far away, the sunbeams are almost parallel, thus the shadow of a plane on earth can never be larger than the plane itself. (MONACO - 1941)


Large shadow. As the sun is far away, the sunbeams are almost parallel, thus the shadow of a plane on earth can never be larger than the plane itself. (MONACO - 1941)


Wrong spacecraft. Stamp featuring Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, with an American Mercury spacecraft, instead of a Russian Vostok I. (MONGOLIA - 1961)


Big plane ! As the sun is far away, the sunbeams are almost parallel, thus the shadow of a plane on earth can never be larger than the plane itself. (NEW CALEDONIA - 1940)


Big shadow As the sun is far away from the earth, the sunbeams are almost parallel. Thus the shadow of a plane on earth cannot be taller than the plane itself. (REUNION - 1947)


Wrong registration number. The registration number of this aircraft is not a real number, but he name of a pilot, CRAIU, who died some years before. (ROMANIA - 1928)


Open doors. Spacewalk with open doors ! (RUSSIA - 1965)


Wrong representation The plane of A. Dumont did not have a tail wheel. (SAN MARINO - 1962)


Without engines This Boeing 767 was depicted without engines (CANADA - 1987)


Impossible meeting The stamp shows the Russian spacecrafts Vostok 2 and 3 flying together, however on August 12-15 1962 only the Vostok 3 and 4 were in space. (MONGOLIA - 1971)


Inverted logotype The logotype on the plane tail is reversed. (PAPUA NEW GUINEA - 1970)


Wrong immatriculation The identification of the Junkers F13 that belonged to the Lutherian Mission Finschafen was VH-UTS. The VH-UTM was a GAL ST-12 Monospar that disappeared above Queensland on 16.2.1942 (PAPUA NEW GUINEA - )


Wrong date The GRAF-ZEPPELIN LZ-127 was built in 1927, not in 1924 (MALI - 1977)


Wrong rocket This is not a Gemeni 4 rocket, but an Atlas one. (AJMAN - 1970)


Wrong type The first dog was sent in space in a Spoutnik II spacecraft, the stamps however features a Spoutnik III. See Russian stamp with the 3 types of Spoutnik. (ALBANIA - 1962)


Wrong date Lunik III was launched on 4.10.1959, not on 4.11.1959 as shown on the stamp (ALBANIA - 1963)


Wrong plane 10th anniversary of the flight over the South pole by Argentina. This was done by Douglas DC3 planes, not by the featured bombers. (ARGENTINA - 1973)


Modernisation The British registration letters G-AUSU in 1928 were substituted with the Australian VH-USU letters of 1958. And in 1928, this plane had only two-bladed propellers, not three as shown here. (AUSTRALIA - 1958)


Wrong colour The inscription on this Zeppelin was in black colour, not in red. (CONGO REPUBLIC - 1977)


No atmosphere There is no atmosphere neither oxygen around the moon, it is impossible that flames will leave the engine. (TOGO - )


Wrong plane The Austrian airlines never owned DC8 planes, Austrian planes do not have A but CO registration letters, the nose of Austgrian planes do not have three lines. (AUSTRIA - 1968)


Too close This Zeppelin is much too close to the castle. And he cannot fly from left to right, as there is an hill at the left side of the castle. (LIECHTENSTEIN - 1979)


Quite dangerous Flying plane with stopped engine (GERMANY - 2008)


Two errors Two errors : plane is not an ME-109F but a Fiat-G50, name of the pilot is OIVA, not DIVA. (EQUATORIAL GUINEA - 1977)


Strange rocket The rocket exists only in the imagination of the stamp designer (NORTH KOREA - 1962)


Wrong spacecraft Compared to a Russian stamp of 1964 that shows the spacecraft MARS 1, this stamps shows something quite different (BULGARIA - 1963)


Wrong spacecraft Compared to a Russian stamp of 1964 that shows the spacecraft MARS 1, this stamps shows something quite different (RUSSIA - 1962)


Prototype This plane is a prototype, that was never built. (CAMEROON - 1942)


Canon or rocket ? Stamp illustrating Jules Verne's story 'Flight to the moon'. The manned projectile leaves a trail of smoke, as if it were rocket-propelled. In Verne's book however, it was fired by a canon. (CAMEROON - 1980)


Never built The construction of the Canadian deltaplane 'Avro Arrow' was abandoned some weeks before this stamp was issued. (CANADA - 1959)


Strange airplane This airplane, with a too long fuselage and without propellers, is unable to fly. (GERMANY - 1919)


Not adapted plane Major F. Novak was a famous stunt- and figther pilot. It would have been more suitable to represent him with a Spitfire or a Hurricane, instead of a Westland-Lysander aircraft, a slow reconnaissance plane.. (CZECHOSLOVAKIA - 1946)


Wrong plane The first arial UK mail was carried by a Bleriot. But the stamps shows a Farman biplane in the air, and a Bleriot monoplane on the ground. (FALKLAND ISLANDS - 1974)


Strange rockets The rockets exist only in the imagination of the stamp designer (VIET NAM - 1965)


Little mistake 50th anniversary of airmail : by mistake the personal plane of Hitler was pictured on this stamp. (GERMANY - 1969)


Not accurate On the special cancellation, the American Mustang P51 has both insignia on the upper side of the wings, instead of one on the upper left and one on the lower right. (GERMANY - 1979)


Small difference The photo shows a walking bridge running all the way under the ship, on the stamp it is divided in several sections. (GERMANY - 1978)


No balloon In the book of Jules Verne Around the world in 80 days, there is no mention of any balloon. (GRENADA GRENADINES - 1979)


Wrong name This is not the SZONDA 3 but the LUNIK 3 : the Russian stamp shows the same engine with the correct name. (HUNGARY - 1965)


Wrong year The space trip of C.Conrad and R. Gordon took place between 12 and 15 December 1966, not in 1965 (HUNGARY - 1966)


.No connexion 25th anniversary of Lufthansa : but neither the ME109, the TU144 nor the Concorde are connected to the Lufthansa. (NORTH KOREA - 1980)


Wrong Zeppelin The zeppelin which flew over Berlin in 1936 was not the portrayed Graf Zeppelin with five engines, but the Hindenburg, with four engines and with special markings for this flight. (MALAGASY - 1976)


Little detail At the air rally of 1914, this Farman owned by Renaux was equipped with skis to be able to land on water. (MONACO - 1964)


Too big The shadow of a plane on earth cannot be bigger than the plane itself. (MOROCCO - 1946)


Too big The shadow of this plane is much too big, cannot be larger than the plane itself. (NEW ZEALAND - 1950)


Wrong date The first flight of the Concorde took place on March 2nd 1969, not on May 2nd 1969. (NIGER - 1972)


Missing pontoon This sea-plane will have difficulties to land with only one pontoon. (SWEDEN - 1936)


Not the first The FR-1 satellite is wrongly labelled as the first French Satellite, for the A1 had been launched 10 days before. (POLAND - 1966)


Wrong date Stamp issued in 1923 for the inauguration of the Postal Air Services. The lanch was however postponed until the following year. Meanwhile there had been a change in currency : the surcharge conviently covered most of the wrong date. (RUSSIA - 1923)


Wrong antennas The antennas of the Sputnik I on the stamp have less in common with the antennas on the real Sputnik I. (GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC - 1957)


Non existing planes To not advertise any kind of plane, the stamp shows a non existing mixture of different planes. (SAUDI ARABIA - 1941)


Non existent stamp To not advertise any kind of plane, the stamp shows a non existing mixture of different planes. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1944)


Sill connected The space capsule is in orbit around the earth with the escape device, that is disconnected just before launch, still attached. (HUNGARY - 1962)


Sill connected The space capsule is in orbit around the earth with the escape device, that is disconnected just before launch, still attached. (HUNGARY - 1962)


Two errors The space walk of Leonov did not happen above Italy, and the doors of the vessel, of course, do not remain open. (HUNGARY - 1966)


Still connected When the two vessels met, they were in orbit around the earth, and not connected anymore to the last stage of the launching rocket. (HUNGARY - 1966)


Wrong plane A Farman biplane is shown on a stamp commemorating the first U.K. air mail flight. This first flight however, was made by Gustav Hamel in a Bleriot. (UNITED KINGDOM - 1974)


Wrong plane This is not the Imperial Airways Flying Boat from 1937, but the Maia, a later adaption with special superstructure on its wings, and not delivered until June 1938. ( (UNITED KINGDOM - 1974)


Flying problems This angels with only one wing will not fly easily, and the plane without rudders will not fly at all. (CANADA - )


No atmosphère The use of parachutes on the moon where there is no atmosphere ? Not quite a good idea. (ROMANIA - 1972)


Missing letter Wrong : HAVILAND - Correct : HAVILLAND. (GRENADA - 1985)


Strange vessel This spacial vessel, with a combustion engine, makes an impossible turn in space. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1993)


Error in name The exact name of this helicopter is Vought-Sikorsky VH-300, the stamp mistakenly gives it the name Vogt. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1988)


Not the first Labeling the flights of the Wright Brothers the 'first powered flights' is not quite correct, as a lot of people before them experimented with flying engines. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1953)


Additional letter Deperdussin is spelled with 2 'p'. (PARAGUAY - 1980)


Too big shadow The plane's shadow has almost the same size as the country. (UPPER VOLTA - 1961)


Stopped engine The engine seems to be switched off, while the helicopter is flying. (POLAND - )


Wrong year This plane was not built in 1904, but in 1908 : it is a Wright A 1908. (SAN MARINO - )


Not quite correct This is not a rocket, but a rocket-plane with a cockpit. (GABON - 1962)


Fired from a cannon In Jules Verne's book, the rocket that brought men to the moon was fired from a cannon and was not self propelled. (GABON - 1965)


Wrong method Landing with a parachute on Jupiter, where there is no atmosphere ? (COMORO ISLANDS - )


Wrong orbit The orbit of Lunik III is represented quite incorrectly. (POLAND - 1964)


Wrong orbit The orbit of Lunik III is represented quite incorrectly. (RUSSIA - 1959)


Space conquest A space vessel flying in the sky ? In any case not on planet earth ! (YEMEN - 1967)


Crossing This plane seems to have been built with Concorde wings fixed on a rocket. (UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC - 1966)


Forgotten crew Saturnus rocket is leaving for the Moon without the space capsule. (ALBANIA - 1999)


Imminent aircrash A plane is landing while another one is still occupying the landingsstrip. (CAMEROON - 1981)


Wrong year Amundsen passed Sint Petersburg in the Norge on his way to the North pole in 1926, not in 1923. (RUSSIA - 1991)


Wrong year The visit of the Graf Zeppelin to Russia occured in 1930, not in 1928. (RUSSIA - 1991)


Rocket or plane ? A rocket with windows for passengers ? (RUSSIA - )


Rocket or plane ? A rocket with windows for passengers ? (RUSSIA - 1960)


Not a rocket According to Jules Verne's book, the moon vessel was launched by a giant canon. (MONACO - 1955)


Unrealistic Unrealistic : the top of the rocket is used as space residence, and is fixed with roops in prevision of bad weather ! (CONGO REPUBLIC - 1985)


A dream ? Four Concordes together in the sky in 2012, really unrealistic ! (RWANDA - 2012)


Magic plane Flying plane with stopped engine (BELGIUM - 2013)


Missing floats Due to missing floats, this plane is not able to land on the sea. (MONACO - 1964)


Missing tail The tail of this plane is missing (CONGO REPUBLIC - 1961)


Strange illustration As the Apollo 13 mission was aborted and never reached the moon, it is strange to illustrate this stamp with lunar rover. (SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS - 1989)


Wrong crew Why show the crew of Apollo 11 on a stamp dedicated to commemorate the safe return on earth of Apollo 13 ? (TOGO - 1970)


Missing engines Planes without engines (SPAIN - 1981)


Addditional engine The Zeppelin which passed over Berlin in 1936 had only four engines, not five. (MALAGASY - 1976)


Wrong year The first flight of Gagarine took place on April 12th 1961, not in 1960. (DJIBOUTI - 1981)


Additional letter This plane is a Dornier-Wal, not a Dournier-Wall. (COMORO ISLANDS - 1978)


Not the right one This is not the first balloon that was used for the first flight in 1783, but one that was built some years later. (POLAND - 1981)


Wrong destination ? The Earth is much too close to Mars, and without atmosphere, combustion engines cannot be used. (TOGO - )


Missing oxygen Without atmosphere, no combustion engines can be used. (TOGO - )


Flying engine Plane without fuselage (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - 1920)


Missing engine The second engine should have been visible under the right wing. (SOUTH KOREA - 1949)


Missing engines Seaplane without engines. (FRENCH GUIANA - 1933)


Mooncycling Cycling competition on the moon, why not ? (RUSSIA - 1972)


Missing letter Wrong : Concord - Correct : Concorde (CAMBODIA - 1986)


Wrong shape, wrong target Wrong shape of a V2-rocket. Furthermore, they were not directed to Berlin (DOMINICA - 1995)


Wrong planet The Surveyor was not launched to Mars, but to the Moon (SIERRA LEONE - 1989)


No ignition At the launch, the engines of the shuttle are not ignited. (CONGO REPUBLIC - 1981)


No tail wheels The Spirit of St Louis was not equipped with two tail wheels (MALI - 1977)


Only once Gagarin's flight took him only once around the earth. The stamp shows additional rotations (GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC - 1961)


Magic hat How can this hat remain on the head of the pilot, without being blown away by the wind (ROMANIA - 1989)


Forgotten on the moon? The engines of the were switched on only during the way back to earth, not while men were still on the moon. (Rwanda - 1969)


Switched off The engines of the shuttle are not switched on at the launch (GRENADA - 1978)


Wrong anniverary 20th anniversary in 1988, however the first landing on the moon took place in 1969 (GUYANA - 1988)


Incomplete Incomplete CP instead of CCCP (CUBA - 1966)


Missing tail Airplane without tailpiece (PARAGUAY - 1949)


Not motorized This is not a motorized airplane (MALDIVES - 1978)


Missing wing Airplane with missing wing (MONGOLIA - 1976)


Missing propellers Airplane without propellers (MALAGASY - 1946)


One too much! Two vessels at the same time in a trip to the moon? (AJMAN - 1969)


Missing wings Missing right wings (FUJEIRA - 1971)


Too big The size of the footprint is out of proportion. (FUJEIRA - 1971)


Exagerated A Zeppelin was bag, but this is a littelbit exagerated! (NIGER - 1977)


Oar on the moon Astronauts holding an oar, probably looking for water? (RUSSIA - 1967)