A first-day cover. I had no intention of collecting these when this all started but some are too interesting to miss. And just how much excitement can one piece of paper evoke? This little envelope was one of 110,000 items onboard 'China Clipper' registration NC14716 – a Martin M-130 four-engine flying boat, when it completed the first airmail cargo flight across the Pacific Ocean from Alameda, California to Manila after travelling via Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island, and Guam. It was the first commercial flight across the Pacific and marked the dawn of a new era of flight. The aircraft later crashed on approach to Trinidad! Historynet has a great write up on the flight and its treacherous start.
I flew to Manila once, in January 2014, on one of my ‘top ten Virgin Atlantic moments’. Flying with just three other passengers on an empty Airbus A340, we were headed down there for heavy maintenance, but also delivering aid for Typhoon victims. It was a crazy trip that included dwarf wrestling, a street called ‘The Axis of Evil’ and a trip home via Tokyo.
On the ground in Manilla
