The study of postal history is fascinating in that it places an item at a specific time and place, and if we are truly fortunate, in the context of an individual within that period.
This is a fine example of a first-flight cover for the Philippine inauguration of trans-pacific air mail service between Manila, Philippines and San Francisco, California. It displays the special $1.50 air-mail rate for this flight. It is franked with three Scott #C52 and a block of Scott #C53, issued to commemorate this special flight which took place between December 2-6, 1935.
But what sets this cover apart from many others like it is that this cover actually carried a personal letter, and what a fine letter it is! This letter is reproduced below, and can be enlarged by simply clicking on it.
I hope you agree that this letter conveys all the excitement and optimism that the China Clipper flights represented for many throughout the "Golden Era" of aviation in the 1920s and 1930s, in the Philippines and the United States.
