Philippines-US relations have endured, thanks to 1935 flight

MANILA, Philippines — The relationship between the Philippines and the US continues to endure thanks to an aircraft said to have launched the first nonstop flight between the two countries almost a century ago, declared the US embassy.

The embassy, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and Manila Yacht Club unveiled yesterday a marker that commemorated the landing of the China Clipper, a “flying boat which belonged to the Pan American Airways fleet.”

Departing from San Francisco in California on Nov. 22, 1935, the aircraft piloted by Edwin Musick and Fred Noonan “crossed the Pacific skies with stopovers in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Midway, Wake, and Guam Islands,” according to the NHCP marker.

The China Clipper arrived in Manila Bay – particularly at the “seawall at the site presently occupied by the Manila Yacht Club” that was “originally built to serve as docking site” of the aircraft – a week after on Nov. 29.

However, the NHCP noted the use of the dock was “disapproved by the US federal aviation owing to its flawed technical design.”

“The Transpacific flight of the China Clipper paved the way for the use of the aircraft as a commercial vehicle connecting the Philippines and the (US) in October 1936,” the agency said. “This expedited the flow of governance, transportation and communication between the Philippines and the (US).”

The inaugural China Clipper flight carried over 110,000 letters and returned to the US with over 98,000 mail, according to the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society’s publication Panorama in 2010.

US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson said the China Clipper flight lasted for over 60 hours in a span of seven days due to fuel stopovers, while the first direct flight between San Francisco and Manila launched by United Airlines in late October last year took over 12 hours.

“These recent advances in air travel build on the China Clipper’s legacy and continue to accelerate opportunities for our citizens to thrive, share, and prosper as friends, partners, and allies,” she said in her speech.

Aside from Carlson, NHCP Chairman Emmanuel Franco Calairo, officials of the Manila Yacht Club and former Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio graced the event.