ALAMEDA, CA — On Monday, Nov. 22, 2010, the Alameda Post Office at 2201 Shoreline Drive, Alameda CA 94501, will provide a special cancellation to commemorate China Clipper’s first Trans-Pacific Air Mail Flight 75 years ago.
The Clipper wowed the Alameda crowd of 25,000 people on Nov. 22, 1935, as it lifted off the waters of San Francisco Bay on its way to Manila, capital city of the Philippines. In its hold were 58 mailbags, which held letters and specially stamped envelopes with the newly issued 25-cent Trans-Pacific Air Mail postage stamp.
The Clipper was too heavy to pass over the construction stanchions and grid work of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Instead, it unexpectedly dipped beneath and winged away, en route to a five leg voyage that included stops at Honolulu, HI, the islands of Midway, Wake, and Guam, and its final destination in Manila.
Over a span of 10 years, the China Clipper flew more than 2.4 million miles and clocked more than 15,000 hours in the air. In that time it carried approximately 3,500 passengers and 750,000 pounds of mail and freight.
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