1926 (May 13), Madrid to Manilla, pilot signed first flight cover,
carried on the final leg from Aparri to Manila, franked with two
1926 (May 13), Madrid to Manilla, pilot signed first flight cover,
carried on the final leg from Aparri to Manila, franked with two 2c
green Jose Rizal and one 12c orange Lincoln, tied by two
biplane-shaped handstamps, struck on front with Aparri c.d.s. (13
May) and "RAID MADRID-MANILA" commemorative cachet, signed in ink
by Spanish aviator Eduardo González-Gallarza, reverse with
secondary commemorative cachet of simplified biplane frame
enclosing "MADRID TO MANILA FLIGHT / ACCOMPLISHED BY / SPANISH
AVIATORS"; ex Truby. The flight from Madrid to Manila, a distance
of some 17,500 km, was completed by only one of three Breguet XIX
aircraft that departed Spain on 5 April 1926, the other two having
been forced down and abandoned in North Africa and China; the
surviving aircraft, flown by Eduardo González-Gallarza and Joaquín
Loriga, reached Aparri on 11 May before completing the final stage
to Manila on 13 May
