1937 – Letter sent on the first flight of clipper mail service from Shanghai to Hong Kong then onto the United States carried by the airway’s more famous China Clipper

Item Details

Shanghai, China, 1937, Letter

Very Good

This family letter was typed on translucent onionskin paper and sent by "Eleanor" in Shanghai to William McCuen in Tulsa, Oklahoma via Hong Kong. It is dated and postmarked April 26, 1937, and a receiving backstamp on its reverse shows it arrived in Tulsa on May 7. It is enclosed in a mailing envelope with a Hong Kong to San Francisco “first flight” cachet picturing one of the famous clipper airplanes.

Once McCuen received the letter, he delivered it in person to Eleanor’s family. Although Eleanor doesn’t specify why she was in Shanghai, she discusses family matters and relates a little about her daily life.

“I eat at a house alongside Soochow Creek . . . with about 10 other American girls and a scattering of British and American men! The meals are excellent.

“The place is run by an American woman and she has only a few people living there mostly the American girls in Shanghai. They are from all over. “

More interesting, Eleanor prefaces her letter with information regarding ther new clipper service to route mail between Shanghai, Hong Kong, and the United States.

“Here is a stamp for you that should be worth something in your collection. The first trip of air mail from China to the United States. There are a couple of other people sending letters along with this but don’t suppose there are so many as those who sent letters from the U. S. to China. . ..There was no special stamp made for this initial trip but the chop on the stamp was made especially for this trip and it is what will authenticate the stamps. There is a big meeting at the American Club today celebrating the opening of this air line. . .. The mail goes from Shanghai via the C.N.A.C. [China National Airline Corporation] air line to Hongkong where it is picked up by the Hongkong-Manila ship [a Sikorsky S-42 flying boat] and from Manila it goes on board the [Panamerican Airline] “China Clipper” for the states. After this there is to be weekly service between the U.S. and the Orient which will certainly speed up mail service. I understand the rate has been reduced. The rate at this end is now $1.790 Chinese dollars for registered mail not weighing over 5 grams [and] less if the letter is not registered. . .. “

The China Clipper, a Martin M-130 flying boat, inaugurated the first scheduled transpacific airmail service, flying from San Francisco to Manila, with the first flight on November 22, 1935. While the flight reached Manila, the initial service did not include a direct flight to Shanghai. The first flight to Shanghai, via Hong Kong, was achieved by the Hong Kong Clipper, a Sikorsky S-42, on April 28, 1937.

(For more information, see “28 April 1937” at the This Day in Aviation website.)

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