The path the limited flights of the pioneers, with special demonstration flights sanctioned to carry souvenir "airmail," whose successes inspired the development of aircraft in all forms, becoming increasingly fast, range-capable, and reliable, thereby making possible the air carriers, from regional to national, international, intercontinental, and transoceanic; and at every step, from the hesitant first to the confident final, there was - airmail!
Airmail, the actual flown documents, is the foundation of aerophilately. Aerophilately is composed essentially of postal documents carried by Air bearing evidence of having been flown. It represents a study of the development of air mail service s and a collection of documents pertaining to such development. It was not always the standard that it is today, but a premium service requiring the payment of special postage rates, often reflected in the airmail stamps that have been issued world-wide since early in the game. Special airmail markings applied to the airmail, the transit times reflected in dispatch and arrival postmarks, and the airmail postage rates all indicate the means of flight and the route taken. The world for the airmail collector is as wide and deep as one wishes to make it. The choice is unlimited.
The first recorded flight in the Philippines was in 1911, that is the 1911 BUDS MARS EXHIBITION FLIGHT marked the beginning of Philippine aviation. The development of Philippine Air Mail Service only commenced in 1925 when the U.S. Army Air Corps started to conduct survey and pioneer flight.
Although I don’t have much the capacity of having the physical possessions of the Philippine aerophilatelic material, what challenges me is to have a bust of knowledge on Philippine Aerophilately. My passion will serve as my investment, not for a hefty bucks but a cost of time.
PHIL-1st Flight RAID MADRID-MANILA Sc#C1 FFC (my first flight cover)
Esteves-Loriga-Gallarza, Primer viaje areo. MADRID-MANILA via Aparri, Cagayan de Luzon May 13, 1926' Tied by Madrid -Manila Cachet and CDS. With Madrid-Manila Flight backstamp
(my sincerest thanks to the administrator of www.philippinephilatelist.net)
One of my bibles on Philippine Philately.