JANUARY 6: MANILA to DANSALAN, LANAO
Backstamped CEBU, January 8 and DANSALAN, January 13.

Part of the January 4 - 20 1926 pioneer flights to the Southern Islands.

The question raised by many on this cover is the CEBU to DANSALAN leg. Many believe that this leg was by surface mail. Allow me the following explanation:

CEBU to DANSALAN during this period impossible in 5 to 6 days. One must remember that the Cebu Jan 5 date is an arrival marking. A day or two must be added before it could be dispatched by surface mail to Dansalan. Assuming that this was done, the cover bear no Zamboanga entry. Mail to Dansalan and its surrounding areas including Jolo was always coursed through Zamboanga. This mail routing remained valid until the late 1930s. With access to shipping time tables, sailing from Cebu to Zamboanga was three times a week, with minimum 30 hours transit. Another day or two must be added before the cover could be dispatched to Lanao which took at least two days due to numerous stops at other post offices along the route.

It is not only logical but also certain that this is a valid unlisted flight. The other question that needs to be answer is was this cover flown direct from Cebu to Dansalan?

We, meaning David Chiong, Ed Nocom and myself, agree that the aeroplane most likely made a stop a Cagayan de Misamis (Cagayan de Oro) before proceeding to Dansalan, which by the way is only a short hop from Cagayan.

So far two covers exist of this flight. The first one in the Chiong collection of PHILIPPINE AIR MAILS. Both covers prepared by Mallari and with proper 16c franking.