1936 ARNACAL Flight Stamps

On 29th May 1936 Juan Calvo and co-pilot Antonio Arnaiz departed Manila bound for Madrid, Spain. This became known as the ARNACAL flight – ARNACAL being made up from letters of both pilots surnames (Arnaiz + Calvo). It was a long journey that took the men across the treacherous South China Sea in a 145HP used Fairchild model 24 dubbed “Commonwealth of the Philippines”. The plane reportedly had no radio, no seatbelts, no parachutes and a leaky gas tank.

The Philippine government deemed the flight too dangerous for them to sponsor. As such private donors and sponsors were sought. One notable sponsor was the The Manila Herald who had exclusive reporting rights on the men’s journey. News of the journey held global interest and put Philippine aviation on the map. Calvo and Arnaiz are believed to be the first Filipino’s to cross the South China Sea by air and their flight helped to establish flight routes spanning half the globe.

In this day and age of high speed jet travel it is easy to gloss over the tremendousness of their feat. Today you can fly Manila to Madrid with a single stop in around 20 hours. The ARNACAL flight took the men from Manila -> Hong Kong -> Hanoi -> Yangon -> Kolkata -> Prayagraj -> Karachi -> Baghdad -> Gaza -> Cairo -> Athens -> Brindisi -> Rome -> Marseille -> Barcelona -> Madrid.

Departing May 29th and arriving July 12th to much fanfare and celebration (and a private escort from the Spanish Air Force) the men became instant heroes. Shortly after completing their flight Calvo and Arnaiz headed back to Manila by sea, luckily on a different ship than their plane which was sank at the Port of Barcelona by a rebel submarine. It turns out that the pair had landed in Madrid just as the Spanish Civil War was getting underway.

Juan Calvo later served as a captain during WWII where he led a guerilla unit in the Isabela province against the Japanese Imperial Forces. He was captured and imprisoned in Fort Santiago in 1945 and executed on news of the Allied Forces advancement on Fort Santiago. In 1989 he was posthumously awarded the Award of the Outstanding Achievement Medal.

To commemorate the flight the Philippines released a set of 3 air mail stamps in 1936 (PH C54, C55, C56). PH C56 also has a color variant listed as PH C56a – technically making 4 stamps in the complete set. Existing stamp stock (PH 291 4c McKinley, PH 295 12c Lincoln, PH 298/298a 26c Francisco Carriedo) was overprinted in 1923 and bears “MANILA-MADRID ARNACAL FLIGHT-1936” along with a surcharged price. All stamps are perf. 11.

The stamps are not particularly scarce though finding both color variants of PH C56 can be more of a challenge. While the color change is easy to see when the 2 stamps are side by side it can be difficult to distinguish on each stamp in isolation and I’ve often seen these mislabeled on eBay. The easiest way to buy both is to do so at the same time from the same seller so you can compare the colors side by side. The orange Lincoln stamps (PH C55) are often also seen in more of a brown color or in a blotchy orange/brown combination – this is not a variant but rather a deterioration of the orange ink over time.

This is a great set of Philippine stamps with an amazing back-story. I hope I’ve inspired you to to add all 4 stamps to your collection if you don’t already have them.

Thanks for reading, happy hunting and have fun with your collection!