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Junkers F 13 joyrides in Oslo (1926)

[caption id="attachment_3868" align="aligncenter" width="834"] The Swedish-registered Junkers F 13, S-AAAB in the harbour of Oslo. it made numerous joyrides.[/caption] Capt. Doxrud worked with full energy on the formation of an airline company under the name of AS Norsk Aerotrans­port. Adrian Florman considered the choice of Capt. Doxrud as managing director of AS Norsk Aerotransport crazy. Further­more it was clear that pre­vious no airline company under the name of AS Norsk Aerotrans­port was either registered or for­med in Norway. Thus no shares could be taken over by AB Aerotransport or Junkers Luftverkehr AG. They had to start all over again. But Capt. Doxrud did...

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‘And the ship flies beautifully’

[caption id="attachment_3832" align="aligncenter" width="651"] Arrival of Kingsford-Smith and his crew after the flight from Hasbrouck Heights to Washington-Bolling. (via Gert Blüm)[/caption] In 1928, Charles Edward Kingsford Smith and his crew made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States of America to Australia. Later, he made the first non-stop crossing of the Australian mainland, the first flight between Australia and New Zealand, and the first eastward Pacific crossing from Australia to the United States. Finally, he made a flight from Australia to London in 10.5 days. All these flights were made by the Fokker F.VIIb-3m, named Southern Cross. His aircraft...

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Centennial: first flight Junkers F 13

[caption id="attachment_3813" align="aligncenter" width="1888"] The J 13 prototype (531) first flew on 25 June 1919. In the backgroundis an example of the single-seat Junkers J 9 fighter, military designationJunkers D.I, which was soon registered to Junkers-Flugzeugwerkas a commercial courier aircraft (Günther Ott)[/caption] On 25 June 2019, we celebrated the fact that it was 100 years ago, that the aircraft made its first flight! Read all about it in the special edition of the reprint of the successful book ‘Junkers F 13 – The World’s First All-Metal Airliner’. On 25 June 1919, a small six-seater aircraft lifted off from an airfield...

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Fill ‘r up!

Today just a small, but nice photograph of the Fokker F-32 N334N (c/n 1204) We have received this fantastic photograph, which was placed in the 'Melbourne Herald' of July 21, 1930 with the following text: "Fuel, Oil, pressure greasing, water, anti-freese compressed air, towing, beacon and flood light service for airplanes on American landing fields, now is furnished by a fleet of Dodge Brothers’ two-ton trucks operated by the Shell Petroleum Co. Three of the trucks are shown here with the latest giant 32-passengers Fokker transport plane”. What a great plane and what great trucks. [caption id="attachment_3766" align="aligncenter" width="1141"] Fokker...

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Europe’s first bridge drive in the air (?)

  [caption id="attachment_3758" align="aligncenter" width="765"] Arrival passenger of the first bridge drive in the air in Europe. Photo: (Stadsarchief Amsterdam)[/caption] Today, just a short story. A first for KLM could be registered on Sunday, 2 June 1935, when the first bridge drive was organized on board the Fokker F XXXVI, PH-AJA Arend, while flying above the Netherlands. The airline had taken the initiative for this flight. Thirty-two of the best Dutch bridge players, among them the brothers Goudsmit, were invited to join. They departed at 1530, and returned at 1700. Hendrik Hagenaar, the editor of the newspaper Het Vaderland, was...

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Royal Capital Tour with ‘Raceren’

In 1920, Tancred Ibsen started an airline called AS Aero. He purchased, among others, a Hansa Brandenburg W29, registered it as N.5 and was soon nick-named 'Raceren' - the racer. Ibsen had a good relationship with the newspapers in Norway. Of course, there was a win-win-situation, as he benefited from publicity in the newspaper about him and his seaplanes, and the newspaper had good stories to write about. The national newspaper Aftenposten came up with a good idea. In July, the newspaper asked Ibsen, if he was interested in making a bet: tour within 24 hours along the royal capitals...

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The shortest visit to Norway ever: 29 minutes!

[caption id="attachment_3690" align="aligncenter" width="544"] Messerschmitt Bf 108-B1 D-ICNN which arrived at Kjeller on 10 August 1037[/caption] It left as fast as it arrived. On a lovely Summer day, 10 August 1937, at 1230, a small blue plane came down from the sky and landed nicely and fast on Kjeller’s green grass. After filling up 200 liters of fuel, the aircraft disappeared just as fast. It was at Kjeller for exactly 29 minutes. It must have been the shortest visit to Norway?! What kind of flight was this? It was a Messerschmitt Bf 108 B-1S Taifun - a German one-engine low-wing...

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John Bochkon – A true Norwegian hero

  [caption id="attachment_3630" align="aligncenter" width="229"] Photograph of John Bochkon. (via Hans Olav Løkken)[/caption] Sometimes you have to go through your papers and clean up and throw away some stuff. This time, I found a nice article by the hand of Hans Olav Løkken about an attempt to cross the North Atlantic, which ended with the death of Clyde Allan Lee and John Bochkon. The reason to mention this attempt is that the John was Norwegian and had a flying certificate issued by Orville Wright. He was born in Trondheim (Norway) on 8 March 1904. Due to sickness, he did not...

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The ultimate price deserves respect

[caption id="attachment_3596" align="aligncenter" width="583"] Photograph of a similar aircraft as mentioned in the article: Short Stirling. (via Wikipedia)[/caption] Although my website is about civil aviation, I do hope my followers allow me to point out this article: The Netherlands has a rich tradition in salvaging wrecks of Allied bombers and fighters from the Second World War. The below mentioned article came to my attention and touched me. I feel that we also in other countries should try to do our best to keep alive the memory of those who gave the ultimate sacrefice for our freedom. Possible salvage aircraft wreck with...

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The first air mail flight of Naval Ltn Sven Brun ended upside-down

[caption id="attachment_3585" align="aligncenter" width="792"] The Supermarine Channel of the Marinens Flyvåpen (Naval Royal Air Corps)seconds before it crashed! (Nasjonalbiblioteket)[/caption] On the first flight on 12 July 1920, Naval Ltn Sven Brun departed with Supermarine Channel I, F.38, from Horten and flew to Christiania. Here the mail was taken on board. Immediately after take-off from Christiania, the flying-boat crashed and was destroyed beyond repair. On board was the journalist Leif Sinding from the newspaper ‘Morgenbladet’ and he wrote a long article about the accident and how he experienced it. The accident was described as follows: ”When we boarded the ‘aeroplane’ the...

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