By: Egil H Thomassen For: www.europeanairlines.no One of the first books I bought, as a fresh aerophilatelist was N.C.Baldwin’s “Bridging the Atlantic”. It is stated in the book’s preface: “So far, as we are aware, no really comprehensive chronicle of projected and successful special and first flights has appeared hitherto in any language (about Atlantic flights). This work is therefore an attempt to fill the gap through a concise, essentially factual chronology of events”. This was written in 1945 and still holds true. The book tells of triumphs and tragedies, of the latter there are about 80 unsuccessful attempts...
No, Albert Plesman did not found KLM!
Many believe Albert Plesman, on 7 October 1919, was the founder of the airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. THIS IS NOT CORRECT. You can read here the correct story. More about this story can be found in the book “The Fokker Fours”, published by European Airlines Publishing House. In mid-1918, the KNVvL took the initiative to form a Commissie voor Luchtvaartverkeer (a commission for ‘aviation traffic’) that produced a report pleading for airmail services. A private company supported by the State should operate these. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the economic optimism grew in the Netherlands as well....
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...