Sepia Saturday - There's Xmas in the air

The prompt of this week shows Santa Claus in a Stockholm tram. Living in a country where Saint Nicholas believers still form a large majority, you'll have a hard time catching Santa in a tram. So there is no need to pull out my shoe boxes to look for such a picture. However, stretching the prompt just a little, brings me to people in a vehicle. And thus manipulated, this week's theme offers possibilities.

Readers of this blog may know I spent the best part of my working life in KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. For those readers it will not come as a surprise that my interpretation of the word 'vehicle' turns out to be an aircraft. The first one is the picture of the Boeing 737-800 interior of the aircraft that carried our son's wedding party from Amsterdam to Sicily in 2008. 

Interior of Transavia Boeing 737-800 from Amsterdam to Palermo (Sicily)

That trip took place in September so there is no connection with Christmas here. However, come to think of it, the upholstery of the chairs is (also) Christmas tree green. So mission accomplished. 
During most of my stay with KLM I was involved in the transportation of cargo. So showing you a couple of cargo aircraft is unavoidable. In 1983 I was involved in the organization of an international air cargo exhibition at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport. Via a relation we managed to convince the US Military Air Command to put one of their Galaxy's on display in Amsterdam. At the time, and possibly still, this is one of the worlds largest freighter aircraft with a payload of approx 120 metric tonnes.

A USAF Lockheed 5A Galaxy at Amsterdam Airport in 1983

The nose of the aircraft can be lifted (top right). This allows large loads and vehicles to be driven into the aircraft. They can leave the aircraft through the rear exit (bottom). I remember walking on that huge main deck inside the aircraft, that I was very impressed with its dimensions. It is like walking in a city hall. The connection with Christmas? Well, you know that all USAF aircraft display a white star? (Here it is almost hidden behind the starboard wing tip.) And I remember that one of the loadmasters was named Rudolph. What more do you need...

Christmas decorations in a KLM aircraft during the 50's

I can't say I recollect having seen these decorations in real life. But I can imagine it is no longer allowed today because they may be a safety hazard. In any case, it looks nice in this arcraft, probably a Douglas DC-6. (In case you want to know how this picture came to me, please see this earlier post.)
Well folks, this is it for 2012. I am glad I joined Sepia Saturday earlier this year because a) it is good fun, b) it is a nice group of people and c) I learn something every week. Therefore, I like to thank those responsible for keeping me off the street: Kat, Marilyn and Alan. I wish the three of you, and all other Sepians of course as well, a happy Christmas and a good and healthy New Year. And... may you all enjoy your turkey!
For more holiday contributions, please switch to the mother of all Sepia Saturday Sites.

Sepia Saturday - The man behind the window

The theme for this week is a picture (see below) showing four men involved in what I would call mysterious dealings. We see two policemen and two civilians or maybe even plain clothes men. And then there is a person looking through a window. He seems to be in uniform. So is this a police station? If this is so, does that make the bicycles official vehicles of  the long arm of the law? Is the man on the left handing over a gun or is he receiving one? Is it a gun or maybe a summons? The two gentlemen on the right radiate this "I-am-to-be-here-for-ceremonial-reasons" attitude. To cut a long presumption short, I don't know what we are looking at. But I have to make a choice so I will elaborate on the man behind the window.

Those of you visiting my blog now and then may know that I publish old airline pictures, in particular pictures concerning KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, my former employer. Those posts are titled "Saved from the dustbin". Knowing this, my former neighbor and former KLM captain Michael D. send me a few pictures. They came from a shoe box he inherited from his mother. The first one shows a man and a woman descending from an aircraft stairway. The man is Charles Christian "Chuck" Harman, a Canadian captain with KLM. The lady is Mrs. D., the mother of my neighbor. 

KLM Capt. Chuck Harman and Mrs. D.

The aircraft is the KLM Lockheed 1049C Super Constellation 'Nucleon' with registration PH-TFX. The picture can be dated between August 5, 1953 and February 25, 1954. 

The photograph below shows a man waving from a cockpit window. He may not be as clearly visible as the man in the police station but still, it is a man behind a window! (Pffft, mission completed.) According to my source this is the same Chuck Harman but now seated in the Douglas DC-6B 'Willem Bontekoe', the PH-DFO. This shot was taken between March 6 and August 23, 1954.

Capt. Chuck Harman waving from the cockpit.

There is some unexpected drama in this picture. It so happened that this aircraft, the 'Willem Bontekoe', crashed in the North Sea, some 10 miles off the Dutch coast. The accident took place on August 23, 1954. The official accident investigation was unable to uncover the cause of the crash. It is still the most mysterious casualty that ever took place in the history of Dutch aviation.

Location where the 'Willem Bontekoe' crashed on August 23, 1954.
Map ex aviacrash.nl.

The accident caused the death of all 12 passengers and 9 crew. The captain of this fatal flight from New York to Amsterdam was Charles Christian Harman...

For more drama, suspense and entertainment, please see the Sepia Saturday site.

To write this post I made use of internet information viz. the comprehensive site of Herman Dekker and Aviacrash. And of course I am grateful to Michael D. for sending me the photographs and for telling me about the late Capt. Harman!

Saved from the dustbin (8)

Today's aircraft are loaded with computer systems doing all kinds of tasks previously done by the crew. If you see a picture like the one below, you realize the evolution that has taken place in the cockpit. Apart from four cabin staff, there are six (!) cockpit crew members. It is very well possible that the character of this flight, it was the first KLM flight from Amsterdam to Tokyo via the polar route, was the reason to have a couple of extra crew members on board. But on this DC7C-flight you see the captain, the co-pilot, two navigators and two flight engineers. If you compare this number with the current flight deck crew of two, you'll appreciate the changes that have taken place there.

First flight from Schiphol to Tokyo via the north pole on Nov. 1, 1958
with captain A.D. Snitslaar left (names of other crew known as well).

To celebrate a first flight KLM, and other airlines as well, issued first flight envelopes. Although I have a lot of those myself, the one below does not belong to my collection. It was carried on the return flight from Tokyo to Amsterdam on Nov. 4, 1958.

KLM first flight envelope.

Shortly after WW2 KLM started a training for radio telegraph operators. Their first call sign was PI1KLM. And still today there are some devoted KLM amateur radio enthousiasts who go on the air every Sunday on frequency 3785 khz. Their call sign is PI9KLM and they have their own website.

A radio operator* in his Douglas DC6 "office" probably
close to the end of the fourties .

*Update May 19, 2016: A year and a half ago I received an email from Mr. Joop Witbaard, 85 years old at the time and a former KLM radio operator. He had an idea about who the radio operator in the above picture might be. But since he wasn't certain he promised to let me know when he did. Yesterday he informed me he could tell with 90% certainty that this is Mr. C. Hoefnagel who started with KLM back in 1939. He died near Rhein Main airport in Germany on March 22, 1952 when his DC6 PH-TPJ was in the final approach and the aircraft flew into a forest. The cause of this crash was never found.
Joop also has a theory that this picture was taken in a Lockheed Constellation L-049. His idea is based on the picture below. It shows the lay out of the identical L-749. He feels the photo is taken from where the red square is drawn. From that angle you almost have to see the back of the flight engineer seat as it is also visible in the picture.

Cockpit lay out of the Lockheed Constellation L-749

I am grateful to Joop for uncovering the identity of the unknown radio operator!

Update Sept. 17, 2016: There is now definite confirmation that the radio operator shown above is Mr. Cornelis Hoefnagel. Today I received a comment from his son Kees. He said: "It was a nice surprise for me to find the photographs of the "unidentified" radio operator in "Saved from the dustbin (8)" and the recent update with information by Mr. Joop Witbaard, who is very right! I can tell you, now with 100% certainty, that the radio operator is my father, Cornelis Hoefnagel and that the photo was indeed taken in the cockpit of a Lockheed Constellation. The photograph was made for a KLM promotional campaign in the U.S.A. and has appeared in Time Magazine in the late forties and was also printed in the KLM Board Magazine Holland Herald of November 2013. 
The text of this advertishment read "His ear never leaves the ground". 

Subsequently Kees send me both publications. In his email he said: "As promised, I send you the relevant page from Time of 5 April 1948, as well as the reuse of the photograph in the Holland Herald of April 2014.

I remember that I was on my way from Amsterdam to Bucharest and leisurely scrolling through the KLM Board Magazine, when all at once I was confronted with this photograph of my father, 66 years after it was made.

As I was only 3 years old, when my father died in the crash of the DC-6 "Koningin Juliana" near Frankfurt, I am always looking at old aviation photographs and reports hoping to find something about him. This is how I came onto you blog and I very much appreciate what you did with everything you saved from the dustbin!

With thanks and best regards,

Kees Hoefnagel"

Radio operator Cornelis Hoefnagel in Time Magazine Apr. 5, 1948

... and Cornelis again in Holland Herald 4-2014

I like to make a remark about the published photo of Mr. Hoefnagel in the Holland Herald. When we had the terrible KLM/PAA crash in Tenerife on March 27, 1977 one of the many victims was KLM captain Mr. J. Veldhuyzen van Zanten. At the time he was involved in a KLM advertising campaign among others shown in the Holland Herald issue on board of the aircraft crashed in Tenerife... After this terrible incident it became policy not to show crew members in advertising campaigns any more. Apparently this policy was long forgotten when the picture of Mr. Hoefnagel was published in 2014. And I doubt whether the editor realized how he met his fate...

Captain Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten in the 1977 Holland Herald

[end of update]
________________
Airline people tend to regard everything that is taking place in the cockpit as the center of the world. However, also cockpit staff will have to admit that it is rather difficult to operate an airline without the benefit of passengers (and shippers for that matter) willing to foot the bill. So passengers have to be pampered. And that can be done in various ways.

Beauty sleep in a Douglas DC6. KLM started operating the DC6
in 1948. The word 'marketing' did not even exist then...

And do you still remember airline ads for first class service? Haute cuisine and superb wines at high altitudes. I have always wondered what the effect is on those superb wines when an aircraft races over a runway with a speed of say 200 miles/hour...

KLM Royal Class service in a Douglas DC8.

Speaking of ads, one of the earliest ads in colour was a picture postcard of this Super Constellation, to my mind still one of the most beautiful aircraft ever built. This one was registered in KLM's name on Dec. 22, 1955.

KLM Super Constellation PH-LKE "Pegasus".
Not surprising the Constellation was affectionately nicknamed "Connie".

A line up of unpainted Super Constellations, probably near the factory at Burbank, CA.

All of the above pictures have been saved from destruction by my colleagues Aris Zwart en Bert Besseling. Otherwise they - the pictures - would have met their final destiny at a Copenhagen incinerator. The site of Herman Dekker is the source for all details related to aircraft registrations.

Our aircraft (10)

When I was with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, I kept track of all the aircraft types my wife and I flew in. Hence the title of these posts: our aircraft. During that period I also recorded the number of miles we/I flew. The previous nine posts in this series are in Dutch but I am sure you'll understand the pictures.
To sell our distribution services I travelled a lot to the States in the early nineties. During that time I ran into the following new (to me) aircraft types.

May 15, 1992, McDonnell Douglas MD-88, DL1577, DFW/ATL, 939/378,568 miles
Picture ex Delta.

Sept. 16, 1992, Boeing B737-400, BA427, SPL/LHR, 230/383,191 miles
Picture ex Airlinergallery.

Sept. 16, 1993, Boeing B747-300, KL, SPL/HOU, 5,011/387,891 miles
Picture ex 2747.com

Around the time I made the trip mentioned above, I apparently lost interest in making notes of the line numbers. So from now on you'll have to do without those (L). On this (above) picture of a KLM B747-300 please note the image of a swan just behind the stretched upper deck. (Please click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Oct. 21, 1993, Lockheed Tristar L-1011, DL, ATL/SPL, 4,393/401,688 miles
Picture by E.M. Chernoff.

During the a.m. flight I passed the 400,000 miles mark.


ATL = Atlanta
BA = British Airways
DFW = Dallas/Fort Worth
DL = Delta
HOU = Houston
LHR = London Heathrow
SPL = Schiphol


The captions mention the date of the first flight with that particular aircraft type, the aircraft type, the airline prefix, the route and the distance and the total number of miles u/i this flight. Unless otherwise mentioned, the picture shows an aircraft of the carrier with which we/I travelled.
To be continued.

Saved from the dustbin (6)

The subjects covered by the pictures that were saved by my colleagues Aris Zwart en Bert Besseling, vary a lot. They range from photo's of pre war aircraft to repair of Schiphol after WW2, from an aerial view of the Egyptian pyramids to a shot of what is believed to be downtown Houston. To start with the last subject, possibly a Houston based reader can confirm our presumption that indeed this is Houston.

Downtown Houston in the late forties?

For whatever reason a group of Scottish boy scouts visited The Netherlands shortly after the war. A photograph of the same group was published in Vliegwereld on August 15, 1947. So the picture below must have been taken before that date. From the above mentioned magazine we know that the boy scouts came from Edinburgh.

The 148th Edinburgh Boy Scouts Group at Schiphol Airport in front
 of a KLM Super Constellation. Can you identify some of these scouts?

The next shot shows Schiphol Airport probably in the early fifties. The new traffic tower is visible and opposite the Europe and intercontinental (ICA) passenger terminals, you can see the building that was known as the 'Atoomgebouw'. A.o. it housed the KLM telephone exchange operators, the mail office and a barber shop. Just over the center of the picture, there are two hangars. The left one is named Le Bourget, the other one Croydon. Building 205 (it was nicknamed Kremlin because it housed KLM's management) and the socalled H-canteen (named after the shape of its construction) are not there yet. In the rear you may distinguish the Fokker production facilities.

Schiphol Airport in the early fifties. Left the Circular Canal (Ringvaart)
essential for the water management of the polder in which Schiphol is situated.
The airport ground level is 4 mtr/13 ft below sea level.

The next picture shows a fairly unique aircraft: the Fokker F.XXXVI a.k.a. F.36. Of this aircraft type only one was built. The type number 36 was based on its capacity. It was capable of carrying 32 passengers plus 4 crew. The PH-AJA 'Arend' came into KLM service on March 22, 1935. In the background you can see a Junker 52 with German registration D-ASUI (please note the later infamous logo on the tail). This aircraft crashed near Nüremberg on November 17, 1936 thus determining the period this photo is taken. Also visible is the PH-AEI, a Fokker F.VIII, and a DC-2, the PH-AKT 'Toekan'.

Fokker F.XXXVI PH-AJA 'Arend' at Schiphol Airport in 1935/36.

The Junker 52 D-ASUI in less fortunate circumstances near Nüremberg
Airport on November 17, 1936. Fourteen out of sixteen occupants
survived this crash.

Update April 17, 2012 via twitter:

Caroline lives in Houston and reacts to the first photograph in this blog. 

Saved from the dustbin (3)

Thanks to my former colleagues Bert Besseling and Aris Zwart, a large number of old pictures have been saved from destruction. One way or another they all relate to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. You may read the details of this find in 'dustbin #1'. To enlarge a picture please click on it.

Obviously KLM carried its share of celebrities. Some arrived at what was then known as the Municipal Airport of Amsterdam, Schiphol. The gentleman pictured below is Henry Ford II. Presumably, and also based on the presence of a KLM official I happen to have know, this picture is possibly taken on June 29, 1954 when Mr. Ford arrived in the KLM Dakota C-47A PH-DAT. At the time he was touring the European Ford factories.

Henry Ford II descending the Dakota stairs at Schiphol Airport.
The second man from the right is D.J.M. (Dick) Koek, a KLM Cargo Executive.
(My thanks to Hans Kindl for also identifying our colleague.)

Another celebrity was famous English science fiction author H.G. Wells (1866-1946). One of his more well known novels was/is The war of the worlds. In 2005 Steven Spielberg used this book as the basis for a movie with the same title.

H.G. Wells boarding a KLM aircraft in Calcutta.
The plane is either a pre war DC2 or DC3*.

Seeing giant aircraft, such as the Boeing 747-400 and the Airbus A380, taking off from 10,000 ft long runways, is an impressive sight. In comparison the picture below looks like it has been taken on Hollands' miniature city airport Madurodam in The Hague. The aircraft, a Lockheed Constellation, looks like a toy plane on a runway which was considerably shorter  than 10,000 feet. 

KLM Lockheed Constellation 749A, the PH-TDI 'Enschede'
on Schiphol runway 14-32 (SE-NW) probably in 1949.

 The Schiphol runway system developed from a prewar simple grass strip to a more sophisticated multi runway operation in the years shortly after the second world war. The picture below must have been taken in the early fifties. In any case it cannot be shot earlier as the Fokker aircraft factory is already visible. The factory moved to Schiphol from the northern part of Amsterdam in 1951.

Schiphol (East) Airport in the early fifties seen from the south east.
The dark line below is the Ringvaart (Circular Canal); the Fokker factory
is the building with 'Fokker' written on the roof. On the top right hand of
the picture, the village of Badhoevedorp is visible.

Update June 3, 2016: According to Dick Weber of the Crash 40-45 Museum, the above picture has not been taken in the early fifties. He says it is pre war and the Fokker building does not belong to the factory. Instead it is a shed belonging to Flight Services. Whose deed!
_____________________

Since those days the development of Schiphol didn't stop. The picture below was taken from the ISS space station by Dutch astronaut André Kuipers on March 12, 2012.

The Schiphol runways (r) seen from an altitude of approx. 220 miles.
The Port of Amsterdam is on the left. Enlarging the picture clearly reveals
the Ringvaart and the old location now called Schiphol East.
The current airport is situated at Schiphol Center.
Foto ex Flickr, courtesy ESA/NASA.

Like ships aircraft are being baptized as well, usually also with champaign. Aircraft names can be anything. In KLM celebrities, geographical names and birds have served in the past to also identify aircraft. There are always certain ceremonial festivities involved. 

The KLM Douglas DC4 PH-TCF was baptized 'Friesland'.
Very appropriately a Frisian folk dance group was invited for the
celebrations at Leeuwarden Airport on August 23, 1946.

If you recognize members of this group, please let me know by making a remark via 'reacties' below. I may be wrong but I think the man with the grey coat (l) is Mr. Albert Plesman, KLM's founder.

Update March 18, 2012 The Frisian Historical Centre 'Tresoar' pointed out to me that the 'Friesland' was baptized at the airport of Leeuwarden, not at Schiphol. So that has been corrected. Also, they suppose that the folk dance group is the skotsplouch either from Leeuwarden or Bolsward.

*Update Oct. 28, 2014 I received a comment from Mr. Joop Witbaard. Mr. Witbaard is a former radio operator later combining this with being a navigator as well. He worked for KLM and is now 85 years old. He can therefore be called an old hand in this business.
There was some doubt about the type of aircraft H.G. Wells was boarding. Mr. Witbaard tells me the aircraft is a DC3 and more in particular the PH-ALT Torenvalk (kestrel). The pre-war DC3 was fitted with the passenger entrance on the right-hand side as opposed to the DC2 where it was on the left.
Thank you, Mr. Witbaard!

Update Aug. 1, 2024 I learned that the a.m. Mr. Joop Witbaard passed away on July 18, 2024. Mr. Witbaard reached the age of 94 years. He must have been the last KLM radio operator alive. May he rest in peace.

Saved from the dustbin (2)

Under this title, a number of pre-1966 photographs have been and will be published in this blog. One way or the other, all are related to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. When possible, relevant details will be added. The origin of these pictures has been explained in 'dustbin #1'.


The KLM headoffice in The Hague has been designed by Dirk Roosenburg (1887-1962), an architect born and bred in The Hague. He knew KLM "founder" Albert Plesman since his youth and in 1936 Mr. Plesman asked him to make the office design. Much earlier, in 1919, the architect had been asked to make a design for the first KLM logo, which he did.
The first wing of the new headoffice was made available to KLM in 1940. During the war all building activities came to a stop but in 1946 building continued. At that time the picture below was taken. Today the building is owned by the Ministry of Traffic and Waterways.

The first wing of the KLM HQ in The Hague in 1946.
Further extensions have been built to the left.
The concrete structures alongside the road, are remains
from the war viz. anti tank obstacles.

As of August 1, 1947 KLM had a subsidiary in the former Dutch East Indies named the KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf (KLM-IIB). It operated domestic routes, between the many islands in the archipelago. Most of them were without any airport facilities.  Therefore, the use of Catalina Flyboats does not come as a surprise. KLM-IIB was in fact the predecessor of Garuda Indonesian Airways. Garuda came into being in 1949.

Unloading baggage from the PK-CTD, a Consolidated Catalina.
Note the KLM logo on the aircraft's nose.

In the years after WWII, a lot of Dutchmen emigrated to other continents with Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA being the most popular destinations. Usually they expected that in those countries there were more opportunities for a better future. Among them the Van der Dussen family from Rotterdam. The family consisted of Daddy, Mummy and eleven children which, even by Dutch standards then, was considered to be a small crowd. They went to California. The fact they travelled to New York by air probably drew a lot of media attention. In those days most emigrants travelled by ship to their new homeland. 

Newspaper article from the Utrechts
Nieuwsblad April 23, 1947

The Van der Dussen family boarding the KLM Lockheed Constellation
PH-TAU "Venlo" at Schiphol Airport on April 24, 1947.
Note the KLM stewardesses carrying the cradles in which the baby twin was "seated". 

Almost all models manufactured by Douglas have been operated by KLM. That included the DC-2. The picture below must have been taken before December 9, 1936 as on that date the DC-2 named "Lijster" (thrush) with registration PH-AKL crashed near Croydon, UK. The second aircraft, the PH-AKT "Toekan" (toucan) was confiscated by the Germans on May 16, 1940 and transferred to Lufthansa. I am unable to identify the third DC-2.

Douglas DC-2 line up and boarding passengers at Schiphol Airport

Update March 9, 2012 After publishing the above post about the emigration of the Van der Dussen family from Rotterdam to California back in 1947, I successfully tried to make contact with family members there. Please click 'reacties' below for excerpts from emails written by Marianne Carter Vander Dussen.

Saved from the dustbin (1)

When the then existing KLM Passenger Sales office in Copenhagen moved to a new location back in 1996, it was cleaned out completely. All kinds of rubbish were set aside for the garbage collectors. The rubbish included a plastic bag filled to the rim with approx. 3000 photographs. For one reason or another the bag was moved to the Cargo office where it sat in a corner for many months. Fortunately a gentleman by the name of Aris Zwart visited that office just before the dustmen came by. His visit was not a coincidence. Aris was KLM's Regional Director Customer Service and located in Frankfurt at the time. So his visit to Copenhagen was merely a service trip. When he saw the plastic bag loaded with history, he decided to save it from destruction and took it with him to his Frankfurt office. And there it stood somewhere in a corner until Freight Sales Manager Bert Besseling took care of things. 

He found out that many of these pictures were taken locally in Denmark prior to 1966, others had been ordered from the KLM head office, still  in The Hague at that time. Eventually he sorted all pictures and stuck them in twelve (!) albums, a job that took him three years. Bert never was afraid of a bit of extra work...

When I found out those albums existed and being an old KLM hand myself, obviously I was interested to see them. After leafing through, I found there is sufficient material to write a few blog posts about some of these pictures. With the kind permission of Bert, I will publish these under the heading 'Saved from the dustbin'. You will find the first post below.

In conclusion, I am grateful to Aris and Bert for doing what they did!

I am equally grateful to Herman Dekker. Herman is the recognized Dutch expert on crashes with Dutch registered aircraft. On his site also the Dutch civil aircraft registers are published and maintained. Whenever I need certain facts, I consult his site.

It seems to be appropriate to start this series of posts about KLM Royal Dutch Airlines with a few pictures of aircraft most of us won't or even cannot remember.

The first one is a Stearman Hammond, a US built aircraft registered in the name of KLM from September 25, 1937 until it was sold to the RAF on May 30, 1939. It was used to train pilots in the use of tricycle landing gear.

Stearman Hammond PH-APY in KLM livery.
Note the position of the engine.

Below you see a Douglas DC-2 with the starboard engine switched off. Although not visible I assume the port engine is running ;-) The reason for flying on a single engine, I don't know. Pleasing the photographer? Engine failure? Saving fuel? 

Douglas DC-2*

In the history of KLM, there have been a number of accidents. One of them was the crash of the 'Ekster' (magpie) on December 9, 1938. The aircraft, a Lockheed Super Electra with registration PH-APE, crashed a mile outside Schiphol airport. The crew of four did not survive this training flight.

Newspaper clipping from the Amsterdam paper
Algemeen Handelsblad, Dec. 9, 1938 obtained from the
site of the Royal Dutch Library (KB)

The PH-APE 'Ekster' during happier days. The aircraft
was in KLM service for 9 months only

* Update Oct. 28, 2014 I received a comment from Mr. Joop Witbaard. Mr. Witbaard is a former radio operator later combining this with being a navigator as well. He worked for KLM and is now 85 years old. He can therefore be called an old hand in this business.

With regard to the above picture of supposedly a DC2, he informs me  this is a DC3. The picture was taken from the co-pilot seat. One can tell the difference between a 2 and 3 by looking at the engine nacelle. He supplied me with the two pictures below.

Thank you, Mr Witbaard!

DC2 PH-AKG Gaai (jay)

DC3 PH-ALU Uil (owl)

Onze vliegtuigen (1)

De blogposts getiteld ‘Onze …’ hebben als doel een bepaald elementje uit onze familiegeschiedenis te beschrijven en vast te leggen. Hoe vaak gebeurt het niet dat je het over iets hebt en je weet echt niet meer wanneer die gebeurtenis heeft plaats gevonden en hoe het nou ook al weer in elkaar zat. Zo was dat ook met 'Onze auto’s'. Er bestond grote twijfel bij zoonlief of we nou één of twee rode Citroëns BX14 hebben gehad. Afijn, dat was de aanleiding om de serie ‘Onze …’ te starten.

Deze keer ‘Onze vliegtuigen’. Dat is een nogal pretentieuze titel vanwege de suggestie die er vanuit gaat. Maar helaas, vliegtuigen hebben we nooit bezeten. Wel heel veel in gevlogen, al dan niet samen met Jeanne en kindertjes. Maar dat is niet zo verbazingwekkend als je bij de KLM gewerkt hebt. Veruit de meeste trips heb ik alleen gemaakt en vielen in de categorie ‘dienstreizen’.

Toen die allereerste dienstreis er in 1967 aan zat te komen (naar JFK, Kennedy-airport), was er op onze afdeling (Tarieven & IATA-zaken) een collega (Jan B.) die mij aanraadde om van elke dienstreis bepaalde gegevens te noteren. Hij deed dat ook en hij voorspelde me dat ik van zo’n registratie nog wel plezier zou hebben. Kennelijk had ik toen ook al een zekere hang naar het maken van lijstjes en ik heb zijn raad opgevolgd. Van elke vlucht noteerde ik datum, herkomst, bestemming, maatschappij, vluchtnummer, gevlogen afstand in statute miles (1 statute mile=1.609,347 mtr.) en vliegtuigtype. En dat noteren, dat heb ik tot op heden volgehouden. Jan heeft wel gelijk gehad, ik heb bij het schrijven van deze post weer plezier van die lijst. Maar ook tussendoor nog wel. Met collega Hans de R. werd er druk geturfd wie de meeste mijlen had, de meeste vliegtuigtypes enz. (Hans heeft uiteindelijk wel gewonnen!)

Met deze post wil ik een begin maken om “mijn” vliegtuigtypes eens op een rijtje te zetten. Bij elk plaatje wordt vermeld wanneer ik voor het eerst in dat type gevlogen heb, maatschappij/vluchtnummer, herkomst/bestemming, de afstand en het totaal aantal tot dat moment gevlogen mijlen. 

Voor de goede orde, ik vermeld alleen maar de eerste keer dat ik in een bepaald type heb gevlogen, anders wordt het wel wat saai en erg lang.

15-4-1967, Douglas DC8-30, KL643, SPL/JFK, 3639/3639 mijl
Foto ex mst-aviation.nl

16-4-1967, Boeing 707, PA291, JFK/SJU, 1609/5248 mijl
Foto ex aviationexplorer.com

24-7-1967, Lockheed L-188 (Electra II), KL401, SPL/ORY, 261/10773 mijl
Foto ex aeropedro.despair.ch

29-7-1967, Sud-Aviation Caravelle, AF910, ORY/SPL, 261/11034 mijl
Foto ex wings900.com

JFK= luchthaven John F. Kennedy, New York

ORY= luchthaven Orly, Parijs

SJU= San Juan, Puerto Rico

SPL= luchthaven Schiphol, Amsterdam

Wordt vervolgd.