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]
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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.

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 (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)