Post by Slide on Jan 25, 2010 11:04:42 GMT -5
Lufthansa celebrates the 80th anniversary of their connections to China.
A direct airlink with the Far East – that was the original intention behind the founding of the Sino-German Eurasia Aviation Corporation. It began with the conclusion on 21 February 1930 of a ten-year agreement between Luft Hansa and the Chinese transport ministry on the operation of the “Eurasia“ airline.
The new company, headquartered in Nanking, was equipped with an initial capital of six million Reichmarks.
I decided to make a flight on the route from Changchou to Hongkong. The apron in 1937 ...
..and today:
China´s new elite is showing off Bizz Jets and the Airforce some copy of something supersonic.
Anyway, "EURASIA XVII" stands ready for boarding, the only looker in this gray place. ;D
The pioneers in the Chinese venture had to start from scratch. When Siegfried Graf Schack von Wittenau, the first Lufthansa pilot, reached Peking, he had had to make do with maps on a scale of only 1 : 1.000.000 and they were already 20 years old. Radio beacons, workshops, land marks, parts stores and, above all, airports as we know them were non-existent. They first had to be constructed and secured.
Crossing endless landscapes und mountains I have never heard of...
The efforts to set up the necessary infrastructure encountered numerous problems. The take-off and landing strips left much to be desired. The sub-grade was poorly paved and rainfall turned the strips into a dangerous morass. Additionally, the first flights often went astray. Emergency landings occasioned by fuel shortage after navigation errors were a not infrequent occurrence. The early pilots often had to wait several weeks for help or spare parts.
Against all the odds, the Eurasia airline steadly expanded its route network. By 1939, its flight connections stretched over a total distance of 7,660 kilometres, the greatest the network was to reach. The routing, though, changed from one year to the next. The network had to be repeatedly adapted to the changing circumstances brought about by hostilities.
(Read full Article at china.lufthansa.com/en/html/pioniere/eurasia/index.php)
Finally lined up for Kai Tak. "Fly straight in." I´ll do so
(Slipping down the mountain with full flaps)
Parking position. What is chinese beer like?
Picture taken in 1937:
Now and then. The Junkers like a fossile little tin dragon in front of the giant Jumbo and hangar.
A direct airlink with the Far East – that was the original intention behind the founding of the Sino-German Eurasia Aviation Corporation. It began with the conclusion on 21 February 1930 of a ten-year agreement between Luft Hansa and the Chinese transport ministry on the operation of the “Eurasia“ airline.
The new company, headquartered in Nanking, was equipped with an initial capital of six million Reichmarks.
I decided to make a flight on the route from Changchou to Hongkong. The apron in 1937 ...
..and today:
China´s new elite is showing off Bizz Jets and the Airforce some copy of something supersonic.
Anyway, "EURASIA XVII" stands ready for boarding, the only looker in this gray place. ;D
The pioneers in the Chinese venture had to start from scratch. When Siegfried Graf Schack von Wittenau, the first Lufthansa pilot, reached Peking, he had had to make do with maps on a scale of only 1 : 1.000.000 and they were already 20 years old. Radio beacons, workshops, land marks, parts stores and, above all, airports as we know them were non-existent. They first had to be constructed and secured.
Crossing endless landscapes und mountains I have never heard of...
The efforts to set up the necessary infrastructure encountered numerous problems. The take-off and landing strips left much to be desired. The sub-grade was poorly paved and rainfall turned the strips into a dangerous morass. Additionally, the first flights often went astray. Emergency landings occasioned by fuel shortage after navigation errors were a not infrequent occurrence. The early pilots often had to wait several weeks for help or spare parts.
Against all the odds, the Eurasia airline steadly expanded its route network. By 1939, its flight connections stretched over a total distance of 7,660 kilometres, the greatest the network was to reach. The routing, though, changed from one year to the next. The network had to be repeatedly adapted to the changing circumstances brought about by hostilities.
(Read full Article at china.lufthansa.com/en/html/pioniere/eurasia/index.php)
Finally lined up for Kai Tak. "Fly straight in." I´ll do so
(Slipping down the mountain with full flaps)
Parking position. What is chinese beer like?
Picture taken in 1937:
Now and then. The Junkers like a fossile little tin dragon in front of the giant Jumbo and hangar.
