January 19, 20242 yr Today, I was reading an article about KLM, and, of course, we know that KLM is the oldest operating airline in the world, still operating under its original name... (though it's currently part of the joint "Air France - KLM" Group). Been founded in Oct. 1919, 7 months after, KLM did its (first) official (inaugural) flight in May 1920. Though that was not the first ever flight by an airline, it was so, by an airline that has survived to this day after 104 years of continuous operation, not a small feat. My only 2 flights with KLM (one in an MD-11 and another in a B747-400), I recall to this day. So, today, I wished to learn a bit more about KLM's very first flight that had occurred back in May 1920. I knew it was between Amsterdam and London, but, right away, the fact that it was actually from London to Amsterdam (not in the (expected) reverse direction, made me curious) ...and there are good reasons for it. KLM's first flight on 17 May 1920 was from South London's (historic) Croydon Airport, that had just opened the same year in 1920 (London Heathrow would open 26 years later, in 1946), to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (that had opened 4 years earlier in 1916). For its milestone flight, the a/c, KLM chose was a DH.16 (Fokker (II/III) were not far behind). The Airco DH.16 (note the prefix "Airco") was leased from the (British) airline "Aircraft Transport and Travel", let's call it "AT&T" (but not to be confused with Alexander Graham Bell's "AT&T" of America, the Wiki reminds me...🙂...) ...The "AT&T" airline company was a subsidiary of "Airco" aircraft company of which the Chief Engineer was no other than (Sir) Geoffrey de Havilland. The Chief Pilot (and Aerodrome Manager, I liked this Title) of "AT&T" airline was (28 years old) Henry “Jerry” Shaw, who piloted KLM's first inaugural flight. "AT&T" (and Shaw) were already veterans of the first international flight between London and Paris (a flight distance of 214 miles). The flight distance between London and Amsterdam would be 219 miles...the numbers maybe a coincidence...or maybe not...I guess if one could do it once, one could do it a 2nd time. Though, the KLM inaugural flight DH.16 had room for 4 pax, it carried two Journalists, a Mayoral letter, and newspaper stacks from the two famous publishers, The Times and Daily Mail. This DH.16 did have an enclosed cabin for the pax, but an open cockpit for the Pilot. Reportedly, Shaw (an ex-RAF) was used to flying in such exposed (and uncomfortable) conditions, but a small stove was installed, in very cold weather, in the cabin, for the comfort of the passengers...Surely, with enclosed cabin and heat, these (first time international) passengers of the day must have felt really spoiled...🙂... (I don't know why but the memories of my only (ever) First Class (long-haul) flight with Air France (in a 777) is coming to my mind now...I do recall a bit of nightly chill with the comforting hum of the engines and air-conditioning...Oh well...) ... So, that's how, with a flight of 2 hrs. and 15 mins, KLM had inaugurated its service more than a century ago, and is continuing to carry its tradition, brand, and loyalty...to this day... To make this post (pictorially) a bit interesting, I've decided, here, to feature a combination of two a/c, in my virtual hangar, from KLM's historical fleet...to symbolize the evolution of this iconic airline. Among its diverse a/c, KLM was a major operator of the DC-3 (operated 58 of those in its fleet over 30 years), and the A310 (operated 11 of those over 15 years). All of KLM's A310s were -200 variants, though, so, please excuse my A310-300 in the KLM colors below; marked "Rembrandt", I noted, which was actually KLM's first A310 (kudos to the thinking of the re-painter), however, the actual a/c was an A310-200. I lift off, here, in a KLM DC-3, from London City Airport, EGLC, (sorry, not from Croydon Airport which closed in 1959, though anything seems possible in MSFS...🙂..., but I'm not too far from Croydon), into the same skies that KLM had taken wings to, 104 years ago. In contrast, I've chosen to land in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (EHAM), using a KLM A310. Hope you enjoy this set of images of these 2 classic a/c (powered by two ends of engine technology, piston-radial vs. high-bypass turbofan). Thanks for viewing.
January 19, 20242 yr Pretty pics, well done!🤩 I9 12900K @ 5.1ghz P-cores/ 4.0 ghz E-cores fixed HT off / Corsair iCue H150i Capellix Cooler/ MSI Z690 CARBON WiFi / 32GB Corsair DDR5 RAM @ 5200 mhz XMP on / 12GB MSI 4090 RTX Ventus 3 / 7,5 total TB SSD (2+2+2+1+0,5 all NVMe)/ PSU 850W Corsair / 27" (1080P)
January 19, 20242 yr Beautiful set, fine planes you using..👍 cheers 😉 08.2024 new PC is online : ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI Mainboard, AMD Ryzen™ 9 7950X3D Prozessor, G.Skill DIMM 64 GB DDR5-6000 (2x 32 GB) Dual-Kit, MSI GeForce RTX 4090 VENTUS 3X E 24G OC Grafikkarte, 2x WD Black SN850X NVMe SSD 4 TB - Drive C+D, WD Gold Enterprise Class 12 TB for storage HDD, Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1000W PC - Power supply, Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO CPU Aircooler with 7 Heatpipes, Design Meshify 2 White TG Clear Tint Tower-Case, 3x 4K monitors 2x32 Samsung 1x27 LG 3840x2160, Windows11 Prof. 23H2 - now Windows11 Prof. 25H2 Flightsimulator Hardware: Honeycomb Throttle Bravo, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, Logitech Flight Joke System, XBox Controller, some Thrustmaster stuff, Winwing CDU Panels.
January 20, 20242 yr Really nice, P_7878. If my memory serves me correctly, you have done a KLM story also some time ago in FSX. Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwinds My specs: AMD Radeon RX6700XT, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 32GB RAM, 34" monitor, screen resolution: 2560x1080
January 20, 20242 yr Author On 1/19/2024 at 11:38 AM, Piotr007 said: Pretty pics, well done!🤩 Piotr: Thanks for chiming in... I know you've been following my posts since quite a long while in the past...🙂...Cheers ...! On 1/19/2024 at 12:17 PM, pmplayer said: Beautiful set, fine planes you using..👍 cheers 😉 Appreciated the comment, pmplayer.... I believe these two are among your favorite planes too in MSFS. ...🙂... On 1/19/2024 at 3:14 PM, rmeier said: Great photoset and interesting write-up! Thank you, rmeier...the DC-3 here surely caught your fancy ...🙂...you been lately busy painting this a/c.... 22 hours ago, Alaska738 said: Great set of shots! 😉 Glad you liked the set of images, Will...Meanwhile I wait for pictures of your Alaska Airlines 737 MAX ...🙂...Last I checked, they have 66 MAXs already in service and over 100 MAX 10 variants on order ...incredible loyalty to the 737 breed ...since the 737 Combi days... 5 hours ago, bernd1151 said: Really nice, P_7878. If my memory serves me correctly, you have done a KLM story also some time ago in FSX. Thank you much, bernd. Yes, you're right....🙂...though I'd focused there on the evolution of the KLM aircraft (Fokker.II / DH.16 through B787-10...), here, instead, for the first time, I dug a bit deep into KLM's first ever (inaugural) flight... and found some interesting details.... Cheers...!
January 21, 20242 yr 1 hour ago, P_7878 said: Glad you liked the set of images, Will...Meanwhile I wait for pictures of your Alaska Airlines 737 MAX ...🙂...Last I checked, they have 66 MAXs already in service and over 100 MAX 10 variants on order ...incredible loyalty to the 737 breed ...since the 737 Combi days... When it will be available after the release of the 777 😉
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