Bremen (aircraft)
Encyclopedia

The Bremen is a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Junkers W33 type aircraft that made the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight
Transatlantic flight
Transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...

 from east to west between April 12 and April 14, 1928.

The Bremen left Baldonnel Aerodrome
Casement Aerodrome
Casement Aerodrome or Baldonnel Aerodrome is a military airbase to the south west of Dublin, Ireland situated off the N7 main road route to the south and south west. It is the headquarters and the sole base of the Irish Air Corps, and is also used for other government purposes...

, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 on April 12 and flew to Greenly Island
Greenly Island, Canada
Greenly Island is an island in Blanc-Sablon, Quebec, Canada, near the border of Newfoundland and Labrador, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at the southwestern end of Strait of Belle Isle. The rocky surface of Greenly Island has a thin cover of herbaceous vegetation...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, (about 1,200 miles from New York) arriving on April 14, 1928, after a flight fraught with difficult conditions and compass problems. The crew consisted of pilot Captain Hermann Köhl
Hermann Köhl
Hermann Köhl was a German Aviation pioneer and pilot of the first trans-atlantic flight in the East-West direction....

; the navigator, Major James Fitzmaurice
James Fitzmaurice (pilot)
James Fitzmaurice DFC was an Irish aviation pioneer. He was a member of the crew of the Bremen, which made the first successful Trans-Atlantic aircraft flight from East to West on 12–13 April 1928.-Early life:...

, and the owner of the aircraft, Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld
Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld
Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld was a German aviation pioneer and initiator of the first trans-atlantic flight in East-West direction....

.

Flight log

  • 12 Apr, 05:09 GMT: Started engine of the Bremen at Baldonnel Airport
    Casement Aerodrome
    Casement Aerodrome or Baldonnel Aerodrome is a military airbase to the south west of Dublin, Ireland situated off the N7 main road route to the south and south west. It is the headquarters and the sole base of the Irish Air Corps, and is also used for other government purposes...

     (about 19 km southwest of Dublin).
  • 12 Apr, 05:38 GMT: Lifted off from Baldonnel Airport and headed west.
  • 12 Apr, 07:05 GMT: The Bremen passed the Slyne Head Lighthouse
    Slyne Head Lighthouse
    Slyne Head Lighthouse is located at westernmost point of County Galway, about southwest of Doonlaughan, Ireland and is maintained by Commissioners of Irish Lights . There were two lighthouses on this point built in 1836 but only the West one remains active.-External links:* by Jean Guichard*...

     in County Galway
    County Galway
    County Galway is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the city of Galway. Galway County Council is the local authority for the county. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county...

    , started across the Atlantic, and headed for Mitchel Field, Long Island
    Long Island
    Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

    , New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

     while maintaining an altitude of 1500 feet (460 m) and an airspeed of 200 km/h (125 mph).
  • 12 Apr, 09:00 GMT: The crew started their first meal aloft: hot bouillon and sandwiches.
  • 12 Apr, 13:45 GMT: Bremen crossed the 30th meridian west
    30th meridian west
    The meridian 30° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, the Atlantic Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

    . Surface speed was over 90 knots (170 km/h).
  • 12 Apr, 16:00 GMT: Bremen climbed to 2,000 feet (610 m).
  • 12 Apr, 21:00 GMT: Crew made their last drift calculation.

When the sun disappeared and the clouds obscured the stars, the Bremen climbed to 6,000 feet (1800 m). Köhl estimated that they were then about three hours from land. If they had been able to stay on course, his estimate would have proven to have been correct. In fact, without the aid of the north star, they then relied on a magnetic compass and drifted far off course toward the north.
  • 13 Apr, 06:50 GMT: They saw Polaris
    Polaris
    Polaris |Alpha]] Ursae Minoris, commonly North Star or Pole Star, also Lodestar) is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star....

     again. James then estimated that their magnetic compass was in error by 40 degrees. Köhl immediately turned southwesterly to follow the east coast of North America towards Mitchel Field (New York), which was then about 1,500 miles south of the Bremen. They flew among the Torngat Mountains
    Torngat Mountains
    The Torngat Mountains are a mountain range on the Labrador Peninsula at the northern tip of Newfoundland and Labrador and eastern Quebec. They are part of the Arctic Cordillera. This is the peninsula that separates Ungava Bay from the Atlantic Ocean....

     of Labrador
    Labrador
    Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...

     and then (without recognizing any landmarks) followed the George River upstream. In order to minimize the adverse effect of a strong southwest wind, Köhl descended into the George River Valley and flew at an altitude of ten meters (32 feet).
  • 13 Apr, 14:00 GMT: The Bremen passed over the lakes at the source of the George. The crew saw nobody on the ground but people on the ground sighted the plane.
  • 13 Apr, 15:00 GMT: The Bremen was seen flying over North West River on the shore of Lake Melville
    Lake Melville
    Lake Melville is a saltwater tidal extension of Hamilton Inlet on the Labrador coast in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Comprising 3,069 square kilometres, and stretching 140 kilometres inland to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, it forms part of the largest estuary in the province,...

    .
  • 13 April: At about 17:50 GMT, with about two hours of fuel remaining, and only a global knowledge of their location, the crew spotted a lighthouse on an island; then a pack of dogs; then four people. It was Greenly Island in the Strait of Belle Isle. The strait separates Newfoundland from Labrador and Quebec on the mainland. Greenly Island is about four miles inside the boundary of the province of Quebec.

Landing

When the Bremen made a forced landing on Greenley Island in 1928, the first Canadian aircraft to reach the scene was piloted by Duke Schiller and the second machine was flown by the Canadian Transcontinental Airways Company's Chief Pilot - Romeo Vachon who arrived two days later with a group of media representatives. Both Schiller and Vachon were flying Fairchild FC-2W machines; G-CAIQ (Schiller) and G-CAIP (Vachon). Gretta May Ferris, a nurse from Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...

 who was posted at nearby Forteau's Grennfell Medical Station, ; travelled by dogsled some fifteen miles to attend to the crew's medical needs; she was the first to write the story that was picked up by the international media saying that the Bremen had landed and that the crew were safe.

The clock in the lighthouse was remembered (by the family of the lighthouse keeper) as indicating 2 p.m. Atlantic Time when the Bremen was first sighted from the ground. Captain Köhl and Baron von Hünefeld said that they were in the air 36½ hours. If their statements of elapsed time had an accuracy of better than one minute (unlikely), then the time of touchdown was 18:08 GMT or 13:08 EST or 14:08 Atlantic Time.

Alfred Cormier of Long Point (Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon), who operated the local telegraph office from his home, made contact with Marconi station VCL at Point Amour in Labrador—18 miles (29 km) east of Long Point. From there, his message went through St. John's, Newfoundland
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...

 (at 6:30 p.m.), and Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
Louisbourg is a community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality.-History:The town's name was given by French military forces who founded the Fortress of Louisbourg and its fortified seaport on the southwest part of the harbour, in honour of Louis XV...

. It was forwarded by land lines across Canada and via Radio Corporation of America
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...

 station WCC at Chatham, Massachusetts
Chatham, Massachusetts
Chatham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 6,625 at the 2000 census...

, for transmission to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

The first message read: "German plane at Greenly Island, wind southeast, thick."

A short time later, a second message was sent: "German plane Bremen landed Greenly Island, noon, slightly damaged, crew well."

By 7:15 p.m., the story was in all the newsrooms of the eastern seaboard.

Current Location

The Bremen belongs to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan
Dearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...

 but is currently on display in a hangar at the Bremen Airport
Bremen Airport
Bremen Airport or Flughafen Bremen serves the German city of Bremen and is located south of the city. There were 2.4 million passengers in 2008.-History:The beginnings of the airport date back to the early 20th century...

Museum where it has been completely restored.

Further reading

  • The most recent book on this subject is titled The Bremen by Fred W. Hotson; published by CANAV Books, 51 Balsam Ave., Toronto ON M4E 3B6; 1988.
  • Source for Crew and Date changes: Chronicle of Aviation, 1992, Published by JL International Publishing, Missouri.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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