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The Flying Dutchman: Fiction becomes Fact

Title: The Flying Dutchman:
Fiction Becomes Fact

Artist: W. Cwihschmidt
Year of Publication: 1924
Publisher: The Hague: Druk van de ven
Language: Dutch
Size: N/A
Index Number: 00158

Description:

Royal Dutch Air Lines. The Flying Dutchman: Fiction Becomes Fact.

A young aviator and an old sailor watch a Fokker FIII fly overhead from the deck of an old Dutch sailing ship, implying that KLM, the Royal Dutch Air Lines, is the modern embodiment of the Flying Dutchman legend, as well as a natural extension of the Dutch seafareing tradition. This 1924 poster was the first to employ this highly successful advertising theme, a theme which KLM still uses today. The ancient legend is about a Dutch ship that sank in a storm after its captain profaned God. The ‘ghost ship’ would thereafter appear to sailors during similar storms and the apparition was known as the Flying Dutchman.

KLM began in May 1920 with regularly scheduled flights between Amsterdam and London. By 1924, the airline had expanded to include flights to Brussels, Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Zurich. The same year, KLM made its first flight to the Dutch East Indies and started to develop a route from Amsterdam to Batavia (Jakarta). The company started out flying British DeHavilland aircraft but quickly switched to the innovative designs of Anthony Fokker, manufacturer of the FIII. The FIII was one of the earliest airplanes to be designed specifically for commercial air transport service at a time when most of the other newly created airlines were flying converted military planes. It carried 5 passengers in its luxuriously enclosed cabin which was fully equipped with heat and had a separate compartment for freight so that passengers did not have to sit with the mail sacks.

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