1935>

Jeugd luchtvaartdag

Young aircraftlovers celebrate the Dutch National Youth Airday at Schiphol Airport. The KLM fleet is showed and some children try to let their selfmade modelaircrafts fly.

Plesman's little idea's

KLM Management gradually became less involved in company publicity. Albert Plesman had less time to play an active part in the campaigns and left most of the work to the head of the Propaganda Department. However, he always kept an eye on developments, and if he did choose to interfere he commented on almost everything: the lay-out, the text, the colours and, of course, the costs.

He liked to scrutinise new designs from every possible angle, and on several occasions his staff even found him lying down on the floor of his office, staring up at a poster. Throughout his career, regardless of the work pressure, he came up with 'little ideas' which he expected his staff to develop.

He wanted special posters designed for new destinations in Germany, the Czech Republic and later, Austria. In order to reduce costs he organised a competition. It is not known who designed these posters and whether the poster 'Praag' (Prague) was the winning entry.

Each of these posters depicts a characteristic feature of the new destinations: the Cathedral in Milan, the Brandenburger Tor (Gare) in Berlin and the skyline of Prague.

The skyline of Prague

The Cathedral in Milan

The Brandenburger Tor (Gare) in Berlin

Crew of the first DC2 on the Batavia-Amsterdam service Poster for the promotion of the national youth air day

1935: the stewards were joined on board by female colleagues for the first time

Amsterdam-Batavia now in six days!

On May 23, 1935 the first official Indië-flight in a Douglas DC2 was flight 238 with PH-AKK “Koetilang”. It left Schiphol with 325kg mail.

On board Mr. Martin, head of the KLM Indië route, who flew as a passenger to test how well the fast and comfortable Douglas would come up to the demands on the worlds longest air route.

They arrived in Batavia on May 31. This in fact was the openingflight of the DC2 on the route, if we don’t count the London-Melbourne race.

This was in 1935 at least as spectacular as the transition from prop planes tot jet planes in the late fifties. The transition from the Fokker planes to the all metal Douglas machines, all metal construction, powerfull engines, retractable landinggear, flaps, soundinsulation, climat control, and an increase in cruisespeed to 170 MPH.

the ‘twice-a-week” schedule was introduced. First plane was the DC2 PN-AKN “Nachtegaal”, on flight 241.

In the beginning only 5 passengers could travel in the Douglas on this route. Critical distances over the sea and the desert didn’t allow the weight. Later this number was increased to 7. They had comfortable chairs at their disposal, which could be placed in a resting position, so they could sleep.

Ecellent service

Plesman knew that taking good care of the passsengers was the first noticable service.. Transit visa and passports were all made in good order. This was not easy, because the journey encompassed 18 countries. The company also provided travel ensurance.

Nightstay and all meals were included in the ticketprice, as well as all transfers from and to the airports.

On top of that, each passenger received two suitcases, to carry 20 kg of luggage.

Flighttime was approximately 10 hours a day: so passengers spent 14 hours on the ground, for sightseeing, dining, night stay in mostly very comfortable hotels, and breakfast.

During the flight crew and passengers didn’t have to complain about a lack of variation.

Flight always took place during daytime, and for 5 days, an everchanging panorama could be seen from the Douglas. And at the different stops, there was always something of interest to see.