On this postcard in commemoration of the first official test flight one of the pilots is presented in the upper right corner.  

"The tremendous progress that has been made in military aviation makes it clear to every far-sighted man that the future of aviation lies in the service of practical life. It is obvious that the abundance of aircraft material and air technicians that will be available after the war will and must sweep through civil life. By that time commerce will demand the fastest possible means of communication, and these demands will be satisfied by air..."

The above prophetic words were pronounced in 1917 by sculptor Willie Wulff (1881-1962) who took the initiative in founding Det danske Luftfartsselskab (DDL) [The Danish Airline Company] the year after. To quite a considerable extent he was right.

Already in the summer of 1919 the first trial airmail flights in Denmark were accomplished. The purpose was to ascertain whether fairly reliable conveyance of mail by air was sustainable at all. 

At the last mail service between Stege and Copenhagen on 24th August 1919 a little girl presented flowers to the pilot, lieutenant Just Rasmussen.





 

Mail by Mail by Seaplane

The postal service and the naval aviation stood behind. The latter made five reconnaissance planes with pilots available, the so-called "seaplanes", of Friedrichshafen F.F.49 manufacture. Stege was chosen as "test town" for the two-month trial, not only because hydroplanes were involved, but also because the town received the morning mail from Copenhagen disproportionately late compared with other towns farther away.

In Copenhagen the planes took off from the Naval Air Station at Margretheholm. Here the postal service delivered the mail and morning papers for Stege every day, and exactly three hours later the return mail was collected. The flying time was fixed at 50 minutes each way. 

This is how one of the two flights, which were not accomplished ended - head foremost down the water off the then mental hospital where the landings took place.  

Facts of the Trial

In the periodical Luft og Værn [Air and Defence] no. 5 from July 1944 the progress of the trial is carefully reviewed. Of the 61 days from 25th June to 24th August 1919 "there were only five of calm and quiet weather. For four days it was foggy, for nine rainy, for 23 turbulent with a wind speed of 8-12 m/sec., and for 20 stormy with a wind speed of 12-18 m/sec. Nevertheless, totally 11,000 km were flown in 110 hours, and there were only two days when the flights were unsuccessful. In one case the plane had to return because of storm and in the other case the plane capsized on the water near Stege during an extraordinarily strong gust of wind."

The trial contributed to building up so much trust in aeroplanes as serviceable means of transport that already from September 1920 the Danish postal service opened airmail services from Copenhagen to Warnemünde and Hamburg with flight connections further out in the world.

An Eyewitness Account

Else Funck Knudsen from Ulfshale who witnessed the first flight on 25th June 1919 related the following to the newspaper Møns Tidende 65 years later:

"There is no doubt that many inhabitants of Møn remember ... when first lieutenant Thiele landed in Køge Bay. We who were school children at that time and are about 80 years old now were in the middle of a church history lesson when we heard the plane circling above the town - and that was indeed something utterly exceptional. We rushed to the windows and when we discovered that it was descending, it was only a question of minutes before the entire school - in fact the entire town was heading for the water where Thiele ... was given a splendid welcome by the postal service, the press, and the entire business community.

... It became a daily experience to greet the mailplanes during the two months; not least to the young girls of the town who were sweet on the young, charming pilots and mechanics coming with the wonderful planes on their trips to Møn. "

When the trial finished, it probably occasioned a rather abrupt return to humdrum everyday life in Stege.

See enlarged reproductions of the museum's fine photos from the pioneer flights to and from Møn in the summer of 1919 in Café Hovedtelegrafen during the period 15th January to 15th June 2008.