December 2 marks the anniversary of the agreement signed between Luftag (predecessor to today’s Lufthansa) and Hamburg Airport in 1953 which allowed for the construction of Lufthansa’s first postwar Technik Maintenance Facility. For those of you unfamiliar with Luftag, it was the national German airline created in 1953 and changed it’s name to Lufthansa in 1954.

Today, the facility is home to Technik’s Headquarters employing 7,500 employees and takes up 750,000 square meters of Hamburg’s Airfield.

Thanks to Lufthansa’s Media Archives, here are a few images of the very early days of Technik:

The site prior to construction

The first hangar at Technik Hamburg

One of Lufthansa's first aircraft, a Convair CV-340 at Technik in Hamburg

From it’s humble beginnings, it has grown into a state of the art facility:

For those familiar with Lufthansa Technik, you’ll know that it is one of the world’s premier Aircraft Maintenance operations. Airlines and private customers from the world over utilize Technik’s expertise when it comes to aircraft maintenance, renovation and upgrades.

Since it’s inception, Technik has grown into an organization comprised of 6 divisions: Maintenance, Overhaul, Component Services, Engine Services, VIP Services and Landing Gear Services. Worldwide, Technik has over 750 customers who use their services.

Though initially an internal division of Deutsche Lufthansa Airlines AG, in 1994 Technik was branched out to be it’s own separate entity within the Lufthansa Group.

To learn more about Technik’s Hamburg Facility, please visit Technik’s dedicated webpage for the location.

Today in 1952, the government of post-war Germany voted to reinstate a national airline for Germany after suspension of passenger airline services during World War II. This initial step paved the “runway” for the creation of Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf or “LUFTAG” on January 6, 1953.

Following up on this approval, LUFTAG began to organize as an airline and started to build facilities in Cologne, create it’s structure and hire it’s employees. Also during this time in 1953, LUFTAG ordered 4 Lockheed 1049G Super Constellations (Super Connies) and four Convair 340s. The Convairs began joining the fleet in mid-1954 while the Super Connie’s began arriving in late 1958.

On August 6, 1954 LUFTAG formally changed it’s name to what we know today as Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft(AG) or “LH” for short!

On April 1, 1955 2 of Lufthansa’s new Convair 340′s (D-ACOH and D-ACEF) took to the skies and officially christened Lufthansa’s first regularly scheduled routes. To mark the inaugural routes, one of the Convairs flew Munich-Frankfurt-Cologne-Hamburg while the second Convair flew Hamburg-Dusseldorf-Frankfurt-Munich.

D-ACEF courtesy: Robin A. Walker

D-ACOH

A Super Constellation at Munich Airport's Besucherpark (Visitor Park)

On August 28, 1919 representatives from 6 airlines gathered at The Hague, Netherlands to create the International Air Traffic Association . This association took on the responsibility of coordinating and standardizing international air travel (which began in 1919) and Postal Air Services. It was the fore-father to the modern day International Air Transport Association (IATA) that was founded in Havana, Cuba in April of 1945.

Germany’s Deutsche Luft-Reederei (what would become today’s Lufthansa) joined with 5 other European carriers to form the association who’s objective was to establish policies and procedures that would govern the member airline’s technical, logistical and operational processes.

The other 5 founding members of this alliance included:

Air Transport & Travel – Great Britain
Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (KLM) – Netherlands
Svenska Luft Trafik A.B. – Sweden
Det Dankse Luftfartselskab – Denmark
Det Norske Luftfartsrederi – Norway

The original IATA never did gain far reaching oversight due to restrictions that were in place in the Ruhr and Rhineland regions as a result of the Treaty of Versailles that effectively ended World War I between Germany and the allied forces.

The IATA would be limited to European airline operations and primarily would focus on the regulation of Air Mail since it was the primary driver of Airline revenue at the time. Pan Am would become the first non-European member when it joined in 1939. However with the beginning of hostilities in Europe in 1939 that would lead to World War 2, the IATA’s activities were put on hold until the revised IATA was unveiled in Havana after the war.

40 years ago today, Lufthansa launched the world’s first ever cargo dedicated Boeing 747-200 Freighter on their cargo route between Frankfurt and New York’s JFK. A route that it would operate 6x/week with this single aircraft.

The aircraft, registered as D-ABYE was delivered to Lufthansa on March 10 of the same year and was “one of a kind” for several years to come. Ultimately Lufthansa operated 7 of these cargo dedicated queens of the sky. The most recent one entered service in 1988.

If you ever wanted to know why the 747 has a “bubble top”, read about it here.

Images of world’s first Cargo configured 747:

D-ABYE courtesy of JetPhotos.net

A happy 747.......

1955 was perhaps the single most important year in Lufthansa’s history. In 1955, Lufthansa finally emerged from post World War II Germany to become Germany’s national carrier and a global icon. Among all of the other “firsts” that took place during the historic year, on March 31 Lufthansa proudly opened it’s Maintenance Base in Hamburg.

The Early Days (all photos courtesy of Lufthansa):

Breaking Ground In 1953

Initial Construction

One Of The First Visitors.....

Super "Connies" Fill The Hangar

Today Hamburg is home to Lufthansa’s Technik Headquarters. The facilities have been expanded over the years to accomodate their fleet and in addition, Technik uses Hamburg to work on non-Lufthansa aircraft as well. If you recall a few weeks ago, Boeing delivered the first 747-8i VIP model to an anonymous (Qatar Government!) buyer. This buyer will eventually bring their aircraft here to have Lufthansa install the majority of the interior.

Modern Day Technik Facility

Here is a link to Lufthansa Technik’s homepage that describes the Hamburg operation in much more detail. For an excellent brochure that goes into greater detail on the history of Technik, Click Here.

On March 17,1960 Lufthansa launched its first transatlantic non-stop service from Germany when Lufthansa’s First Boeing 707, named Hamburg (D-ABOB) took off from Hamburg, arrived at Frankfurt then proceeded non-stop to New York’s Idlewild Airport (Renamed to John F. Kennedy in 1963). Previously, Lufthansa’s transatlantic flights required a fueling stop in England or Ireland. This was also Lufthansa’s first Jet Aircraft to enter service.

Even though service did not start until 1960, Lufthansa had begun daily simulations of operating the Frankfurt-New York route in 1956. Known as “Operation Paper Jet”, Lufthansa’s flight operations department would simulate flights between Frankfurt and New York (and return) everyday for 4 years between 1956 and 1960. They would take into account real time weather data each day, as well as simulated load factors to perfect the route years before the route would go “live”. From 1956-1958, while the 707 was still in design phase and had no accurate data, Lufthansa would assume data from Boeing’s Dash 80 for its simulations. Beginning in 1958, enough data was in place for the future 707 which allowed Lufthansa to fine tune their strategies. Leave it to the Germans to be meticulous and thorough in their preparations!

This moment in Lufthansa’s history would change the airline forever. As the 707 fleet grew, Lufthansa was able to expand their timetable to include jet service to the West Coast of the US, Asia and to South America.

Lufthansa would ultimately operate 23 707 jetliners. 5 were the 707-430 versions delivered between 1960 and 1961 and the remaining 18 were 707-300B or 330C variants that were delivered between 1963 and 1970. The last Lufthansa 707 , known as Hannover (D-ABUF) was retired from the fleet on May 7, 1984.

Images Of Lufthansa’s First 707-430 (D-ABOB):

source: Lufthansa Archives

RECENT IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS:

March 10

February 19

February 11

February 10

Today in 1972 Lufthansa took delivery of the world’s first cargo dedicated Boeing 747, registration number D-ABYE. For several years it would be the only one of it’s kind. Taking into account historic Deutsche Mark conversions, the aircraft had cost about 53 million dollars at the time. Adjusted for inflation, it would be approximately 221 million dollars today.

One of the most unique features of the 747F (F for freight) is the ability for the nose cone beneath the cockpit to swing up to allow easy access to the cargo hold. This allowed for a wide variety of cargo to be transported by air that previously would not have been able to do so. To read more about the history of the 747, and the story behind the Bubble Top, you can read my post on the topic here.

This delivery coincided closely with the opening of Frankfurt’s Cargo Hall earlier in October of 1971 which at the time was the largest air cargo facility in the world and served as the air cargo hub for virtually everything flying into and out of Europe. To this day, Frankfurt is still regarded as one of the world’s largest air cargo handling facilities.

Early Images of the 747F:

Lufthansa's First 747F: D-ABYE courtesy of JetPhotos.net

Look, German Planes Are Smiling......

Frankfurt’s Cargo Hall (Courtesy of Lufthansa):

Today marks another important milestone in the evolution of Lufthansa as a major global airline. On February 19, 1965 Lufthansa announced it would be the “Launch Customer” for Boeing’s 737. The initial order for 21 aircraft would be the first time that a Non-US based carrier would be a launch customer for a new model from Boeing. Over the course of time, Lufthansa would ultimately operate nearly 100 737s. The cost of initial order was 65 million US dollars. Adjusted for 2012 it would be valued at approximately 467 million US dollars. The first Lufthansa 737 entered service on February 10, 1968

This was the first time that a jet was being designed specifically for short haul markets. Previously, jets were primarily used for transcontinental travel, but with the emergence of air travel’s popularity, it had become necessary to provide jet service on shorter distances. In Boeing’s development of the 737, Lufthansa played a vital role in the engineering of the aircraft. Professor Gerhard Holtje, Lufthansa’s board member in charge of engineering at the time was instrumental in the design of the new aircraft that would become the work horse of airlines the world over. This also put Lufthansa’s mark on the map as a significant and influential member of the airline community.

Some interesting facts:

* Approximately 7000 Boeing 737 (including various derivatives) have been manufactured.
* There is a 737 landing or taking off every 5 seconds.
* 737′s have carried over 12 billion passengers
* 737′s have flown approximately 65 billion miles (120 billion km)
* The 737 represents approximately 25 percent of the global airline fleet.

Part of the Marketing Brochure:

Early Images:

An Excellent Video highlighting the 737 and other early Boeing Jets:

Thanks to my friends at Lufthansa, I have been able to put together a chronicle of the history of this great airline. As a result, I will post a piece of Lufthansa history any time that it celebrates an anniversary.

On February 11th in Lufthansa History:

1955 – Lufthansa signs a preliminary contract with Boeing for the purchase of 4 Boeing 707-400s. The price per aircraft was DM 22 million. This equated to 5.23 million US dollars at the time. In today’s dollars it would be the equivalent of approximately $42.3 million per aircraft. Today, a new Boeing 737-600 lists for $59.4 million dollars. These would become Lufthansa’s first jet aircraft to join her fleet. The first Lufthansa 707 rolled out of ‘final assembly’ in November of 1959.

Thanks to my friends at Lufthansa, I have been able to put together a chronicle of the history of this great airline. As a result, I will post a piece of Lufthansa history any time that it celebrates an anniversary….

Today’s anniversary goes WAY WAY WAY back to 1919.

On February 10, 1919 Deutsche Luft-Reederei carried it’s first passenger from Johanistal Airfield in Berlin to Weimar marking the beginning of civilian airline operations in Germany. Soon afterwards in March of 1919, service from Berlin would expand to Leipzig, Hamburg, Warnemünde and in April, Gelsenkirchen.

Up until this point, Zeppelins were the primary source of air transport in Germany. Deutsche Luft-Reederei would be the first company in Germany that would operate commercial flights with “Heavier Than Air” aircraft.

The initial fleet:

A.E.G. J II Biplane

The L.V.G. C V Biplane

A brief background on Deutsche Luft-Reederei(DLR):

DLR was founded on December 13, 1917 and was authorized by the German Air Ministry to begin civilian airline operations in January 1919. DLR’s first flights began on January 8, 1919 but only for newspaper and mail delivery flights between Berlin and Weimar, Germany.

Deutsche Luft-Reederei was also a founding member of the International Air Traffic Association (IATA) which is the predecessor to today’s International Air Transport Association(IATA) which was inaugurated in Havana, Cuba in April of 1945.

In essence, we can look at DLR as being the grandparent of today’s Lufthansa.

What may be the most important aspect of DLR as it relates to the Lufthansa that we know and love today, is the fact that the famous crane logo was born with DLR. Created by Otto Firle, this symbol would persevere through trial and tribulation in the coming years and decades, and has changed little in nearly 100 years.