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The Bremen is a German Junkers W 33 aircraft that made the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west on April 12 and 13, 1928.

After weather delays lasting 17 days, the Bremen left Baldonnel Aerodrome, Ireland, on April 12 with a three man crew, arriving at Greenly Island, Canada, on April 13, after a flight fraught with difficult conditions and compass problems.

Owner Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld, a wealthy German aristocrat, and pilot Captain Hermann Köhl had made an all-German attempt at the feat in 1927, but had to abandon it due to bad weather. For this new attempt, they were joined by a third crewman, Irish navigator Major James Fitzmaurice. Fitzmaurice had also previously attempted the crossing, as co-pilot of the Princess Xenia (aircraft) with Robert Henry McIntosh, but they had to abandon the attempt due to high headwinds in September 1927. On their arrival in New York on April 30, the Bremens crew were honoured with a tickertape parade.

On 2 May, the 70th United States Congress authorized President Calvin Coolidge to confer the United States Distinguished Flying Cross on the Bremen Flyers. Back in Ireland on 30 June 1928, they were bestowed the Freedom of the City of Dublin in recognition of their trans-Atlantic flight achievement

Later in 1928 they published a book about their experience called (in English) The Three Musketeers of the Air.

Status

thumb|The Bremen in modern times

The Bremen belongs to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and is on display in a hangar at the Bremen Airport Museum.

See also

  • P. A. Ó Síocháin
  • Spirit of St. Louis
  • Cape Cod
  • Miss Veedol
  • Plus Ultra
  • Bird of Paradise
  • British airship R34, the first aircraft of any type to perform the east-west trans-Atlantic crossing from July 2–6, 1919

References

Further reading

  • Hermann Koehl, James C. Fitzmaurice, Baron Guenther von Huenefeld, The Three Musketeers of the Air: Their Conquest of the Atlantic from East to West, 1928
  • Fred W. Hotson, The Bremen, Toronto: CANAV Books, 1988.
  • Source for Crew and Date changes: Chronicle of Aviation, 1992, Published by JL International Publishing, Missouri.
  • Thomas Keane, The Weather and the First Successful Non-Stop East to West Trans-Atlantic Flight of 1928
  • Newsreel footage (Internet Archive)
  • Virtual Aviation Museum
  • Bremen Newly Restored in Bremen
  • Henry Ford Museum