On August 10, 1925, at 1:05 p.m., a seaplane takes off on the Elbe off Altona. His destination:Dresden, around 400 kilometers away. Hundreds of onlookers are there on this hot summer's day when Mayor Max Brauer opens the "Blue Line", Europe's first seaplane connection.
Post and fresh fish from Altona to Dresden
The F-13 D-192 also stops in front of the Alster Pavilion on the Inner Alster in Hamburg.The F-13 machines from Junkers Luftverkehr AG operate between the then independent city of Altona and the Saxon state capital, with a stopover in the industrial city of Magdeburg. They are intended to transport business travelers and mail, parcels and goods such as fresh fish from the Altona fishing port. Three members of the magistrate are sitting in the passenger cabin on this August day, as well as a Hamburg journalist. The Altona dignitaries have gathered on the decorated wooden landing pontoon, which is moored in the Elbe, representatives of the Junkers air transport company, the Reichsbahn, the police, the Chamber of Crafts, as well as numerous city councilors with their wives.
"Aviation is necessary!"
From the pilot's seat of the plane, Lord Mayor Max Brauer gives a short speech:"Aviation is a necessity!" he calls out to the party on the swaying jetty, based on a popular novel by Finkenwerder author Gorch Fock. As he describes the need for deep-sea fishing, Brauer emphasizes the importance of booming air traffic for the economy and society. He wants to connect the up-and-coming Prussian city of Altona to the domestic flight network with the "Blue Line".
Upswing in civil aviation in the 1920s
Because civil aviation experienced an upswing in the 1920s. More and more airlines connect the big cities in Germany, Europe and overseas. Seaplanes initially play a major role:runways do not have to be built, emergency landings are possible at any time if there is water nearby. Max Brauer wants to compete with powerful neighbor Hamburg and its airport in Fuhlsbüttel. He is also planning a land airport in Bahrenfeld for the future.
Premiere with obstacles
The Junkers F 13 was the first aircraft for commercial air transport and had room for four passengers.On the day of the premiere, the F 13 departs five minutes late. As it glides towards Teufelsbrück in low flight, a triple hurrah sounds from the passenger cabin, so loud, as the "Altonaer Tageblatt" writes, "that one could believe that all the Hamburg shipyard workers involved in aviation were in its belly". Then the machine pulls up and turns to the east. While the Altonaer Junkers landed in Magdeburg as planned and soon reached Dresden, the machine from the opposite direction was a long time coming. In Magdeburg she collided with a boat hook when landing, the propeller got stuck and has to be repaired. Because the midday heat on the pontoon has meanwhile become unbearable, the dignitaries and their wives flee to a shady garden restaurant on the bank until the machine finally arrives.
With the rowing boat to the starting pontoon
Where later the well-known restaurant "Zur Elbkate" was built, the tickets for the seaplane line were sold beforehand.The Elbe Airport is located on the Övelgönner Hohlweg, below Schröder's Elbpark. You can watch the take-off and landing from the nearby lido. Ticket sales take place in a wooden barracks, which later becomes the "Zur Elbkate" restaurant. A Neumühlen boat rental company transfers the passengers to the starting pontoon in a rowing boat. You are not allowed to take more than one briefcase with you. When a passenger fails, the boat rental company's brother has to fly along as ballast to balance the machine. Two seaplanes are in use every day except Sunday, they are called "Herring Gull" and "Wild Duck". In the morning at 9.30 a.m. they start from Altona and Dresden, in the afternoon then in the opposite direction, so that business people can complete the journey in one day. Because the flight time is only four and a half hours.
Treibeis and Fuhlsbüttel prevent success
But the "Blue Line" is not a success. By the summer of the following year, only 134 flights take place. The airmail service ended as early as November 1925. Due to high water and ice floes, the machines often cannot start in winter, and the passengers stay away due to the cold. At the beginning of 1926, Deutsche Luft Hansa took over the operation, a merger of Junkers Luftverkehr with Deutsche Aero Lloyd, an airline owned by the Hapag and North German Lloyd shipping companies. Luft Hansa is now even planning to extend the line to the island of Heligoland. But that doesn't happen anymore.
Competition for the "Blue Line" is getting too big
Successful landing for the 1995 anniversary:seaplane on the Elbe near Dresden.When a land flight connection from Dresden-Heller Airport to Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel was also offered in the summer of 1926, the "Blue Line" could no longer compete and ceased operations. The water frame of the F-13 machines is exchanged for a landing gear. With the exception of the intercontinental route between Europe and the USA, where large seaplanes were also used in the 1930s, the land plane prevailed in long-distance traffic. In 1995, 70 years after the first flight, a seaplane travels the route between Hamburg and Dresden with a bag full of airmail for Hamburg's twin town in Saxony.