BLUEGRASS AIRLINES

October 2009

KLM at 90

By Allan Lowson

 

KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij – Royal Aviation Company) was founded on October 7th. 1919. It is therefore the longest continually operating airline in the world. Apart from services within Europe, KLM were very early to start services to Dutch colonies in the Far East, within five years of being founded, and also across the Caribbean. As some of these routes were long and the aircraft slow, we will be taking sections of some of the longer routes to enable us to get a flavour of the extent of KLM history.

 

We will take a trip through the history of KLM propliners from the DH-16, which operated the first flight in May 1920 through some of the Fokker, Douglas and Lockheed airliners that followed.

 

Albert Pliesman was the driving force within KLM from the earliest days and always sought out the best aircraft for his airline. As a result KLM were the first European operators of both the DC-2 and DC-3 in the 1930s.

 

The DC-2 has a particular historic link with KLM as ‘Uiver’ was entered in the MacRobertson Race from Mildenhall to Melbourne in October 1934, 75 years ago this month, and came second only to an aircraft designed for the race, the de Havilland D.H.88. Winner of the handicap section, and second fastest with a flying time of 81 hours 10 minutes, the Douglas DC2 was entered by KLM to show that passenger air travel could be comfortable, safe and reliable. The crew were Parmentier, Moll, Prins and Van Brugge and the aircraft was carrying three passengers.

 

We have details of scheduled flights from 1919 to 1966, and finally a charter route from 2009 using the last Fokker (turbo)prop airliner in KLM service.

 

Although we have listed aircraft that flew each route at the date mentioned, it would be perfectly appropriate to use the default DC-3 for all the routes as it will have covered them at one time or another.

 

1920 First Service de Havilland D.H.16 (Holland-UK)

 

The first service flown by KLM was between Amsterdam and London using a chartered de Havilland D.H.16 from the British airline AT&T. The D.H.16 is available from www.flightsim.com in dh-16.zip for FS2004.

 

At the time international flights were operating from the newly opened Croydon Airport. The nearest default airport is Biggin Hill, but if you have the Vintage London Airways package vla.zip, which is available from www.flightsim.com, then you can substitute that airport. At the time flights over open water were kept to the shortest possible route or avoided, and therefore the route below passes over navaids that did not exist at the time. In practice pilots took road maps and navigated by towns and visible features.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

226

0

0810

Amsterdam

EHAM

1610ar

 

77.3

249

77.3

 

COA VOR

(110.05)

 

045

66.9

323

66.9

 

ING NDB

(387.0)

 

068

22.1

285

22.1

 

DVR VOR

(114.95)

 

143

50.9

 

50.9

1010ar

London

EGKB

1410

105

0

 

1921 AmsterdamParis Route Fokker FII (Holland-Belgium-France)

 

In 1921 KLM started operations with their own aircraft beginning with the Fokker FII. The FII is available from www.flightsim.com in fokker02.zip for FS2004. The sim model has very optimistic flight dynamics, which should help us keep the following schedule from 1921. This came from a company history of Fokker Commercial aircraft. I’m fairly sure these are local times, but lack the Dutch to translate the timetable!

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

215

0

0900

Amsterdam

EHAM

1605ar

 

23.7

 

23.7

0930ar

Rotterdam

EHRD

1535

034

0

181

0

0945

Rotterdam

EHRD

1520ar

 

63.4

 

63.4

1025ar

Brussels

EBBR

1400

001

0

217

0

1110

Brussels

EBBR

1315

 

141.5

 

141.5

1325ar

Paris

LFPB

1100

036

0

 

1926 Rotterdam - Malmo Route Fokker FVIIa (Holland-Germany-Denmark-Sweden)

This route and times were taken from the 1926 timetable of Bjorn Larsson on www.timetableimages.com.

The Fokker FVIIa H-NACT shown in the timetable is available from www.flightsim.com in fviia_v2.zip for FS2004 and fviiv21.zip for FSX. This route was also served by the FVIIb/3m in later years. This is available in f7b_klm2.zip for both FS2004 and FSX.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

032

0

1210

Rotterdam

EHRD

1445ar

 

24.7

 

24.7

1240ar

Amsterdam

EHAM

1415

213

0

068

0

1300

Amsterdam

EHAM

1345ar

 

204.7

 

204.7

1510ar

Hamburg

EDDH

1135

250

0

037

0

1540

Hamburg

EDDH

1105ar

 

151.0

 

151.0

1725ar

Copenhagen

EKCH

0905

218

0

102

0

1740

Copenhagen

EKCH

0845ar

 

25.2

 

25.2

1755

Malmo

ESMS

0830

283

0

 

1934 Rotterdam - Athens Route Fokker FXII (Holland-Germany-Hungary-Greece)

 

In the ‘30s the winter weather conditions in Eastern Europe were considered unsafe for the aircraft of the time. Therefore the route to the Far East went through France and Italy to Greece in the winter months. We will follow the route to Athens along the summer route.

This route was taken from the 1934 timetable of Bjorn Larsson on www.timetableimages.com, and also a book issued to passengers on the KLM Far East route in the mid 30s. My copy came from Thomas Cooks in Rangoon.

The Fokker FXII is available from www.flightsim.com in f12_v20.zip for FS2004 and FSX. This route was previously served by the FVIIb/3m. This is available in f7b_klm2.zip for both FS2004 and FSX. The route was later covered by the DC-2 and DC-3.

The DC-2 is available for FS2004 and FSX in a payware package from the Uiver team at http://home.hccnet.nl/r.cappers/dc2/.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

100

0

Thurs

Amsterdam

EHAM

Thurs

 

281.1

 

281.1

 

Halle/Leipzig

EDDP

 

283

0

135

0

 

Halle/Leipzig

EDDP

 

 

110.4

 

110.4

 

Prague

LKPR

 

315

0

126

0

 

Prague

LKPR

 

 

254.1

 

254.1

Thurs

Budapest

LHBP

 

308

0

162

0

 

Budapest

LHBP

Wed

 

163.1

 

163.1

 

Belgrade

LYBE

 

342

0

154

0

 

Belgrade

LYBE

 

 

444.8

 

444.8

Fri

Athens

LGAV

Wed

337

0

 

 

1940 Lydd - Bahrein Route DC-3 (Palestine- Bahrain)

This route was taken from the 1940 timetable on www.timetableimages.com. During the wartime occupation of Holland services from Europe ceased. Management of KLM transferred to the US and services operated from Lydd in Palestine to the Far East until the Pacific War cut off the Dutch East Indies too. For the balance of the war KLM services solely operated in the Caribbean.

A texture set for the default DC-3 is available from www.flightsim.com in KLM-DC-3.zip for FS2004. There are also a number of texture sets for the payware MAAM SIM DC-3 including dc3pkalw.zip which covers the time and route we have here.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

075

0

0800

Lydd

LLBG

1700ar

 

477.7

 

477.7

1100ar

Baghdad

ORBS

1400

260

0

128

0

1130

Baghdad

ORBS

1330ar

 

238.0

 

238.0

1415ar

Basra

ORMM

1245

310

0

145

0

1445

Basra

ORMM

1215ar

 

301.4

 

301.4

1700ar

Bahrain

OBBL

1000

327

0

 

 

 

1947 Curacao – Aruba – Barranquilla – San Jose Route DC-4 (Antilles-Aruba-Columbia-Costa Rica)

This route was taken from the 1947 timetable on www.timetableimages.com.

The route was flown by the DC5 in 1939 and 1940, before the aircraft were shipped to KNILM in the Far East. We covered the DC-5 in KNILM service in an earlier feature. The DC-5 is available from www.flightsim.com in dougdc5.zip for FS2004. The route was flown by DC-3 in 1945 and then later by DC-4. The DC-4 is available in dv4_v21.zip for both FS2004 and FSX, with a texture for KLM in phtar.zip amongst others.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

294

0

0545

Curacao

TNCC

2155ar

 

65.5

 

65.5

0620ar

Aruba

TNCA

2115

113

0

258

0

0645

Aruba

TNCA

2045ar

 

296.4

 

296.4

0815ar

Baranquilla

SKBQ

1800

074

0

269

0

0840

Baranquilla

SKBQ

1730ar

 

558.0

 

558.0

1135ar

San Jose

MROC

1220

081

0

 

1950s Amsterdam - Glasgow Route CV340 (Holland-UK)

This route was taken from the 1957 timetable on www.timetableimages.com.

The route was flown by the Convair CV340 in the 1950s, and was the first flight I took. The CV340 is available for FS2004 from www.calclassic.com and a KLM scheme is available for FS2002 from www.flightsim.com in CV340KL2.zip. The model for FS2002 differs from the FS2004 one, so to ensure it appears in FS2004 I made up an aircraft folder with the files in the CV340KL2 file, and then copied over the air file and aircraft.cfg technical data from the CV340 installation.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

304

0

1920

Amsterdam

EHAM

1245ar

 

382.2

 

382.2

2145ar

Glasgow

EGPK

1030

124

0

 

1950s Amsterdam - Rome - Cairo Route Constellation (Holland-Italy-Egypt)

This route was taken from the 1947 timetable on www.timetableimages.com.

The route formed the first leg of the route to the Far East and was flown by the Constellation in the early 1950s, and was the second flight I took. The Constellation is available for FS2004 from www.flightsim.com in FSZDL049.zip and for FSX in CONFSX11.zip.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

154

0

0600

Amsterdam

EHAM

1630ar

 

698.1

 

698.1

1230ar

Rome

LIRA

1200

336

0

120

0

1345

Rome

LIRA

1045ar

 

1161.0

 

1161.0

2015ar

Cairo

HECA

0315

310

0

 

1957 Jakarta - Singapore - Bangkok Route Super Constellation (Indonesia-Singapore-Thailand)

This route was taken from the 1957 timetable on www.timetableimages.com.

The route formed the first leg of the route back to Europe from the Far East and was flown by the Super Constellation in 1957. The Super Constellation is available for FS2004 from www.flightsim.com in L1049G.zip and L1049G_U.zip.  There is an additional KLM scheme in phlkw.zip.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

340

0

0630

Jakarta

WIII

1635ar

 

477.3

 

477.3

0855ar

Singapore

WSSS

1410

160

0

345

0

0955

Singapore

WSSS

1255ar

 

778.7

 

778.7

1300ar

Bangkok

VTBD

0850

165

0

 

1962 Miami - Curacao Route DC-6 (USA-Cuba-Jamaica-Aruba-Antilles)

This route was taken from the 1962 timetable on www.timetableimages.com.

The route was flown by the DC-6 in 1962. The DC-6 is available for FS2004 in DC6_V20.zip, with KLM textures in KLMDC6.zip, and for FSX in DC6_V20X.zip, with KLM textures in KLMDC6X.zip.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

218

0

1040

Miami

KMIA

1820ar

 

204.3

 

204.3

1200ar

Havana

MUHA

1705

035

0

134

0

1235

Havana

MUHA

1635ar

 

437.8

 

437.8

1450ar

Kingston

MKJP

1425

318

0

132

0

1520

Kingston

MKJP

1355ar

 

509.7

 

509.7

1820ar

Aruba

TNCA

1205

317

0

113

0

1850

Aruba

TNCA

1135ar

 

65.5

 

65.5

1925ar

Curacao

TNCC

1100

294

0

 

1962 Amsterdam - Milan Route DC-7C (Holland-Italy)

This route was taken from the 1962 timetable on www.timetableimages.com.

This route was flown by the DC-7C in 1962. The DC-7 is available from www.calclassic.com with a KLM texture set from www.flightsim.com in DC7C_KLM.zip. The panel and sound aliases in the KLM package should be copied over from the Calclassic installation for the best results.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

157

0

1005

Amsterdam

EHAM

1725ar

 

447.8

 

447.8

1220ar

Milan

LIML

1505

337

0

 

1966 Amsterdam - Stuttgart Route DC-7F (Holland-Germany)

This route was taken from the 1966 timetable on www.timetableimages.com.

By 1966 the jet engine had taken over the prime passenger routes, with the piston powered aircraft consigned to freight duties. This route was flown by the DC-7F in 1966. The DC-7 is available from www.calclassic.com with a KLM texture from www.flightsim.com in DC7C_KLM.zip. The panel and sound aliases in the KLM package should be copied over from the Calclassic installation for the best results.

 

Heading

Distance

Down

City Name

ICAO

Up

Heading

Distance

143

0

1045

Amsterdam

EHAM

0105ar

 

274.3

 

274.3

1320ar

Stuttgart

EDDS

2200

323

0

 

 

2009 AmsterdamSt Gallen Charter Route Fokker F50 (Holland-Switzerland)

KLM Cityhopper is the part of KLM that used to serve internal routes within Holland, but is now the charter element of the company. This route is taken from the KLM website and is one of the charters available using the turboprop Fokker F50, which has now been withdrawn from scheduled services.  Being a charter flight you can leave and return whenever you like.

The F50 is available from www.flightsim.com in SGA50KLM.zip. A panel alias is required; the sound is aliased to the Beechcraft King Air 350.

 

Heading

Distance

City Name

ICAO

Heading

Distance

148

0

Amsterdam

EHAM

 

342.6

 

342.6

St Gallen

LSZR

329

0