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About the statement and other first airliners

http://www.koolhoven.com/history/fk26/

by Henri Kaper

When you use the words "world's first" there will be people who do not agree. Just like

the flight of the Wright Brothers, as "the world's first motorized flight", is still being

questioned because before this famous occasion there were the short flights made byRichard Pearse and Gustav Weiskopf. Some others believe it is Clment Ader who should

be honored. Today the Wright Brothers are generally accepted as the world's first

because their flight was regarded as true, controlled flight. (Another reason was that

there was no convincing proof for the earlier claims.)

In the same way the question of which aircraft was the world's first airliner is not a

matter of plain historical dates ... it also depends on the definition of "airliner".

Frederick Koolhoven was not the first to foresee passenger transport by air. From the

beginning of aviation people had fantastic visions of future possibilities and a few made

first efforts to bring them into practice. Like Albessard who built a tandem monoplane

with a passenger cabin in 1912. He gave up on the aircraft after unsuccessful tests which

were performed with only the pilot aboard.

At the end of 1911, the famous Louis Blriot had also built a cabin aircraft for four

passengers and a pilot outside. This Blriot XXIV 'Limousin' was a special order for acertain Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe.

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There have been a few more aircraft like these, built for several reasons. Aircraft were

still a bit of a circus act and taking more people up in the air was already quite a feat;

some were solely build for these record attempts. These first passenger aircraft may have

been a sign of things to come; they were no airliners yet ... there's a difference. It was

simply too early for commercial aviation. Aviation first needed the technical development

made in World War I.

There was one scheduled service flown by an aircraft before World War I though ... the

Tampa-St.Petersburg line starting at January 1, 1914. The aircraft used for this service

was a flying boat, the Benoist Type XIV, which suited the enterprise because it had an

extra seat next to the pilot's. Some people came to think of this aircraft as the "world's

first airliner", but in this case the airline is the milestone, not the aircraft. Besides, the

Type XIV was not the first of its kind, so how about its predecessors then? The BenoistType XIV fits best in the category 'general aviation'. It was the first aircraft that has been

used for an airline; not an airliner.

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The "airliner" is a specific type of aircraft, designed for the use of airlines, which concept

takes comfort and economy in account. Therefore other types of aircraft that have been

used for airlines, be it general aviation aircraft or converted military aircraft, are no true

airliners. Like, if some Ford T-model would have been used for the first paid fares by

road, it still wouldn't be a bus.

It's the intention with which the aircraft was designed and built that matters ... was the

design originally meant for the commercial transport of passengers?

The Sikorsky 'Le Grand' from 1913, the worlds first four-engined aircraft, is occasionally

mentioned as the world's first passenger aircraft. The purpose of its comfortable cabin

was however to take high ranked officers on demonstration flights. The 'Le Grand' was

built for one single reason: to prove the military that such huge aircraft could be flown;

an idea that met a lot of skepticism in those days. It was not an airliner or even a

passenger aircraft ... the 'Le Grand' was the forerunner of the WWI multi engined

strategic bomber.

In the last days

of World War I

the Farman

company built

the prototype

for what should

have been the

'Goliath'

bomber, was it

not that the war

ended. The

design was

converted to a

civil version which is successfully flown by several airlines. Still, the Farman F.60 'Goliath'

was a bomber by origin.

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Similarly the Vickers Vimy 'Commercial' was a spin-off from the well known Vickers Vimy

bomber.

At this point, in April 1919, the B.A.T. F.K.26, was completed and first flown. It was the

first aircraft that was specifically designed for commercial aviation from the start. To my

opinion this is a sound and objective definition for "world's first airliner".

Before World War II the B.A.T. F.K.26 was widely regarded as the first airliner, but then,when the history of the Koolhoven company became ignored and forgotten, the B.A.T.

F.K.26 became forgotten as well. (Historical matters need spokesmen or they will be

forgotten.) So it happened that two more aircraft are claimed to be the "world's first

airliner".

In the same year Prof. Hugo Junkers, pioneer in metal aircraft, constructed his Junkers F

13. The F 13 had a cabin for four passengers, a fifth passenger could be seated next to

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The Fokker F.II, the first of the very successful Fokker airliners, made its first flight as

late as October 1919. The F.II had a cabin for four passengers and has flown in service

with the KLM and the Lufthansa.

(Its predecessor, the V.44 or F.I, was built very much like a military aircraft, with open

cockpits. Because the B.A.T. F.K.26 and the Junkers F 13 had shown a better solution,the Fokker V.44 project was cancelled before completion.)

The world is a busy place. Frederick Koolhoven was not the only one having the idea, yet

he was the first to realize it ... the first true airliner in history.