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Deruluft

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Deruluft
Founded24 November 1921;
103 years ago (1921-11-24)
Commenced operations1 May 1922;
102 years ago (1922-05-01)
Ceased operations31 March 1937;
87 years ago (1937-03-31)
A Deruluft Dornier Merkur at the opening of Stettin Airstrip 1927. Second from left, Stockholm Municipal commissioner Yngve Larsson.

Deruluft (Deutsch-Russische Luftverkehrs A.G., or Deruluft) was a joint German-Soviet airline, established on 11 November 1921.[1] Deruluft opened its first permanent airlink between Moscow and Königsberg (via Kaunas and Smolensk) on 1 May 1922.[1] It started a new route between Berlin and Leningrad (via Tallinn) on 6 June 1928, and maintained both routes until 31 March 1936. Deruluft was a successful business, but terminated on 31 March 1937 due to the changed political situation.

Business

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Deruluft handled mainly post and freight. An overview of transported persons, mail and freight from 1922 to 1931:[2]

Year Flown distance Persons Freight Mail
1922 174.768 km 338 17,915 t 1.047 kg
1923 215.480 km 382 23,487 t 1.589 kg
1924 352.786 km 552 34,519 t 2.382 kg
1925 492.237 km 1.463 54,059 t 5.410 kg
1926 514.185 km 1.192 25,892 t 10.733 kg
1927 630.542 km 1.809 49,694 t 25.574 kg
1928 790.465 km 2.510 69,886 t 27.992 kg
1929 839.655 km 2.692 75,238 t 16.711 kg
1930 950.512 km 2.947 62,351 t 27.244 kg
1931 945.317 km 3.660 87,690 t 29.060 kg

Fleet

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Most of the aircraft used were German, and so was its organization until the 1930s. Its first aircraft were Dutch-built Fokker F.III's. Later German Junkers F13's were added to the fleet. At first, Deruluft carried only mail and officials, but on 27 August 1922 the service was opened to the public. From 1929 onwards the early Fokker F.III's were replaced by Dornier Merkurs. Early 1931 the Tupolev ANT-9 was added.

Accidents and incidents

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  • In October 1924, LVG C.VI RR-14 crashed in Russia.[3]
  • In December 1926, Grulich V.1 D-902 crashed in Russia.[4]
  • In June 1927, Fokker F.III RR-7 crashed in Russia.[5]
  • On May 16, 1928, Fokker F.III D-200 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tempelhof Airport due to engine failure; the pilot survived. THe aircraft was operating a cargo flight to Cologne.[6]
  • On 15 October 1929, Junkers F.13 URSS-308 Koenigsadler crashed in Estonia and broke in two; no casualties.[7]
  • In 1933, Dornier Merkur CCCP-D306 crashed in Russia.[8]
  • On 22 October 1934, Tupolev ANT-9 D-2831 struck trees and crashed while on approach to Moscow Airport in poor weather; all three on board survived.[9]
  • On 31 January 1935, Junkers Ju 52/3mge D-AREN struck a hillside in poor weather near Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland) due to icing, killing all 11 on board.[10][11][12]
  • On 7 March 1935, Rohrbach Ro VIII Roland II D-AJYP Schönberg crashed at Schievelbein, Germany (now Świdwin, Poland) due to structural failure; all three on board survived.[13][14]
  • On 16 May 1936, Junkers J.13FLE D-OKES crashed in Russia.[15]
  • On 6 November 1936, Tupolev ANT-9 URSS-D311 Yastreb struck trees and crashed upside-down near Nemirovo, Volokolamsky District (27 km (17 mi) southwest of Volokolamsk) after several navaids failed, killing all nine on board. The aircraft was operating the Velikiye Luki–Moscow leg of a Königsberg (now Kaliningrad)–Moscow passenger service.[16][17][18]

References

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  1. ^ a b Allaz, Camille. History of Air Cargo and Airmail from the 18th Century.Christopher Foyle Publishing, 2005. p. 139. ISBN 9780954889609
  2. ^ Karl-Heinz Eyermann, Wolfgang Sellenthin: Der Luftverkehr der UdSSR. Gesellschaft für DSF, 1967, S. 6
  3. ^ "Crash of a LVG C.VI in Russia". B3A Archives.
  4. ^ "Crash of a Grulich V.1 in Russia". B3A Archives.
  5. ^ "Crash of a Fokker F3 in Russia". B3A Archives.
  6. ^ "Crash of a Fokker F.III in Berlin". B3A Archives.
  7. ^ "Crash of a Junkers F.13 in Estonia". B3A Archives.
  8. ^ "Crash of a Dornier Merkur in Russia". B3A Archives.
  9. ^ "Crash of a Tupolev ANT-9 in Moscow". B3A Archives.
  10. ^ Accident description for D-AREN at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 15 December 2012.
  11. ^ "D-AJYP accident description". Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  12. ^ "Crash of a Junkers JU.52/3mge in Szczecin: 11 killed". B3A Archives.
  13. ^ "Accident Rohrbach Ro VIII D-AJYP". Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  14. ^ "Crash of a Rohrbach Ro.VIII Roland II in Świdwin". B3A Archives.
  15. ^ "Crash of a Junkers F.13FLE in Russia". B3A Archives.
  16. ^ "CCCP-D311 accident description". Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  17. ^ "Tupolev production list" (PDF). oldwings.nl. Soviet Transports. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-03-30. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  18. ^ "Crash of a Tupolev ANT-9 in Nemirovo: 9 killed". B3A Archives.

Bibliography

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  • Cooksley, Peter (September–October 1996). "Celestial Coaches: Dornier's Record Breaking Komet and Merkur". Air Enthusiast (65): 20–24. ISSN 0143-5450.
  • Davies, R.E.G. Aeroflot: An Illustrated History of the World's Largest Airline, 1992.
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