1932 Marga von Etzdorf's solo flight to Tokyo
May 8, 2023 17:30:01 GMT -5
chris_c, FSMuseum, and 2 more like this
Post by Deleted on May 8, 2023 17:30:01 GMT -5
Recently Edwin Welker released his Junkers A50 Junior. This aircraft did its first flight in 1929. For several reasons it wasn't successful, and only sixty-nine planes where produced.
Nevertheless, this aircraft made aviation history - with the very little known german airwoman Marga von Etzdorf. After having got her pilote licence, she flew as co-pilote for "Deutsche Luft Hansa". In 1930 Marga von Etzdorf bought a Junkers 50A Junior. With this aircraft she took off in 1932 in Berlin and flew in twelve days to Tokyo. Unintentionally she was than in competition with Amy Johnson, who flew at the same time the same route.
Here some of her stopovers on the way to Japan, of course fictious for the sceneries, and although in reality the plane was painted yellow.
Take off at Berlin Staaken
stopovers at East Prussian Koenigsberg Devau (now Kaliningrad)
and Moscow Fili (ownwd by Junkers)
After a stopover at Nischni Nowograd, Marga von Etzdorf approached Kazan while overflying the Wolga River
Then she flew to Perm, Jekaterinburg, Tjumen, Omsk, Krasnojarsk and Nowosibirsk, following the Trans-Siberian Railway. Continuing her trip from Irkutsk she reached the Lake Baikal.
The flight route went to Ulan-Ude and Chita.
The next stopover at Hailar in Inner Mongolia is unspectacular.
Not so for Marga von Etzdorf. When landed there, she was amazed at the presence of the press, who weren't waiting for her, but for Amy Johnson!
From Hailar she flew to Shenyang Dongtsa and Seoul.
Seoul's airfield was then situated at Yeouido, not far from Gimpo, built by the Japanese Imperial Army some years later. Yeouido was used by civil air traffic until 1958, namely by CAT and Northwest Airlines.
After having left Hiroshima,
she reached Osaka
and landed presumably at Kizugawa, a city quarter of Osaka. It was it's main airport and handled both seaplanes and conventional ones.
While passing presumely the Mount Fuji,
Marga von Etzdorf an her Junkers approached more and more the final destination. Tokyo Bay was in sight.
Than the final touchdown at Haneda.
She was the first foreigner pilot landing at the newely opened airfield. Because Amy Johnson flew with her mechanic, Marga von Etzdorf received credit for the first solo flight by a woman to Japan. Unfortunately on the wa back she crashed with her aircraft in Bangkok. She survived, but in 1933 she comitted suicide after a further incident at Aleppo.
Bernard
