Albert Plesman

Bust of Albert Plesman at Schiphol Airport

Albert Plesman (born September 7, 1889 in The Hague , † December 31, 1953 in The Hague) was a Dutch aviation pioneer and, together with Anthony Fokker, founder of the royal Dutch airline KLM . Until his death, he was also on the board of the Dutch airline, which under his leadership would become one of the most important air transport companies in the world.

Life

Albert Plesman was born to the Hague egg dealer Johan Cornelis Plesman and his wife, and had six siblings. Already in school, Plesman stood out for his ambition and interest in math , science and sports , but he was also considered stubborn and inflexible.

Plesman's military career (1909-1919)

In 1909, after the death of his mother, Plesman applied unsuccessfully for a place in the Royal Dutch-Indian Armed Forces , but was accepted as a cadet at the Royal Military Academy (KMA) in Breda that summer .

In 1911, Plesman was sworn in as a second lieutenant . He put a lot of energy and work into his military career in order to be able to assert himself as a soldier of medium-sized origin against the military elite. His enthusiasm for aviation also grew in the military. In 1915 he was transferred to the newly formed "military aviation department", but initially only took on tasks on the ground. When visiting the airfield in Soesterberg , a dream comes true when the young pilot W. Versteegh lets him fly with him in his Farman F.20 .

After Plesman was transferred to Soesterberg for a short time in early 1917, he became a student pilot in April 1917. Although his teacher Versteegh invested a lot of time in him, Plesman realized that flying in itself is hardly for him. He was more interested in business and organization. During the First World War , he had the idea of opening an airmail service to Great Britain with the machines that were later superfluous . On December 27, 1917, he married Susanna "Suze" van Eijk, a cheese merchant from Gouda , whom he met at the beginning of the year shortly after his arrival in Soesterberg. With her he had three sons and a daughter.

When the Royal Aviation Commission was formed in 1918, Plesman proposed that an air show be organized in Amsterdam . The ELTA (Eerste Luchtverkeer Tentoonstelling Amsterdam, in German: First Air Transport Exhibition Amsterdam) brought over 800,000 visitors and numerous pilots to Amsterdam.

The pioneering years of KLM (1919–1939)

Shortly afterwards, together with the Royal Aviation Commission, Plesman also launched the idea of ​​a national airline, from which the KLM - Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij emerged on October 7, 1919 . The company was founded with the capital of various Dutch businessmen and received the title "koninklijk" (royal) from Queen Wilhelmina . The airline's second father is the aircraft manufacturer "Anthony" Fokker, who designed tailor-made aircraft for KLM and who contributed the technical know-how. Plesman was very attached to his KLM and was dedicated to his airline and its interests. He also tried to talk to his employees and did everything possible to improve the efficiency of flight operations. People at KLM like to say that Plesman, who is a believer in himself , would have added an eleventh to the ten commandments : You should only fly with the KLM. Under Plesman's leadership, KLM grew into one of the largest and safest airlines of its time. In 1934 , however, the stubborn Plesman incurred the ire of Anthony Fokker when he placed an order with a rival company - the Douglas Aircraft Company .

The Second World War (1939-1945)

After the outbreak of war, Plesman was part of various Dutch delegations who wanted to mediate between the Axis powers and England . Plesman also met for personal talks with Benito Mussolini and Hermann Göring , which was resented in the Netherlands. After the German invasion, the Wehrmacht smashed Plesman's KLM empire. Some of the workforce was able to flee to England and set up a small business there during the war years. However, many aircraft were captured for Lufthansa and Plesman arrested on May 9, 1941 and locked in the prison in Scheveningen (also known as the ' Oranjehotel '). Less than a year later, on April 11, 1942 , Plesman was released. He retired with his wife to Driene near Enschede , where he worked on plans for the reconstruction of the KLM until the end of the war.

The post-war period (1945–1953)

On April 3, 1945, Plesman met Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands to discuss the reconstruction of the KLM. He had many more talks with politicians and businessmen, including Harry S. Truman , to get aircraft for "his" KLM again. On September 27, KLM resumed flight operations with a Douglas DC-4 / C-54 from USAAF stocks. Despite the optimistic mood at the end of the 1940s, Plesman had to cope with some personal setbacks during this time: on September 1, 1944, he lost his son Jan, at that time a pilot in a Dutch division of the Royal British Air Force, when his Spitfire was shot down over St. Omer in France. A few years later, on October 21, 1948, he lost his good friend Koene Dirk Parmentier , who had an accident in a KLM Lockheed Constellation in Scotland . A few months later, on June 23, 1949, his son Hans, also pilot of a KLM Constellation, crashed near Bari ; he was awarded the Bronze Lion of the Netherlands.

Plesman succeeded in giving KLM back the status of a globally respected airline. This was characterized by the fact that on February 25, 1946, KLM was the first airline to resume flights from mainland Europe to the USA . For his achievements he received an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Delft in 1947 . However, Plesman only enjoyed it for a short time. KLM's father died on December 31, 1953.

Honors

Albert Plesman was posthumously awarded the first Edward Warner Medal in 1959 , an award given by the ICAO for special achievements in the field of civil aviation.

Three KLM aircraft were named Albert Plesman , including KLM's first pure jet, a Douglas DC-8 . Between 1975 and 2003 a Boeing 747-206B (PH-BUH) had this name, at the end of 2003 KLM's first Boeing 777-206ER (PH-BQA) was named after Plesman.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ biography (Dutch)