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 by
Richard Pearse and Gustav Weiskopf. Some others believe it is Clément 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 Blériot had also built a cabin aircraft for four
passengers and a pilot outside. This Blériot XXIV 'Limousin' was a special order for a
certain 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 Benoist
Type 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 world’s 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 pilot. The Junkers F 13 was completed and first flown in June 1919 ... two months
later than the B.A.T. F.K.26.

The Junkers F 13 was the first all metal airliner, but not the "world's first airliner". Yet, it
must be said that the F 13 was really ahead of his time and successful for years. Some F
13's have flown until the end of the twenties.

In the United States the remarkable Alfred Lawson had his vision of mass transportation
by air and assigned Vincent Burnelli to build the aircraft that would be the beginning of it
all. The 'Lawson Airliner' was a big aircraft with eighteen seats, which had its first flight at
August 19, 1919 ... four months later than the B.A.T. F.K.26.

Shortly after, Alfred Lawson was a great talent for publicity, he took his aircraft on a city-
to-city tour and presented it as "World’s First Airliner" and "World's Largest Airplane". He
was not aware, but probably wouldn't have cared either, that both claims were not true.
Unlike the B.A.T. F.K.26 and the Junkers F 13, the 'Lawson Airliner' has never been in
service with an airline.

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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.