Starting the company

Denmark was visited by many German pilots and aircraft constructors immediately after 1918, including Hermann Goring and Anthony Fokker, as well as a couple of English and French aviators.

A Mr. Henrik Tholstrup, bought several containers of old German planes and spares, which arrived during the summer of 1919. The company started in September 1919, with three L.V.G.s, two Fokker D.VII, and later also two Rumpler C.Is.

Dansk Luft Rederi was a pioneer in Danish aviation and their constant promotion of aviation had a great impact on flying in Denmark.

Marketing

A borrowed French Goliath aircraft was used to take paying passengers up, and the company’s German mechanic performed wing-walking as well as hanging in a rope-ladder suspended from a L.V.G.’s landing gear. Aerobatics were performed with a Fokker D.VII. Surely a magnificent sight.

Dansk Luft Rederi flew from Lundtofte aerodrom, which was owned by the Danish Army. Danish Army pilots were then trained on the L.V.G. machines before being sent to France to take the pilot’s certificates. The training of the Army pilots by Dansk Luft Rederi was part of the payment for borrowing the Lundtofte Aerodrom.

A movie called “Gudebilledet” was made with the Swedish Heart-Throb Gösta Ekman (Senior) in the leading role. An aerial dog-fight between the company’s L.V.G. and their Fokker D.VII was filmed.

The company also flew on new year’s eve 1919-1920 with a giant banner painted with the word “Politiken” attached to the lower wings  (Politiken is a Danish newspaper).

Flying

The actual passenger flying started in ernest in spring 1920, between their base in Lundtofte, and many provincial towns. The route between Lundtofte and the North-Sealand beaches were a favourite route.

Lundtofte Flyveplads

A hangar fire on 18th of June 1949 triggered the closure of the Lundtofte Aerodrome. Danmarks Tekniske Universitet was built on the site. Here is a map from Google Earth. No prize for guessing where the runway was. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see a red box showing the location of the administration and training building and the two hangars. The blue line is the highway, the blue box the entrance and the green box the airfield.