D-AKER  Dornier Do J IIF Wal                                       (c/n  unknown)

                              

                                   Washed out image of "Taifun" one of many Dornier Wals operated by DLH in the 1920s. By the
                                   early 1930s the airline planned to open a service to South America.    A specially converted cargo
                                   vessel, the Westfalen was equipped to take the Wal on board, refuel it and launch it from a steam
                                   catapult. The route was from Stuttgart to Buenos Aires via Seville, Bathurst (now Banjul - couldn't
                                   not rename the place, after independence, could we?) Natal and Rio.  D-AKER was the aircraft
                                   used on the proving flight from Rio to B.A.  The service was very successful and upgraded from
                                   once a fortnight to weekly by 1936.  Some 300 Wals were built between 1923 and 1934.