HB-AMI Koolhoven FK
50
(c/n 5001)
Only three Koolhoven FK 50 machines were built, specifically for Alpar
Luftverkehrs AG
of Berne
Switzerland. The first, seen above was HB-AMI, delivered in the
fall of 1935.
They were used on Swiss domestic services to Basel and Zurich, and
later to Lyons and
as far as
Marseilles. The engine nacelles were initially rather
large, bulging NACA cowlings
but these were streamlined later, as seen in the above shot from the
John Stroud collection.
The second FK 50
(HB-AMO) was lost in a crash in September 1937, sadly with the loss
of three
lives. FK 50 No 3 (HB- AMA) was unique in that it had twin
fines and rudders.
It (oddly) was sold in
Liberia as EL-ADV in 1947. Both HB-AMA and -AMI
survived
WW II and were seen at both Paris Orly and London Croydon several times
during 1946,
HB-AMI being scrapped shortly after.