PH-AIR  Fokker F.XVIII                                       (c/n  5311)

                                  

                                       In order to upgrade the comfort level and speed on their East Indies routes, KLM ordered five
                                       new Fokker F.XVIIIs in 1932.  Although ostensibly a 16 seater, this capacity was reduced to
                                       six or seven for the long haul from Amsterdam to Batavia.   This incredible journey involved
                                       stops in the following cities:  Marseilles, Rome, Brindisi, Istanbul, Mersa Matruh, Cairo, Gaza,
                                       Baghdad,  Bushire (Iran), Bandar Abbas (Iran), Karachi, Jodhpur, Allahabad, Calcutta, Akyab
                                       (Burma), Rangoon, Bangkok, Penang and Singapore.  The journey took 4 days and 4 hours plus.
                                       The undersides of the F.XVIIIs were inscribed "KLM Holland-Java".   PH-AIR was sold in
                                       CLS in Prague as OK-AIR in 1936 (after the DC-2s were acquired).  It later (1939) went to
                                       Lufthansa as D-AAIR.