A Group of Junkers "Bremen" and "Europa" Postcards and Photographs

Includes two postcards illustrating the aircraft "Bremen" (sepia-toned, illustrating the aircraft on the ground with portraits of Hermann Köhl at the left and Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld at the right, inscribed "Ein Wille - Eine Tat - Ein Sieg / Europa - Amerika 12. - 13. April 1928" above and "Die erfolgreichen Oceanbezwinger / Hermann Köhl - Frh. v. Hünefeld mit ihrem Flugzeug "Bremen" " below, coded "3429/1", published by " "Ross" Verlag" and photo credited to "Keystone View Co. phot.", inscribed in pencil on the reverse, printed on a card stock with a postcard backer, 88 mm x 138 mm; the other is black and white, illustrating the aircraft flying over the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, with portraits of Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld, Captain Hermann Köhl and James Fitzmaurice DFC at the upper right, inscribed "Zur Erinnerung an die Heimfehr der ersten Ozeanfliger Ost-Welt" at the bottom, printed on a card stock with a postcard backer, 90 mm x 139 mm); along with nineteen black and white Photographs (most of which are of the "Europa", the sister plane of the "Bremen", fourteen of which have inscriptions on the reverses with most of these dated "1928", some of which were taken in Shanghai, one photo stamped "SPRINZ FOTO" on the reverse, ranging in size from 65 mm x 90 mm to 97 mm x 144 mm). Extremely fine. Footnote: The "Bremen" was the first plane to cross the Atlantic in the much more difficult East-West direction. In spite of a discouraging first attempt which failed on August 14, 1927, the "Bremen" took off again at the Berlin-Tempelhof airfield on March 26, 1928. In Baldonell/Ireland, Freiherr von Hünefeld and Hermann Köhl picked up the Irish Major James Fitzmaurice DFC. Because of bad weather, the plane could not start again until April 12, 1928. After more than thirty-six hours of flying, the plane touched down near the Greenly Island Lighthouse in Labrador. The crew was enthusiastically celebrated in New York and several German cities. Although Bremen is a city in northern Germany, it is anything but close to the Junkers company headquarters in Dessau where the "Bremen" and "Europa" were made. In those days, Freiherr von Hünefeld was Public Relations manager of Norddeutscher Lloyd, a famous German shipping company. They had just baptized their latest ships for the transatlantic route "Bremen" and "Europa". Provided that there were two planes named "Europa" and "Bremen", Norddeutscher Lloyd was willing to finance the enterprise.