Registered -7 April 1927. Later converted to F.VIIb-3m. Cancelled 1928.

The original cockpit of the Snip, that operated the first transatlantic flight by KLM's West Indies Company from The Netherlands to the Dutch West Indies. Since 1992, the cockpit and mid engine of this trimotor are displayed in het Curacaosch Museum in Willemstad.

The second FK.43, ordered by KLM and evaluated by the airline as an air taxi between April 1933 and 26 May 1933 when it crashed at Eelde, flown by two trainee pilots. The aircraft was not to blame and eight more FK.43s were delivered to KLM between 1933 and 1938. Photo from: Stadsarchief Rotterdam

The airport in Gaza was at times a stop on KLM's East Indies route. Geologist Heim was travelling to the Himalayas. Photo by: Arnold Heim / ETH-Bibliothek Zürich

Photo taken between the opening of Hangar 9 Kingsford Smith and when PH-TDO was reregistered PH-LDO. Australian Charles Kingsford Smith famously was the first to fly the Pacific Ocean in Fokker F.VII/3m Southern Cross in 1927. PH-LDO was eventually cocooned and broken up at Schiphol. The "train" in the foreground provided tours of the airport. Photo from: National Library of Australia

Detail of photo 582623. PH-TBD is a 1937 DC-3, ex PH-ARB, which survived the war in England as G-AGBD. It was sold to Skyways as G-AGBD later in 1946. PH-TAT was the first DC-4-1009 delivered to KLM in March 1946. It is in a livery only worn by it and PH-TAP, with large orange Royal Dutch Airlines titles. Behind it are two C-54 Skymasters in Netherlands Government Air Transport markings. Photo by: Luuk Vrind / Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Fokker F.II replica

Sightseeing flights, or maiden flights, were still important to serious airlines like KLM in the 1930s not only to recruit passengers, but also simply for the revenue. This riverside location at Keent was occasionally used as an airfield by Dutch military planes from 1928. Keent was a little-used satellite field for Volkel during the German occupation but suddenly became crucial to the Allies for a few days as B.82 Grave during the Battle of Arnhem. Photo from: Ton Cruijsen collection / Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum

Original colour picture. Both the DC-2 and the Groningen airport terminal were built in 1935. PH-AKQ was named Kwak (night heron) through a lack of birds beginning with Q. Bagged by the Germans in 1940, becoming D-AEAN with Lufthansa and SG-KV in the Luftwaffe. Captured by the RAF at Flensburg in May 1945 and allocated serial VP102. Last noted at Lüneburg in December 1945. Photo by: Hans Schade / Groninger Archieven

Registered 13 April 1921 and delivered to KLM the same day. Suffered engine failure and made an emergency landing on the Goodwin Sands 19 Oct.1923 with an incoming tide. The four occupants were rescued by a passing cargo ship but the aircraft was lost to the sea. Cancelled 13 Nov.1923. In the background is Farman F.60 Goliath F-ADDT (c/n.6935-228) of the Cie.des Grands Expresses Aeriennes, later to Air Union as 'Languedoc' and withdrawn from use 7 Dec.1932. (The power check against the chocks with the 'ground crew' holding the tail down adds to the atmosphere, albeit a polluted one!).

Registered 24th June 1927. Crashed at Sevenoaks, Kent 22nd August 1927 and cancelled 5th September 1927.

Flown to England on 13 May 1940 by KLM chief pilot Dirk Parmentier. Used on the wartime Bristol - Lisbon service operated by KLM on behalf of BOAC, as G-EGBE. To NL-201, PH-TBE. Crashed at Lons-le-Saunier, France on 18 November 1946. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

'The captain C.G. von Rosen waves his wife goodbye, though the chocks are still in place.' Adventurous Swedish Count Carl Gustaf von Rosen was hired by KLM after flying in Ethiopia. He married stewardess Hanny Krijgsman in 1938. He took a leave of absence to fly a bomber DC-2 for Finland during the Winter War, and was back in Holland just in time to evacuate a KLM DC-3 to Britain in May 1940. Apparently the RAF did not accept him because he had just visited his uncle - Hermann Göring! He worked for ABA Aerotransport until 1945 and then went back to Africa. Hanny joined the Dutch resistance and survived Dachau concentration camp. She died in 1949. Photo from: Amsterdam City Archives

Replica completed by Aviodrome volunteers in 2019. KLM's first service was flown by an Aircraft Transport and Travel DH.16 on 17 May 1920. KLM's first own aircraft were Fokker F.IIs but a couple of DH.9s were also acquired.

Passengers boarding, destination not known to me.

Destroyed by German bombing here on 10 May 1940. Photo from: Amsterdam City Archives

Two new Fokker airliners for KLM, registered in July 1932. Though a conservative extrapolation of the Fokker F.VII-3m, the F.XVIII gave reliable and successful service. PH-AIP Pelikaan is on the left. Oehoe became PJ-AIS in the Dutch West Indies, renamed Oriol. Photo from: Amsterdam City Archives

Right landing gear collapsed. Ex 42-107436, NL-350. Later PJ-ALW, PH-TLW, PH-DBW, HK-526, HK-526E. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Superb photo of this twin-engined Fokker flying over the port of Rotterdam. The Van Nelle coffee, tea and tobacco factory, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, stands out near the top of the photo towards the left. It was built between 1925 and 1931. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)