The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
The Junkers W 33 was a German 1920s single-engine low-wing monoplane transport aircraft that followed Junkers standard practice making extensive use of corrugated aluminium alloy over an aluminium alloy tube frame, that was developed from the similar but slightly smaller Junkers F 13, and evolved into the similar W 34. One example, named Bremen was the first aircraft to complete the much more difficult eastwest non-stop heavier-than-air crossing of the Atlantic.
The Bremen is a German Junkers W 33 aircraft that made the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west on April 12 and 13, 1928.
After weather delays lasting 17 days,: 52 the Bremen left Baldonnel Aerodrome, Ireland, on April 12 with a three man crew, arriving at Greenly Island, Canada, on April 13, after a flight fraught with difficult conditions and compass problems.
Owner Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld, a wealthy German aristocrat, and pilot Captain Hermann Köhl had made an all-German attempt at the feat in 1927, but had to abandon it due to bad weather. For this new attempt, they were joined by a third crewman, Irish navigator Major James Fitzmaurice. Fitzmaurice had also previously attempted the crossing, as co-pilot of the Princess Xenia (aircraft) with Robert Henry McIntosh, but they had to abandon the attempt due to high headwinds in September 1927.: 52