A PIONEER REBORN
Recreating the world’s first ‘ modern’ airliner
Many believe that at the end of the Great War, the German aircraft industry was banned from building aircraft. This is not entirely true. The terms of the Armistice briefly forbade the production of military aircraft, but manufacturers soon produced a handful of civilian airliners. One of these stood above all — the Junkers F.13.
Many consider the Junkers F.13 to have been the world’s first ‘modern’ airliner, and for good reason. The aircraft was one of the first to offer the luxury of an enclosed cabin for its four passengers. In an era of fabric-covered biplanes, it featured modern, cantilever low-wing construction without struts or bracing wires. Most importantly, it used an all-metal aluminium construction. No less than 322 F.13 airliners were sold between 1919 and 1932.
The F.13’s success was no big surprise — the Junkers company, after all, was one of the world’s most innovative aircraft and engine manufacturers. Founded by Hugo Junkers, the company became famous for pioneering all-metal aircraft, including the CL.1 ground attack monoplane, which featured ribbed aluminium skin and encased its engine and crew in an armour-plated ‘bath tub’. Post-war, Junkers applied his construction techniques to commercial aircraft — hence, the F.13 airliner.
The F.13 first flew on 25 June 1919. It moved airliner design into a new era in comparison with the hastily converted military biplanes of the time. Behind its single engine was a semi-enclosed cockpit for the crew; it was roofed, but had no side glazing, exposing pilots to the elements. The enclosed passenger cabin was heated, had windows and doors in the fuselage sides, and came with seat belts — almost unprecedented at the time. Its most distinctive feature, though, was its corrugated and stressed duralumin skin. The ribbed covering added rigidity, which meant internal construction could be minimised, reducing weight and increasing payload.
“Like the aircraft, our suitcases have a grooved design”
It was this characteristic that drove the interest of Rimowa, a premium luggage company founded in Germany in 1898 and now managed by the third generation of owners. “The special connection between Rimowa and the Junkers F.13 lies in the use of duralumin,” says Rimowa president & CEO Dieter Morszeck, who is also a private pilot. “A good 30 years after Hugo Junkers discovered the material for aviation, my father, Richard Morszeck, took the brave and decisive step of using the same material for suitcases to make them resistant to tropical conditions. Like the aircraft, our suitcases have a grooved design — this has been a trademark of ours since 1950.”
In 2013, Rimowa, which had already funded the restoration and operation of a 1930s Junkers Ju52 trimotor airliner, embarked on an even more ambitious project. It teamed up with the Association of Friends of Historical Aircraft, JU-Air from Switzerland, and Kaelin Aero Technologies from the Black Forest to construct a brand-new Junkers F.13. After extensive research and a detailed 3D laser scan of an F.13, the Rimowa Junkers F13 made its maiden flight in September 2016.
The airworthy replica stays true to the original design, with a few exceptions — fine leather upholstery, brakes on the undercarriage wheels, and, of course, modern radios and navigation equipment. It comprises 2,600 individual parts and is held together by 35,000 rivets, and uses a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior R985 9-cylinder radial engine with 450 hp.
After 12,000 hours of construction, the Rimowa Junkers F13 is now undergoing certification. It is a long and arduous process, but Morszeck is confident that it is worth it. He says: “I wanted to give back the world an important cultural asset — not in a museum, but where it belongs: in the skies.”