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Birger Johnsen was the pilot on CNAC's inaugural flight, October 26, 1929. August 20, 2003 Henry Wysham Lanier wrote a book about Birger Johnsen's early days of flying called, "The Far Horizon", published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1933. As soon as I finish reading the copy I just found, I'll add some quotes from the book.     Who was Mr. Konrad Furubotn? August 4, 2003, from Patti Gully. Thanks Patti. In the 19 October 1929 edition of CWR, a 4-page article, written by Edgar Snow and entitled “The Middle Kingdom From the Clouds," mentions Mr Johnsen on page 276, along with other CNAC staff. Mr Snow was a passenger on this, the first CNAC trial flight, which apparently took place the same day as the article was printed ("This morning I was in Hankow. Tonight I am back again, in Shanghai..."): “Our cabin, amply roomy for six passengers, besides the two pilots who are forward in the cockpit, now is occupied by the following: Mr W.P. Loo, director, China National Aviation Corp; Mr Roy Ott, mechanic, Aviation Exploration, Inc.; and myself. In the cockpit are Mr Harry G. Smith, vice-president and operations manager of Aviation Exploration, Inc., and a pilot of more than 4,000 hours flying experience; and Mr Birger Johnsen, an equally experienced air mail flyer who will be one of the regular pilots on this Shanghai-Hankow service.” I (Tom Moore) agree with Patti, "The photo accompanying the article is very poor and (almost) useless for your purposes - I attach it so you won't think you're missing out on anything". Patti (Gully)   or would like to be added to the CNAC e-mail distribution list, please let the CNAC Web Editor, Tom Moore, know. Thanks! |