A hundred years after the first flight of the JUNKERS F 13, the city of Dessau and Junkers Flugzeugwerke have commemorated the aviation pioneer, inventor and entrepreneur Professor Hugo Junkers. The “Icarus” monument was unveiled in his honor at the Dessau Peace Bridge. At Dessau airport, the only airworthy JUNKERS F 13 carried out sightseeing flights.
Saxony-Anhalt's Minister President Dr. Reiner Haseloff praised aviation pioneer Professor Hugo Junkers as a “technical genius.” “With Hugo Junkers, the vision of global air traffic connecting the world and people emerged. He put flying in a peaceful service.”
According to Haseloff, Hugo Junker's aircraft were of particular importance to him, because his father was once involved in building the Junkers aircraft as a metal aircraft manufacturer.
Hugo Junkers was born in 1859. The university teacher and researcher, engineer and entrepreneur developed and produced countless devices and aircraft and is today considered one of the great pioneers of aviation.
In 1919, immediately after the First World War, he relied on civil, peaceful air transport for passengers, airmail and cargo. For this purpose, he developed the JUNKERS F 13 as the first commercial aircraft made entirely of metal.
The JUNKERS F 13 helped civil aviation achieve a breakthrough. Thanks to its all-metal construction, it could also be used in humid climates - and therefore also in subtropical countries. This was the only way to create global air traffic at all.
The JUNKERS F 13 is still rightly described today as the “mother of all modern commercial aircraft.” Since 2016, the aircraft has been rebuilt again in a small series.
“Civil aviation as we know it today began a hundred years ago with the JUNKERS F 13,” said Dieter Morszeck, founder and CEO of Junkers Flugzeugwerke. It was Morszeck who had the vision of building the JUNKERS F 13 as a new aircraft again and thus reminiscent of Hugo Junkers.
“The several hundred people who came to Dessau Airport to see the JUNKERS F 13 prove that Hugo Junkers's legacy still inspires people today.”
Christian Gartmann is the communications and media officer at JUNKERS Flugzeugwerke AG.