Company Says It Was The 'World's First Commercial Airliner'

At the end of the WWI, German engineer and entrepreneur Hugo Junkers had a sense that the future of aircraft construction would be in the civilian rather than military arena, and set out to design an airplane that would be  safe, comfortable, economical and durable.

The result was the Junkers F13, which some say was the world's first commercial airliner. By 1933 more than 330 of these single-engine, duraluminium six-seaters were built at the Junkers factory in Dessau, Germany.

Now Rimowa, a German luggage manufacturer, is embarking on a project to build a series of replicas of the airplane as a promotional tool.

“It’s long been my ambition to rebuild the ‘mother’ of all commercial aircraft and I’m very happy that this will now become a reality,” said CEO Dieter Morszeck. “This plane has always fascinated me and I see there’s clearly a market for it.”

Rimowa created Rimowa Flugzeugwerke AG based in Dübendorf, Switzerland, to produce the airplanes. They will be priced at $2.2 million.

The RIMOWA F13 is a single engine, all-metal, low-wing aircraft with an open cockpit and a closed passenger cabin. It has a tail dragger undercarriage with brakes, is 11.5 feet high, 31.5 feet long and has a wingspan of 48.72 feet.

Powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-985 Junior radial engine with 450 hp, it has a top speed of 97 knots, with an 86-knot cruise. With a 21 gph fuel burn, its range is 377 statute miles. Maximum takeoff weight is 4,407 pounds. It will be a daytime VFR plane designed for a maximum altitude of 4,000 feet.

First test flights are expected in the spring of 2016.

(Image provide by EAA)

FMI: http://www.rimowa-f13.com/