AD ASTRA AERO
Photo: Attila Szabo, Curator
Photo: Aviation and Space Permanent Exhibition, Budapest.
| As a result
of recent correspondence between the Queensland Air Museum and the
Aviation and Space Permanent Exhibition in Budapest,
it emerged that there was yet another aviation company which used
the name Ad Astra, albeit as two words. This company was originally
founded in Zurich, Switzerland on 17 October 1919 as Luftvekehrsgesellschaft
Frick & Co. In February 1920, the company was renamed Ad Astra
Aero. At this time, Ad Astra's main activities were charter and
photographic flights! The Junkers F-13 which is preserved at the
Aviation and Space Permanent Exhibition in Budapest is one of four
which the company ordered in 1921. To finance the acquisition, Junkers
took a 50% financial interest in Ad Astra Aero. The Ad Astra name
disappeared on 17 March 1931 when the Swiss Government forced Ad
Astra and Balair to merge into a new airline called Swissair. The Junkers F-13 at the Aviation and Space Permanent Exhibition was brought to Hungary from Switzerland in 1921 by the last Austro-Hungarian King, Charles the IVth (IV. Károly) during an unsuccessful attempt to regain power. Several years later, the aircraft was acquired by the Royal Transport Museum, predecessor of the current Aviation and Space Permanent Exhibition. Special
thanks to Attila Szabo, Curator of Aviation and Space, Aviation
and Space Permanent Exhibition, Budapest for the photographs and
historical background. |
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