BILL COFFMAN'S SPITFIRE STUDIO COLLECTION
No. 8434. Skandinavisk Aero Industri KZ III U-2 (N76KZ c/n 76)
Photographed at Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum, Creve Coeur Airport, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, September 2008, by Bill Coffman

Skandinavisk Aero Industri KZ III U-2

12/31/2008. Vigo Kramme had produced a "Flying Flea" before he met Karl Gustav Zeuthen and with the help from some friends they produced the KZ I, that flew for the first time on February 24, 1937. During the same year the Skandinavisk Aero Industri A/S (SAI) was founded and took over Kramme & Zeuthen.

During the German occupation (April 9, 1940 to May 5, 1945) SAI was permitted to proceed their activities according "approved" plans, however, they were able to design and produce the prototype of the two-seat KZ III (c/n 42), and it was flown at Kastrup on September 11, 1944, disguised as an ambulance aircraft. It was registered OY-DOZ after May 5, 1945, and is still airworthy as of this day.

Shortly thereafter a second aircraft (c/n 45) was produced and with falsified export papers it was shipped to neutral Sweden, where it was assembled and test flown in the fall of 1944, registered as SE-ANY on April 21, 1945. It is preserved at the Helsingör Technical Museum, Denmark. In all, 64 KZ IIIs were produced, c/n 42, 45 to 69, and 71 to 108, four of these were operated as a flying ambulance by Zone-Redningskorpset.

N76KZ was produced in 1946, and registered OY-DVO, it changed hands several times before the CofA expired in 1981. When George M. Rotter of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, obtained the aircraft it was a basket case. He restored the aircraft to airworthiness and had it registered as N76KZ on March 31, 1992. The 100 hp Cirrus Minor powered aircraft was sold to the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum in October 2003.

Created December 31, 2008