Dornier Do B Merkur I

06/30/2015. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "D-1102 was delivered to Luft Hansa early in 1928 and named Edelmarter (European pine marten). On May 3, 1928, while enroute from Geneva, Switzerland, to Frankfurt, Germany, a distance of ca. 295 mls (475 km), this aircraft encountered bad weather and made an precautionary landing which ended in a mishap."

The following is transcribed from the Swiss Newspaper "Nordschweiz" of Thursday, May 3, and Monday, May 7, 1928, by Christoph Sütterlin:

Röschenz: A Dornier aircraft of "Luft Hansa", that took off this morning with two pilots in the most beautiful weather in Geneva, had to make an emergency landing in Röschenz after it until long looking in vain for a suitable place to land. The plane, performing a flight on the line Geneva-Frankfurt-Amsterdam, had, by way of exception, fortunately no passengers aboard. Because of the low cloud cover and heavy rain it had to reduce the initial speed of 106 mph (170 kmh) and not to lose the orientation, had to fly extremely low.

Finally, after futile flying around, it was decided to make an emergency landing just east of Röschenz, where the aircraft, after it had yet swept away a tree in a meadow, dug itself into a potato field with the front fuselage. In spite of all, the landing succeeded, but the right outer wing and propeller are damaged, while the wheel axles show superficial damage. The aircraft cannot continue its flight and will be dismantled on the spot. The repair is expected to take about three weeks, as a pilot told the representative of the "Nordschweiz". On the landing site soon a large crowd had gathered. The aircraft has a weight of 2500 kg and it had gasoline for two hours on board. Airfield Birsfelden, near Basel, had been informed by phone, and, it was told, Airfield Manager Koepke took off to locate the two airmen, but the landing had already completed, so he turned back. …

… Yesterday, the aircraft was transported from the landing site to the freight train station at Laufen, after it had been previously broken down into its main components. In the afternoon, it was accompanied by the looks of many viewers, loaded on the railroad car to be transferred to the repair shop.