Denmark’s Aviation Gems

MUSEUMS

Richard Vandervord reports from the Danmarks Flymuseum, which has forged an enviable reputation

DANMARKS FLYMUSEUM

Allocated USAF serial 51-9792, this Republic F-84G was one of 200-plus airframes acquired by Denmark from 1952. It was identified in RDAF service purely by its squadron code of KP-K, denoting it was operated by Esk 725 at Karup – two years later it was withdrawn from service after being damaged in an accident.

Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont is credited with completing the first officially recognised powered flight in Europe in 1906. But some months earlier, Danish inventor Jacob Christian Ellehammer flew for approximately 138ft (42m) over the island of Lindholm, Denmark, in an aeroplane of his own construction, powered by an engine he’d also built from scratch. By World War One, he and fellow Danish pilots had firmly placed their country on the embryonic aviation map with several notable firsts. Furthermore, by this time the Danish Navy and Army had both established flying branches, which would maintain responsibility for military aviation through to the creation of the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) in 1950.