Gallery

 

Figure 2: The red flight cachet, showing the Do-X on a map. between Europe and the North American continent, set within a double rectangular frame, containing the words: “FIRST OVERSEAS FLIGHT OF THE DORNIER FLYING BOAT DO-X EUROPE - AMERICA”

Figure 3: The On-Board postmark, used here as a transit mark. Note the difference in the top stroke of the 3 of the 30 date. Type I is rounded while Type 2 is a horizontal straight line.


Figure 4: The mail also received, at a much later stage, a rhomboid-shaped cachet in black ink, denoting carriage of the mail by the Do-X within Brazil and a Rio arrival mark, reading:
DOX/Primeiro V&*/EUROPA - AMERICA DO SUL/Estados Unidos/1931. Our cover example on Page 1 has been “augmented” by a fountain pen, but closer examination shows that it may have been disfigured by Clara Adams, so it could be counted as an original art work (traced) by the famous passenger. All is forgiven, Clara. *Vôo means 1light” in Portugese. Only mail that reached Brazil got this cancel.

What may have saved the plane when the upper wing caught fire was the design of its fuel tanks. The lowest deck housed the main tanks, from which the fuel was pumped to the smaller wing tanks. This limited capacity in the wings prevented the fire from becoming catastrophic, and the wing was repaired within a reasonable time in Lisbon.

Oliver Clemons, in his excellent series on the Do-X in the German Postal Specialist (Mar. 1991), describes the scene:

On Saturday, 29 November, most of the passengers and crew were sightseeing on shore. Aboard the aircraft were Captain Merz, as Officer of the Watch, two of the Monteurs, Ernst Brombeis, a Mr.Bantz, Maurice Dornier and Flight Engineer Willy Stagnei: After their lunch, Captain Merz arid Messrs. Dornier and Stagner took a launch for a short trip around the Do-X on a cigarette break. At the time, a DKW auxilliary gasoline engine was being used to charge the batteries that power the emergency lighting system.

Figure 5: Result of damage to left wing in Lisbon.

 

Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 95 - April - May - June - 1997, Page 4.