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Hans Fleischer Dons (13 June 1882 – 28 October 1940) was a Royal Norwegian Navy officer. He is most associated with the first manned flight in Norway.[1] [2]

Biography

Dons was born in Øvre Eiker, Norway. He was the son of Johannes Albrecht Dons (1839-1921) and Johanne Marie Fleischer (1850-1943). He attended the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy (1901-05) and Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg (1907-08). From 1909, he served in the Royal Norwegian Navy as second in command on board Norway's first submarine HNoMS Kobben. He was a naval attache at the Norwegian Legacy in Washington, D.C.(1917-19) and held the same position at London and Paris (1927-30). Dons was the head of the Naval submarine fleet and served in the Admiral Staff (1929-35). [3]

On 1 June 1912 Dons performed the first manned flight in Norway in a monoplane named Start. The fixed-wing aircraft was designed by Etrich Taube and was made in Germany by Edmund Rumpler. A few days later, 7 June, Dons flew from Borre over Horten, crossing Oslofjord to Moss and Fredrikstad – covering a distance of 48 km in 35 minutes. [4]

In 1935 Dons published his book: Start: En norsk flyvehistorie fra 1912-13 (Oslo: Cammermeyers, 1935). Start is on display at the Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection located at Gardermoen, north of Oslo, Norway. [5][6]

See also

• Aviation in Norway

References

Related reading

• John Andreas Olsen (2014) European Air Power: Challenges and Opportunities (Potomac Books) ISBN 978-1612346816

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