On 1 June 1912, naval lieutenant Hans Dons took off from a field near here in a Rumpler Taube monoplane and flew across the fjord to Fredrikstad, making it the first powered flight in Norwegian history.
The backstory is pure competitive spite. Three officers from the submarine Kobben, stationed at the nearby naval base, had read in the newspaper that a Swedish pilot was planning to fly over Horten. They decided it would be unacceptable if a Swede flew over their base before a Norwegian had even left the ground. Dons was sent to Germany for a crash course in flying, bought the aircraft, and got airborne just in time.
The plane, named Start, is preserved and can be seen at the Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection at Gardermoen.
The backstory is pure competitive spite. Three officers from the submarine Kobben, stationed at the nearby naval base, had read in the newspaper that a Swedish pilot was planning to fly over Horten. They decided it would be unacceptable if a Swede flew over their base before a Norwegian had even left the ground. Dons was sent to Germany for a crash course in flying, bought the aircraft, and got airborne just in time.
The plane, named Start, is preserved and can be seen at the Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection at Gardermoen.
