Visitors - The German Connection

On May 11, 1929 at 10:05 in the morning a sole Klemm L20 named "Kamerad" took off from Osaka's Kizugawa airport. The weather was bad but the "mame hikoki" (pea airplane) as it was nicknamed by the Japanese arrived safely in Tachikawa at 15:40. The pilot was Friedrich Karl von Koenig-Warthausen who had arrived on April 28 in Kobe by the German cargo ship Vogtland as part of his successful attempt to fly solo around the world. Nobody expected him in Kobe and the Japanese public was pretty surprised by his sudden arrival without prior notice. The Klemm L20 was transported to Osaka by car and assembled there.

After staying in Tokyo for a few days, on May 22, at 10:30 the German aviator took off from Tachikawa and at 11:08 arrived in Negishi horse-race track on his way to Yokohama. On May 25, at 15:00 left Yokohama with Siberia Maru that would take him to San Francisco.

HERE is a link to a very interesting discussion about the aviator and the aircraft.

And HERE is a page with some rather interesting information in connection with the German ship Vogtland.