The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-04-23

kind and courteous and brave
In coming to our aid as they
have done. To these other avia.
tors who have not reached US as
vet. but from whom we have
messages saying tnat they are
coming. we are also grateful.
We have drunk deeply at this
fountain of friendship, Koehl and
1, and. since leaving his own hos
pitable shores; Fitzmaurice, too.
At home in the Fatherland,
when the Bremen was in its
crystallizing stages, had it not
been for the kindness OF true
friends who desired the fulfilment
of my dreams, we should not be
here at Greenly today. Eleven
friends. eight of them of Bremen,
were able to provide me, as mat
ter Of personal loans between
friends. with the 5000 marks that
were necessary Tor the purchase OF
our Junkers plane. which we have
named Bremen IN honor Of the
gentlemen OF that free city who
made its flight to America possible
In the first case.
There was Herr storbe, the
banker. OF Bremen. who provided
me with a personal loan Of 10000
marks when told MIN Of the de-
sires that were In the hearts Of
Koefl and myself and that we be-
lieved we could be the first men
to fly the Atlantic Ocean from the
east to the west In an airplane.
There was Herr Carl Lahnser.
of Delmenhorst, who followed with
a second 10000 marks which
made me feel in those days when
all that we had was our dream,
that we should soon see its
fruition.
Herr Frederick Rose1ius. of
Bremen, was the third recruit to
our true and faithful army ut
friends and he, too, lent me 10000
marks and swelled my total to
80, 900 marks of capital.
Herr Carl Niede, of Bremon,
with q loan OF 10000 marks.
was our fourth recruit and, when
I told Koehl that we now had
secured half the capital essential
for the purchase Of our Junkers
plane, our mutual pleasure knew
no bounds. We were well on
the way toward the preparations
to fly to America.
Herr willy Eilers, of Bielfeld.
then lent me 10000 marks, ana
our total had passed the half
way mark and was now at 6O,'
900 marks.
5000 to Go
From Herr Senator Boomers, of
Bremen, received 5000 marks,
and a similar amount from Herr
Westerschulte, who is also OF
Bremen. Dreams were progress
ing toward their goal.
The next loan that was able
to receive was from Herr Engen
Wendelstadt in Bremen. This
was a matter of 5000 marks and
left US only a total of 10000
marks to find for our Bremen
airplane, which was then at Des-
sau in the Junkers factory.
On visiting Berlin / was able
to secure a 5,000.mark sum from
Herr DR.. Regendaus, a banker.
In Bremen Herr Willy Kulen.
kamff added 1000 marks and
placed us with 5000 marks of
our grand total of our $4,000
marks, required for the purchase
of the Bremen.
We were nervous with the ex.
element Of seeing our goal in
sight. We were SO near and
yet so far. Seventy-five thousand
marks were in our hands, but we
must have $4,000 to make the
Bremen ours and accept delivery.
Then the last 5000 marks came
to me from Die Haackebeck.
Branerei, Of Bremen, and our first
task was accomplished.
Good friends who believed in us
had made it possible for us, Door
men, to realize the dream that Lad
been ours in the preceding summer
of 1927, when weather had forced
Koehl and me to return from The
Atlantic Ocean and. disappointed,
to wait for a better day.
That day now seemed to be at
hand. Our good, faithful friends,
some of whom perhaps, believed
us foolhardy in the extreme. had
nevertheless made 1t possible to