Germany - Weimar Republic: Bavarian State Mint Commemorative Medal for the Pilot’s of the First Non-Stop East-West Transatlantic Flight of the Bremen 1928, silver. Extremely Rare in this superb condition.
Condition: Extremely Fine, as struck.
Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb Auction 57, 19th March 2003, Part Lot 1423.
Silver, obverse with the conjoined busts of the two pilots, Hünefeld and Köhl, reverse with image of the Bremen flying low over the waves. Rim stamped ‘Bayer. Hauptmünzamt. Silber 900 f.’, measuring 36 mm in diameter.
After Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic from West to East in May 1927, the idea of flying in the opposite direction, which is more difficult because of the prevailing winds, became more and more popular. The Bremen was a German Junkers W 33 aircraft that made the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west on 12th and 13th April 1928. After weather delays lasting 17 days, the Bremen left Baldonnel Aerodrome, Ireland, on 12th April with a three man crew, arriving at Greenly Island, Canada, on 13th April, after a flight fraught with difficult conditions and compass problems.