Gressholmen Airport was the main airport serving Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 from 1927 to 1939, until the construction of Fornebu Airport

Oslo Airport, Fornebu

Oslo Airport, Fornebu was the main airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway from 1 June 1939 to 7 October 1998. It was then replaced by Oslo Airport, Gardermoen and the area has since been redeveloped. The airport was located at Fornebu in Bærum, from the city center. Fornebu had two runways, one...

. The airport was on the islet of Gressholmen

Gressholmen

Gressholmen is an islet located in the Oslofjord, just south of central Oslo. Administratively it belongs to the borough of Gamle Oslo.Gressholmen airport was for the years 1927 through 1939 the location of the main airport for Oslo, until the construction of Fornebu airport. The airport was only...

, and was only for seaplanes. The landing ramp and the hangars are still intact, and are used for storage of pleasure boats.

The airport was served until 1934 by Deutsche Luft Hansa

Deutsche Luft Hansa

Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and throughout the Third Reich.-1920s:Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin...

, with routes initially via Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

 and Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 to Stettin, later Lübeck

Lübeck

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...

 and Travemünde

Travemünde

Travemünde is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, and the Danes subsequently strengthened it. It became a town in 1317 and in...

 using Dornier Do J

Dornier Do J

The Dornier Do J Wal was a twin-engine German flying boat of the 1920s designed by Dornier Flugzeugwerke. The Do J was designated the Do 16 by the Reich Air Ministry under its aircraft designation system of 1933....

 "Wal" and "Superwal", Rohrbach Ro V Rocco

Rohrbach Ro V Rocco

Rohrbach Ro V was a seaplane manufactured by the Rohrbach Metall-Flugzeugbau company in Berlin, Germany. Only one was built, in 1927. It was delivered to Severa GmbH for comparison flights with the Dornier Do J "Superwal" and as a seaplane trainer...

 and from 1934 by Junkers Ju-52/3m-See

Junkers Ju 52

The Junkers Ju 52 was a German transport aircraft manufactured from 1932 to 1945. It saw both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. In a civilian role, it flew with over 12 air carriers including Swissair and Deutsche Luft Hansa as an airliner and freight hauler...

 seaplanes. Passengers were ferried by motor boat from the city's largest railway station, Oslo East Station. In 1935, the newly formed Norwegian airline, Det Norske Luftfartsselskap, took over the concession, operating Junkers Ju-52 from the airport. There were plans of starting transatlantic flights in cooperation with Pan Am, but services never commenced despite DNL purchasing a Sikorsky S-43

Sikorsky S-43

-External links:* - Howard Hughes Sikorsky S-43...

 amphibious aircraft

Amphibious aircraft

An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft that can take off and land on either land or water. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes that are equipped with retractable wheels, at the expense of extra weight and complexity, plus diminished range and fuel economy compared to planes...

 for this purpose.

The Norwegian term luftbuss, for air bus, was coined for the airline connection.

Gressholmen was not the first seaplane airport of Oslo. Neighboring island Lindøya

Lindøya

Lindøya is a small island located in the Oslofjord, just south of central Oslo. Administratively it belongs to the borough of Gamle Oslo.In 1920, Lindøya was the Oslo base for the pioneer Norwegian airline, Det Norske Luftfartrederi‎, and its seaplanes. The operation only lasted until the autumn of...

 was used as the base for the Det Norske Luftfartrederi‎ routes in 1920, and Bestumkilen

Bestumkilen

Bestumkilen is a bay in Lysakerfjorden in the inner Oslofjord.Located west of the Bygdøy peninsula and east of Vækerø, it is bordered by the islet Killingen in the southwest and the mouth of the river Hoffselva at Sjølyst in the northeast. It was formerly known, together with Frognerkilen, under...

 for the A/S Aero

A/S Aero

A/S Aero was a Norwegian airline company founded by Tancred Ibsen in January 1920. The company was financed by Tancred Ibsen's uncle, businessman Einar Bjørnson, and two shipowners...

operations, also in 1920.

External links

• By Whale to Oslo