Start was the Royal Norwegian Navy

Royal Norwegian Navy

The Royal Norwegian Navy is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations. , the RNoN consists of approximately 3,700 personnel and 70 vessels, including 5 heavy frigates, 6 submarines, 14 patrol boats, 4 minesweepers, 4 minehunters, 1 mine detection vessel, 4 support...

's very first aeroplane

Fixed-wing aircraft

A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...

. It was bought in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and arrived in Horten

Horten

is a town and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the villages of Borre, Åsgårdstrand, Skoppum, and Nykirke....

 25 May 1912. The cost was 30 000 Norwegian kroner and the funding came from private contributions after a speedy initiative from the commander and officers of the submarine HNoMS Kobben (Norway's first submarine). One of the largest contributors was H.M. King Haakon VII of Norway

Haakon VII of Norway

Haakon VII , known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the personal union with Sweden. He was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg...

.

The first flight was made on 1 June by secondløytnant Hans Fleischer Dons

Hans Dons

Hans Fleischer Dons was a naval officer and the first Norwegian to fly in Norway.Dons was born in Eiker, Norway and from 1909 he served as second in command on board Norway's first submarine the Kobben . On June 1, 1912 Dons performed the first flight in Norway, in a Etrich Taube monoplane named...

 (who was also second in command on the submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 HNoMS Kobben). He took off from Gannestad in Borre

Borre, Norway

Borre is a village in the municipality of Horten, Vestfold county, Norway. The village of Borre had provided the name of the former Borre municipality .-History:...

, flew over Karljohansvern naval station and Moss

Moss, Norway

is a coastal city and a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Moss. The city of Moss was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...

 before landing in Øra not long from Fredrikstad

Fredrikstad

is a city and municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad....

. The flight was 48 km long and took 35 minutes. Dons was congratulated by both the King and the government.

Start was officially given as a gift to the navy on 1 August 1912. It is today displayed at the Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection

Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection

Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection is a military aviation museum located in Gardermoen, near Oslo, Norway. The museum was established in 1967, with a Heinkel He 111 and a Northrop N-3PB as one of the first objects. However, the museum was not opened for the public until 1984...

.

Facts

• Type: Rumpler Taube
  Rumpler Taube
  The Etrich Taube, also known by the names of the various manufacturers who build versions of the type, such as the Rumpler Taube, was a pre-World War I monoplane aircraft. It was the first mass-produced military plane in Germany...
  
   2 seater reconnaissance plane
• Wing span: 13,8 m
• Length: 10 m
• Weight: 1.400 kg
• Motor effect: 100 hk
• Maximum speed: 100 km/t
• Time needed to climb to 1.000 m: 20 min
• Armament: 1 carbine
  Carbine
  A carbine , from French carabine, is a longarm similar to but shorter than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full rifles, firing the same ammunition at a lower velocity due to a shorter barrel length....
  
  

The type was first constructed in 1909 by Austrian Igo Etrich

Igo Etrich

Ignaz "Igo" Etrich , Austrian flight pioneer, pilot and fixed-wing aircraft developer.- Education :...

and later developed in to a two-seater military aircraft in 1912.