18 Apr Carl Florman
Carl Florman. In 1924 he founded AB Aero Transport and became its CEO
On Monday evening, October 9, 1944, General Edward P. Curtis was the guest of American Military Air Attaché Felix Hardison at the Lidingö Hotel, outside Stockholm. Another dinner guest was Captain Carl Florman of Swedish Aerotransport. Florman had become a military aviator in 1914. Since during 1923-24 he was Air Attaché at the Swedish Legation in London, he and Hardison would have had a lot to talk about. In 1924 Florman, along with his brother Adrian, founded A.B. Aerotransport at Malmo airfield and was its managing director. The next day, General Curtis inspected Captain Florman’s B-17 which had been passengerized for Swedish Air Lines to fly to Scotland and Moscow.
Another connection with our story is that Carl Florman was a good friend of Brent Balchen, CEO of Det Norske Luftfartselskap, or DNL, the Norwegian airline. During the years of the war, DNL did not operate.
Florman assisted Balchen in setting up shop in Stockholm for Operation Sonnie, the trips Balchen’s team flying B-24’s disguised as civilian planes took back and forth between Sweden and Leuchars Field in Scotland. This is how the American internees being repatriated were flown back to Britain.
I welcome your edits and additions to any of my information about what was happening in WWII Sweden. Please leave a comment above.
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