The 1st Airline after World War II was registered by Rul Bueckle
in 1952 Stuttgart/Germany with a capital of 20.000 DM.
Rul was a self made man. He was a World War II fighter pilot, Südflug really got its start when the airport was closed for large aircraft. Bückle jumped in offering the De Havilland 114 Heron
carrying 8 passengers to Frankfurt & Munich, he built up a good reputation with KLM. He had a total of 16 Aircrafts by 1967.
In 1963 I was in Luxembourg maintaining two DC4’s for William C. Wald Associates/New York.
Continentale Deutsche Luftreederei, a German Charter Co. operated four DC4’s (Douglas Skymaster) out of Hamburg. They went bankrupt in November 1962. One Aircraft was in the hangar getting a “B” Inspection. In actual fact it was in bits and pieces when the American owner showed up.
I was then the Hangar Foreman, holding an American license, the yank quickly came to the point how much money, how many mechanics and how long it would take to fix and assemble the Aircraft.
As Christmas was on the door-step, no salary, no Xmas-bonus, we agreed US$ 2.00 cash per hour for ten mechanics and ten eight-hour working days. After a short discussion he decided, he couldn’t live without me.
The Dollar then was DM 4.00 to the Dollar. That day I doubled my salary to US$ 800.00 a month.
On the 17th of December 1962 I organized two crews to ferry the Aircraft to Luxembourg. I loaded the records and historical documents into my car and drove to Luxembourg.
We set up an office in the Luxair new building, next to their new President: 24 year old Roger Sietzen.
Joe Barta and William Wald, the owner, showed up. I was faced with a complete new experience. I had to produce a Sales-Brochure, which is no easy task. About 25 pages, list Engines, hours and cycles, list all Avionics, all Rotable Components, Inspection Systems, Fuel-capability, weights, range. I employed a secretary, after 14 days the brochure was ready. They next step: to find a customer.
We sent a brochure to Suedflug. Rul Bueckle, Hans Suter and Mario Brando flew into Luxembourg with their own Aircraft: a “Heron”.
Rul was the founder with a capital of DM 20,000.00. He was a Pilot, a very adventuress type accepting any contract to fly anywhere anytime. He wrote several books.
I was doing my Sales-pitch, that the DC4 was the best Aircraft in the world, the safest, simple to maintain etc. etc. Rul only spoke in German, so Hans Suter translated. I had spent 10 years in Germany, so I understood everything. Rul spoke perfect English, but didn’t let on. It is a good tactic, gives you time to formulate the answer.
During our two days of discussions we crossed swords a few times. The business never materialized. One DC4 I sold to Ian McLean. He started an Airline: Malta Metropolitan. The 2nd Aircraft was sold to John Block: Transavia Holland. Capt. Wheatly and myself delivered the Aircraft to Amsterdam.
While waiting to complete the paperwork, I was handed a Telex to phone Rul Bueckle. Two minutes later he offered me a job as Chief on Maintenance – speaking in German – I replied in English. I mentioned our differences in Luxembourg, his reply: if I had been working for Suedflug, he didn’t see a problem.
William C. Wald offered me a job in Beirut, but with a couple of kids going to Kindergarten it appeared wiser to give Suedflug, based in Stuttgart, a try. Within an hour I had accepted the job as chief of maintenance.
I parted with William C. Wald, closed up the office and headed to Stuttgart.
Rul had a nice little Operation: 5 Herons and sub-leasing them to KLM and Pan American. Due to extension of the Run-away, also a Queen Air to Siemens.
KLM had put their fleet of Douglas DC7’s on the market, replacing them with Jets: DC8’s. Rul signed up for two DC7’s
, 104 Seats to carry Holiday-makers down south to Spain, several holiday-resorts etc.
I employed a dozen Ex-Continental-mechanics. Roswitha closed up home in Hamburg. I rented a three-room apartment in Bernhausen. Roswitha arrived with a rented truck with furniture and Michael and Sheila.
Suedflug rating was limited to Regional with 19 passengers. Now we applied for large Aircraft Worldwide. A Technical Procedure Manual had to be written, stating every phase of Inspections, controlling Components, train Technicians and have Qualified Inspectors. All of this had to be certified by the Air Authorities (L.B.A.). KLM, known as the Jew-man of Europe, tied in Rul with a Maintenance-Contract. Every hour the Aircraft flew for Suedflug, a premium per hour was paid to KLM, which more or less was a handshake. Instead of a 30 page Contract a lot of Lawyer-terminology. That’s when the problem started. My stand-point everything was included. They invoiced a 100 different things: Modifications, Units B.E.R., loss of items, anything remotely related to an incident.
It was quickly established: I was the bad guy! I thought of myself as David against Goliath. To make matters worse: my Assistant was Dutch, all Captains, Co-Pilots and Flight Engineers were Dutch.
In a short space of time we had six DC7 Aircraft from KLM. The Dutch were primadonnas, my German Mechanic and myself were treated like second class citizens. Eventually it came ahead over a Propeller-defect with me telling the Chief Flight Engineer: Joop, that he didn’t know in the hell what he was talking about!
Rul was in hospital and was lucky to survive a simple throat-operation due to malpractice. The Chief Captain Jan Elbessy was making plans to take over as General Manager and promote my Dutch Assistant to my position.
I was under the impression that Rul was in agreement. Luckily Rul survived, after a week bak in the chair. I went to see him to throw in the towel. After ten minutes Rul explained we were in the boat and I was leaving a sinking ship and he would have to follow.
Knowing this I happily called Jan, my Assistant, into my office and issued a number of instructions. Finishing with the remarks, if he had any reservations, he could see Rul Bueckle. I was pleased to notice the jaw twitch in Jan.
A DC7 was on route into Nuernberg and lost the hydraulic fluid. To rectify the Aircraft was flown Gear down – to Schiphol. The Pump broke, contaminating the complete Hydraulic System. All the hydraulic Components had to be replaced. KLM billed us for US$ 75,000.00.
A review of the Records proved the Pump was time-expired, so we refused to pay.
By now we had a similar situation totaling US$ 800,000.00. I wrote up 16 pages, stating our position and called a meeting with KLM in Amsterdam. At 4 o’clock Rul said: Patrick, if you don’t sign, I won’t pay! I said “Hurra” meet us in Den Haag-Courts. Two weeks later Rul offered me a Brandy in his office. He had settled for US$ 200,000.00, saved US$ 600,000.00.
I didn’t agree, but he convinced me that sometimes it is better to solve the problem.
We quickly expanded the fleet:
2 DC9’s new from Douglas 2 DC8’30’s from Swissair 
6 DC7’s from KLM
1 DC7 from George Batchlor
1 F227 ex President of Mexico 1 Queen Air 5 Herons We were very successful, growing rapidly and making large profits. That’s when Lufthansa decided to do something. At that time Suedflug was owned 50 % by Rul Bueckle and 50 % by Hertzog, a Travel Agent. Lufthansa bought the Travel Agency.
It took a couple of days to figure out how he could squeeze DM 10,000.000- out of Lufthansa for his 50 %. In seven days Rul picked up his hat and coat and left a beautiful building which was only completed for Suedflug six month before.
Lufthansa sent in a team, lead by Dr. Koch, to close down Suedflug. Extreme pressure was exerted on all executives and very quickly it was a free for all. Each making the best deal they could. Most Pilots and Flight Engineers joined Japan Airlines. My Staff got scattered, again 12 of them had been with me in Hamburg they got jobs in the Congo and when I joined Suedflug they came on board.
By now the two DC9’s were sold and delivered to Swissair.
The two DC8’s were sold to an American Company: Fred B. Ayer, who in turn sold them to Atlantic which was founded by Tillman Ullrich and Werner Will, ex Suedflug-staff, and it turned out they employed most of the Suedflug people. Not alone that, but they also bought three brand new DC8-63’s from Douglas. In actual fact Lufthansa later admitted they made a mistake buying Suedflug. The devil you know is better then the one you don’t!
Again the staff quickly scattered. Being highly skilled they quickly got jobs and in some cases improved their position. We still bump into them as managers, Directors.
Something very positive with such a large fleet of different type aircraft and high utilization: we were never involved in an accident or even incident, not to mention loss of life!
Our relationship with the L.B.A. (Luftfahrtbundesamt) German Air Authorities for the reason was excellent. We had some spies which were feeding them stories. The old game trying to cut some legs from the chair – you would call it now: mobbing.
We had quite a number of foreigners, especially the Flight Crews, but Ground Personal was mostly German, as well as female cabin-staff, usually very pretty. Rul insisted on vetting them all.
Suedflug-parties: I could only describe: Wild and spectacular: a Gill-party with a wild pig, bone-fire and music on the edge of a wood. I won’t go into any details. It appeared a good time was had by all!
I often wondered over the way Lufthansa closed down. Suedflug had complete disregard for the employers. As far as I am concerned they achieved nothing on the contrary a half dozen companies sprung up, mostly started by the people Lufthansa got rid off at Suedflug.
Suedflug would be bigger than Ryanair and German Wings put together!
But look at all adventurers, challengers and excitement (and more to come) I would have missed!?!
