A new delivery of aerolíneas histórich people from Ecuador, we will talk about SEDTA – Ecuadorian Transport Society Aéreos pioneer company in Ecuadorian aerocommercial development.

Performed by: Historian Aeronáutico Guido Cháonce with informationón personal and other sources.
Photographerías: Guido Ch's personal archiveáturn, thanks to the authors.

SIT

Background

The beginnings of the Aviationón Ecuadorian Civil, Eastá indisputably linked to the development of aviationón military of our countryís, in fact the pioneer in this endeavorñor were it the Tel flightségraph I, what in 1920 incursionó over the Ecuadorian Andes in order to fulfill a double missionón, the delivery of national mail and opening the routes it servesía base for future flights over the territory, work carried out by eye and taking visual references from the geographyíto the different areas.

This adventure toéarea whose purpose was to unite the píThis was carried out by various pioneers and mámachines that served for this purpose that gave the necessary impetus for the development of both props toéprisoners.

At the beginning of the déeach of theños 30 and mid s 40, the first service is establishedéregular prisoner with the remembered PANAGRA (we will talk about it in a prómaximum delivery), who with Sikorsky S-42 aircraft made flights from Guayaquil to many other destinations in Central and South Americaérica, así as wellén regular flights in our streetón interandean connecting cities like Quito Guayaquil, Cuenca, Manta, Salinas, Esmeraldas and Loja with Douglas DC-2 aircraft but it is not a companyñíto Ecuador itself.

In the middle of the déeach of theños 30 is when we can really say that it existedó a company, although foreign capital, that begins commercial operations within Ecuadorian territory.

Another milestone was the airmail service (1929-1934), this route aíto different cities especially in the regionóAndean route from Loja to Tulcán excepting AzóGues y Bolíwas, This reference is important since it motivatedó because in some way, although precarious, airports are established in almost all provincial capitals, indisputable factor in the development and promotion of aviationón civilian of that time.

¿Becauseé Sierra initially had greater momentum in service toéreo? As well, is due to the scarce, if not null, road infrastructure system of the élittle, On the other hand, the East was unexplorableún, but allí It is precisely where the greatest development was seenéprisoner with planes that we truly never imagined couldíhaving flown in our país.

The Ecuadorian coast by having víriver communicationón it had better services compared to the Sierra, and in 1959 it startsó the service toécommercial prisoner to the regionón insular.

History of S.E.D.T.A.

The company was founded in Ecuador on 24 from July toñO 1937 by the German businessman and pilotán Fritz Hammer who had the initiative to start an airlineínea for Ecuador given his knowledge of our countryís (as unconfirmed information regarding the type of aircraftón Hammer dies in an accidentéinmate in Chimborazo after crashing in a Heinkel He-70).

Subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa DLH with an initial capital of 700 thousand sucres of which 620 thousand were the contribution of Lufthansa and the remainder of national investors as part of the expansionón of this company in Américh latina.

Undisputed pioneer in the país, shelteró routes to major cities like Guayaquil, Cuenca, Manta, Esmeraldas and Salinas being its operational base Quito at the Campo de Aviación of Cotocollao.

It should be noted that at that time, existing roads were winding and dangerous, considering that they crossed a geographyíto very difficultíeasy and the transfer time was quite long, of ahí that S.E.D.T.A. It is presented as a solutionón in the transport of passengers and cargo by vía aérea, for those who canístill pay the amount of the ticket. For 1938 The first Junkers aircraft are already beginning to be received 34 and 52.

In January of 1941 on a flight to Cuenca the brakes failed at the time of landing, what causedó that the Junkers go off the track, what was the úlast flight of the S.E.D.T.A Junkers. to Cuenca, later toneó the post of these operations PANAGRA.

Deutsche Lufthansa branches elsewhereíSouth Am sessionsérica, were Union Cóndor in Brazil that will transformía in Cruzeiro do Sul y más tarde and Varig, S.C.A.D.T.A in Colombia that later becameíin Avianca, in Bolivia the Lloyd AéBolivian language, in Perú It was Lufthansa Peruú. All the companies mentioned operated with Junkers aircraft, Heinkel and Focke-Wulf, additionally includesía personal alemán both pilots and mechánicos para su respective operationón.

For himño de 1940 S.E.D.T.A. requests to operate to the Gal Islandsápayments, which was not seen well by the US government since it was considered a strategic pointélogic for the defense of the Panama Canalá. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, The Ecuadorian government declares war on the Axis powers with this actionón the aircraft were seized and began to operate for the FAE and all personnel of German originán was deported from the countryís, in this way the operations of S.E.D.T.A came to an end. in Ecuador, Although there was at least one attempt to nationalize the company, but due to the lack of state resources it did not have the expected fruit. This happened.ó in october 1941.

the routes, terminals and maintenance facilities were later used by PANAGRA, that will ultimately comeíto be the North American counterpart of S.E.D.T.A including the German SchooláIt was closed and alsoén managers and teachers were deported.

Product of the seizureón, one of the Junkers Ju-52 3/m HC-SAD “aconcagua” it was transferred to the USAAF as a war trophy in September 1941 to operate in the Panama Canal zoneá under the nameón C-79 that unfortunately crashed in Panamaá in december 1943.

The fleet of S.E.D.T.A.

Regarding the Junkers W-34, It really constitutes the first aviónumber of civilian passengers operating in Ecuador, initially it was registered HC-SEDTA, later as HC-001 to later be HC-SAA, I understoodéknowing this happenedó until you get somethingún type of organizationóadministrative n for mothersínumbers and records of Ecuadorian civil aircraft.

For himñO 1938, spaghettién leggó al país another W-34, the same one that was carrying out demonstration flights through Latino América, it's avión was purchased by the FAE and was called “Atahualpa” constituyégoing on the first planeón of transport of the weapon toérea.

It's avión browseó in the conflict of 1941 in supply and evacuation missionsón, Regrettably, he had an accident in Montecristi with pérdida total. During the conflict, the Junkers HC-SAE was seized by Peruvian forces once the peace treaties were signed., the grandfatherón was returned to the FAE and subsequently compared by TAO and re-registered HC-SND.

As it mentioned above, once you stopó operations the company, another of the planes that passedó to the FAE inventory was the Ju-52 HC-SAE maintaining its name “Azuay”, This aircraft was even the first aircraftópresidential flight in which Dr.. Ifé Maríto Velasco Ibarra who was an aviation loverón and promoted the development of aviationón both civil and military in Ecuador.

The doctor. Velasco even occupiedó the passenger seat and nameó to the avión “The poet”, possibly due to its low flight speed, which must have allowed him to enjoy our landscape in an inspiring way at that time. élittle, due to the lack of spare parts for the BMW 132T engines of 830 HP what forcedó to replace these with Pratt and Witney R1340-40 engines 600 HP, of those used by the North American T-6 Texan trainers of the FAE, convertedón very accurate done by Cap. Gonzalo Rúales who, together with his brother, foundedían máIt's afternoon TAO.

Thank you SEDTA

S.E.D.T.A. It was the pioneer company in the development and opening of routes for aviation.óecuadorian n, without hesitation, INSPIRATIONó many visionaries and entrepreneurs launch new companies that allowed socio-economic developmentómonkey of Ecuador and additionally, the foundations of the organization are laidón berriesáutica of the país.

Of all these companies, we will talk in future installments.