A SHAME: The airstrip, written down in the history of world aviation, is now a junkyard where sheep eat! (PHOTO)

The airport in the city of Pančevo was written down in history as the first place where the first night train on the line Paris - Istanbul took off. Today, people throw garbage on it

The first night flight in the history of world aviation happened on March 25, 1923 on the line Pančevo - Bucharest, from the line Paris - Istanbul.

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In this way, the airport in the city of Pančevo was noted in the history of the world aviation.

Nowadays, the airport is just a meadow for sheep where people dump their garbage, without any board stating that once airplanes were going for world cities!

The airport in the city of Pančevo was noted in the history of the world aviation because it was used as the airstrip for the first night plane for Bucharest.

It was the only way on which the planes would beat the train and come to Istanbul before the luxurious "Orient-Express" train which went slower than an airplane but could travel by night.

That was the first connection of the Kingdom of SCS with the world.

Telegraf news agency reporter found just a meadow there, all in weed, with piles of garbage all around.

According to Bojan Perić (57) from Pančevo, there was the airstrip there, but someone smashed the concrete and now you only have the dirt.

- Despite the sign that dumping garbage is forbidden, people still do that. They bring their flocks of sheep here to eat, and the concrete airstrip is completely gone - he claims.

The French company "Franco Rumen" made the first lines Paris - Strasbourg and Pančevo - Bucharest, so that the travelers could reach Istanbul before the "Orient Express" which could reach the city in 4 days.

Due to conditions of the air traffic back then, the planes could only go by day.

With first dusk, everything stopped, and it would continue in the morning.

The flight between Paris and Istanbul lasted around 30 hours, while the flight between Pančevo and Bucharest lasted 4 hours.

Airplanes stopped landing on the Pančevo airport in 1927.

For the first flight, a French airplane "Codron C-61" was used.

It could carry 6-8 passengers, and the first traveler from Pančevo was Vladimir Aleksić.

Aero-club "Utva" is using the airport today. They keep it tidy and use all the force not to lose it.

It is interesting to mention that in 2011 there was a "public call for an idea for the solution" with the goal to inform the citizens about the meaning of the cultural significance through cherishing past events, along with making a new visual city identity.

The city of Pančevo is supposed to be part of the wider collective memory and geographical cultural space where the first night flight took place, starting from Paris, and going through Strasbourg, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Pančevo, Bucharest, and Istanbul.

Still, the details of this call are not yet visible.

By the 1923 contract between the air companies "Franco Rumen" and the kingdom of SCS, the airport in the city of Pančevo became a stop between Budapest and Bucharest on the line Paris-Istanbul.

By this contract, the Kingdom of SCS became for the first time a part of European air traffic.

The first night flight was made here in 1923 thus making this airport important in world air traffic history, because it witnessed the events important for the history of national air industry and international relations.

The history of the air traffic in Serbia started on March 25, 1923 when the passenger flight landed at the Pančevo airport for the first time.

This marked the line from Paris to Strasbourg, Prague, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, Istanbul, and our country was for the first time a part of the system of European air traffic.

Airports in Pančevo and Bucharest were equipped for transportation of the airplanes in the conditions of night flight.

Along the airstrip there were lights and two strong reflectors on a movable base, which would light the path for the plane from two different angles.

Moreover, to strengthen the navigation, along the route from Pančevo to Bucharest there were electrical lamp-lights on every 20 km, so that the pilot could navigate.

Two were on our territory, and 22 on Romanian territory.

In a case of need, there were rockets available in various colors, so that the security could be improved.

Those were the first navigation lines for the night flights in the world.

Today, nothing of that sort is functioning anymore.

(Telegraf.co.uk)