In the spring of 1935, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines took delivery of the last pre-war Fokker airliners built by NV Nederlandsche Vliegtuigenfabriek, or NVNV. Since its earliest days, the carrier had flown little other than Fokker products, but the factory had failed to come up with anything to compete with the Douglas DC-2. Added to that, Albert Plesman, the managing director of KLM, didn't get on with NVNV owner Anthony Fokker. They argued constantly about prices and deliveries.When Donald Douglas visited the Netherlands and spent time holidaying with Plesman and his sons, they discovered they shared the same view on the future of aviation: all-metal aircraft. KLM had already ordered a considerable number of DC-2s, which were delivered through NVNV, but it also showed great interest in the four-engined DC-4 for the prestigious route between Amsterdam and Batavia in the Netherlands East Indies, today Jakarta in Indonesia. The aircraft would be a good rival to the slow, but comfortable, Handley Page HP42s of Imperial Airways. Before the DC-2 arrived on the scene, KLM had asked Fokker to produce a four-engined aircraft that could fly faster than the British type and offer passengers the height of luxury, including sleeper cabins.
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