Frits Koolhoven

Biography

Dutch aviation pioneer and airplane builder. In 1910, together with the aviator Henri Wijnmalen, he ran the flight school and aircraft factory Nederlandsche Maatschappij voor Luchtvaart, which later became the airbase at Soesterberg. He left for Great Britain in 1911, in his first self-built aircraft. He worked in the airline industry there until 1922.

Back in the Netherlands, he worked for the automobile and aircraft manufacturer Spijker, and for Nationale Vliegtuigindustrie, until founding his own aircraft factory, NV Koolhoven, at the Rotterdam airport Waalhaven in 1928.

In May 1940, the factory was bombed. The company did not reopen after the war.