06/30/2009. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Most likely studied as a bomber during the early secret German rearmament programs, Albatros at Berlin-Johannisthal presented this traditional biplane as a transport. The prestigious press group Ullstein AG of Berlin ordered two aircraft for fast delivery of newspapers. Designated L 72b, they were delivered on April 8, 1926, (c/n 10074 D-888, c/n 10075 D-890).

The newspapers, being packed in bundles, piled up in vertical racks assembled in the fuselage. A mechanical system made it possible to the pilots to select a rack, then to open a trap door at the base of the fuselage, the newspapers being then released at low altitude.

(D-1140) (Josef Krauthaeuser Collection

For the Hamburger Fremdenblatt, a leading newspaper, a third aircraft was produced in 1927, designated L 72c and registered as D-1140. By 1934 all three L 72s had been acquired by the Hamburger Luftverkehrsgesellschaft m.b.H, delivering newspapers to the islands in the North Sea, while they had been reregistered to D-OBEP, D-OBIZ and D-OMUZ respectively.

In 1937 they were sold to Lufthansa, fitted as four-passenger transports."