Flying High in the Alps – Aerial Images of Graubünden

Samedan Airport? Certainly — most people have heard of it. But aircraft also took off and landed in quite different places in Graubünden: on frozen lakes, on green meadows – and sometimes in even more adventurous circumstances. The famous aviation pioneer Walter Mittelholzer, for example, crash-landed his aircraft in a barn in Davos in 1928. A satirical magazine promptly gave him the nickname “Mittendurchsholzer” (“straight-through-the-wood guy”: Mittelholzer literally means “middlewoodchopper”).

Nevertheless, Walter Mittelholzer is celebrated as an aviation pioneer in Davos as well – and he helped shape Switzerland’s image from above. In 1919, he and his flying instructor Alfred Comte founded the first Swiss airline, which became known under the name Ad Astra Aero. In 1919, he and his flying instructor Alfred Comte founded the first Swiss airline, known as Ad Astra Aero. Passenger transport was one pillar of the company; the other was aerial photography.

The views provided by Mittelholzer and his fellow aviators were unlike anything seen before in Switzerland. Mountains, villages, rivers – everything became visible in striking detail from above. And even today, aerial photographs remain important – for example in land surveying. But anyone wishing to see Graubünden from above no longer needs to board a plane: the Staatsarchiv Graubünden has digitised numerous aerial images, which can also be viewed on Porta Cultura.