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Colombia - Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transporte Aéreo - SCADTA

Colombian German Air Transport Society

image by Miles Li, 14 March 2015

Flag

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Flag

Here is flag of SCADTA (Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transporte Aéreo, Colombian-German Air Transport Society). Formed in 1919, it is the oldest predecessor of the modern-day Colombian airline Avianca. Given SCADTA's German ownership, it is little surprise that that its saltire flag recalls that of Lufthansa and of the pre-WWII Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei.
Miles Li, 24 January 2014

Having worked in the aviation sector myself, and being an aviation enthusiast also, I have never seen a flag for this aviation company (only logos mainly on their airmail and flight schedules, but I have never seen a flag attributed to this company).
Esteban Rivera, 24 January 2014

Here is a reference: http://aviacionyturismo.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/tiquete.jpg The light blue color of the cross is really a green St. Andrew's cross.
A similar flag with St. Andrew's cross had the German-Russian airline "Deruluft" (DEutsch-RUssische LUFTverkehrsgesellschaft AG). See please: http://www.vexillographia.ru/russia/images/deruluft.gif at http://www.vexillographia.ru/russia/USSRved.htm#deru
Jens Pattke, 24 January 2014

May I controvert your opinion on this, and say that the file you mention is not a flag, but a logo on some airmail.
Again, if anybody can mention a credible source where we can actually find a real flag of this company, I look forward to see it.
Esteban Rivera, 24 January 2014

The best image of the flag can be found here: http://www.sandafayre.com/stockimages/72311851.jpg
Another one (used as the background of a ticket) can be found here: http://catalog.stamplibrary.org/InmagicGenie/ImageFolder/scadta%20correspondence%20330602.jpg
Of course, not every rectangular emblem is a flag. However since SCADTA had another logo (a simplified version of which was placed on the saltire), there is little doubt that this was indeed a flag.
Miles Li, 25 January 2014

If that's a flag, then there are two versions, as one has blue diagonals and the other green.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 25 January 2014

Here is yet another image: http://aviacionyturismo.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/tiquete.jpg%3Fw%3D210 The saltire appears bluish green. Maybe the green shade was just the result of limitations in printing technology available locally at the time?
Miles Li, 25 January 2014

An airplane model builders wrote me. The last original flag of SCADTA is found in a glass case at the airport "Ernesto Cortissoz" in Barranquilla. The German-Colombian airline SCADTA had throughout its history three flags. A 1927 flag was the Lufthansa flag (blue with yellow St-Andrew-cross), instead of the Lufthansa-crane, the German-Colombian company introduced a SCADTA-condor. Image unknown. The white-red-green flag is then the second version.
Jens Pattke, 26 January 2014

I am still a bit skeptical about SCADTA having a flag (because no mention of it has appeared on any written or graphical material). However, I have to rely on Jens' comments that an airplane modeler told him there's one at the airport. I would like too see an official response from airport authorities, but that is going to be a little difficult: the Enersto Cortissoz International Airport was operated from 1996 until 2011 by a private contractor, ACSA (Aeropuertos del Caribe S.A.), even having an official website for the airport, but then Aerocivil took over management due to bad performance results.

Now, regarding the different logos of SCADTA, I have seen the following (but again, not all logos made it to become part of a flag...)
- http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/Avianca (and here logo in hi res)
- http://scadta.co/fundacion-de-scadta/ (logo in color, seems to be a metal pin)
- http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130120151116/logopedia/images/2/2d/Scadta_1929-1936.png (logo in red/green scheme, different typography)
- http://www.filaposta.com/imagenes/jorgesurcl-scadta.prop.jpg (logo in a newspaper add)
- http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e376/ruben77/Ford/Ford-tri-013.jpg (picture of a paper scale model kit for a Ford Tri-Motor operated by SCADTA, displaying the first logo on the fuselage).
And here's another logo, with a more elaborate landscape, in different color composition:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uLUpU5oXzXE/TrwRCj47MxI/AAAAAAAABhE/j69ceRmvWXA/s1600/Scadta%2B1919.jpg and http://www.timetableimages.com/i-lab/av2l1.jpg

Here's a photograph of what seems to be a meeting of SCADTA personnel (maybe administrative staff or shareholders, I'm not really sure) . There seems to be a SCADTA flag in that picture, but since it is in black and white, I'm not certain of what colors are there.
Source: http://www.scadta.de/Scadta-Fluggesellschaft/Scadta-Fluggesellschaft/Geschichte.html
During 2012 and the commemoration of the Centennial of aviation in Colombia, a special gallery was opened in the Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport in Barranquilla, to display the history of SCADTA and the origins of aviation in Colombia. This exposition was possible through the collaboration of many people among them Universities, the city's Mayor and historians as well. Maybe it is in this gallery, that Jens came to the fact that there's an actual flag of SCADTA.
Esteban Rivera, 26 January 2014

I do concede that the satire on the SCADTA flag could be green.
Miles Li, 27 January 2014

There's a special group in Facebook (kind of "official") where relatives of founding members of this airline, as well as former and current pilots, historians, professors, etc., take part in recovering the history of this airline.
In this group there's a picture gallery of the Aviation Hall in the Ernesto Cortissoz Airport in Barranquilla where the supposed flag is found.
Here are two pictures that show the flag (if you can't access the file for not being member of the group, (here's the image link).
In this picture, one can see the Colombian flag (left) and the SCADTA right next to a Junkers Ju-52 flown by the airline. (if you can't access the file for not being member of the group, (here's the image link). In this picture, encased on a glass there's the flag of SCADTA.

Here's the cockade used in the first years of SCADTA : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150270804432284&set=o.115986611764504&type=3
(if you can't access the picture, here's the image.)
The source for this, is this picture of a Junkers F-13, showing it on the side (Image.)
Esteban Rivera, 05 February 2014

Possibily erroneous version with blue saltire

image by Miles Li, 14 March 2015