in 1930 the Do X, built by Claude Dornier, took flight for its first Atlantic crossing. It was the world’s largest flying boat at the time.

A glamorous way to see the world as the 70-100 passengers onboard were treated to a dining salon, smoking lounge, wet bar and comfortable seating. However, passengers were integral in helping the captain bank into turns by moving from one side of the cabin to another whenever necessary.

Though the plane was German financed, it was Swiss made due to an element of the Versailles Treaty that restricted Germany's plane production.

The first test flights in the Lake Constance region were carried out with Siemens Jupiter engines. However, these were replaced in the spring of 1930 because of too low a performance against water-cooled Curtiss-Conqueror engines. The installation and testing of the new engines took place at the site of the aircraft factory Altenrhein at Lake Constance, Switzerland. The images were taken shortly before and after the launch of the flying ship. On August 4, 1930, the first start took place with the rebuilt DO-X. After the acceptance by the German experimental institute for aviation (DVL) in October 1930, the aircraft got the identification D-1929

The flight continued north to the United States, finally reaching New York on 27 August 1931, almost nine months after departing Friedrichshafen. The Do X and crew spent the next nine months there as its engines were overhauled, and thousands of sightseers made the trip to Glenn Curtiss Airport (now LaGuardia Airport) to tour the leviathan of the air. The economic effects of the Great Depression dashed Dornier’s marketing plans for the Do X, however, and it departed from New York on May 21, 1932 via Newfoundland and the Azores to Müggelsee, Berlin where it arrived on 24 May and was met by a cheering crowd of 200,000.

To introduce the airliner to the potential United States market the Do X took off from Friedrichshafen, Germany on 3 November 1930, under the command of Friedrich Christiansen for a transatlantic test flight to New York. The route took the Do X to the Netherlands, England, France, Spain, and Portugal. The journey was interrupted at Lisbon on 29 November, when a tarpaulin made contact with a hot exhaust pipe and started a fire that consumed most of the port side wing. After sitting in Lisbon harbor for six weeks while new parts were fabricated and the damage repaired, the flying boat continued (with several further mishaps and delays) along the Western coast of Africa and by 5 June 1931 had reached the Capverdian Islands, from which it crossed the ocean to Natal in Brazil, where the crew were greeted as heroes by the local German émigré communities.

The largest, heaviest, and most powerful flying boat in the world when it was produced by the Dornier company of Germany in 1929.

The Do X remained an exhibit until it was destroyed in an RAF air raid during World War II on the night of 23–24 November 1943, by 383 aircraft — 365 Lancasters, 10 Halifaxes, and 8 Mosquitos. Fragments of the torn off tail section are on display at the Dornier Museum in Friedrichshafen. While never a commercial success, the Dornier Do X was the largest heavier-than-air aircraft of its time, a pioneer in demonstrating the potential of an international passenger air service. A successor, the Do-XX, was envisioned by Dornier, but never advanced beyond the design study stage.

http://anyskin.tumblr.com/post/139495156052/on-november-5-1930-the-do-x-built-by-claude#notes
http://cruiselinehistory.com/the-747-of-the-1920s-the-dornier-do-x-the-largest-flying-boat-in-the-world/
https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1qdj5i/dornier_do_x_seaplane_in_new_york_harbor_1931_the/
http://www.stereoskopie.com/Stereofotos/Serien/Dornier_DO-X_Flugschiff/body_dornier_do-x_flugschiff.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3658163/See-pictures-1920s-Dornier-X-luxurious-airline-existed.html