Ronald Kappel

Biography Kappel was born on 8 November 1926 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Both his parents were from Suriname. They had planned to begin operations in February 1951. A second-hand Cessna AT-17 Bobcat was purchased. and not insured.

In 1952, Kappel and , owner of the 7 Up factory in Suriname, founded Luchtvaartbedrijf Kappel-Van Eyck, and received permission to start a cargo airline in Suriname. They were not allowed to transport passengers,

On 1 October 1952, Luchtvaartbedrijf Kappel-Van Eyck received permission to transport passengers. On 13 October, Kappel flew to Camaguey Air Base, Cuba, and wanted to fly on to Santiago de Cuba using a letter of recommendation of the mayor of Paramaribo. The negotiations with the Surinamese government to establish a national airline were difficult. On 16 March, Kappel, H. Massink, and 18 Amerindians started clearing the savanna, and on 24 March, the first plane landed on the airstrip. Geijskes decided to name the savanna "Kappel Savanna".

In February 1959, Operation Grasshopper was announced which intended to map the natural resources in the interior of Suriname. As part of the operation, six more airstrips were to be constructed.

Death

Wicenty "Vincent" Fajks was born in Chełm, Poland on 22 May 1914. He was a World War II veteran who had served in the No. 317 Polish Fighter Squadron of the Polish Air Force in Great Britain. In 1957, he started flying in Suriname.

On 6 October 1959, Fajks and Kappel set off from Tafelberg to Paloemeu in an Aero Commander 520 with registration "PZ-TAG" to deliver cargo for Operation Grasshopper. In the fog, one of the engines failed, causing the aircraft to crash into a hill several kilometres from Paloemeu Airstrip. Both pilots were killed.

On 11 October, Kappel and Fajks received a state funeral with speeches by Prime Minister Severinus Desiré Emanuels of Suriname and Prime Minister Efraïn Jonckheer of the Netherlands Antilles.

On 11 August 2004, the first Boeing 747 of Surinam Airways was named "Ronald Elwin Kappel". On 11 February 2017, a bust of Kappel which was sculpted by Erwin de Vries was placed near the terminal of Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport.