 Braathen traveled to the United States , where he bought several used Douglas C @-@ 54 ( DC @-@ 4 ) aircraft from the United States Air Force . These were rebuilt by Texas Maintenance Company ( <unk> ) in Fort Worth , Texas , giving them a capacity of 44 passengers , or 22 passengers and 4 tonnes ( 3 @.@ 9 long tons ; 4 @.@ 4 short tons ) of cargo . Twenty pilots were recruited and sent to Fort Worth for certification . The first plane , LN @-@ <unk> Norse Explorer , landed at Oslo Airport , Gardermoen on 26 December 1946 . The next planes were LN @-@ <unk> Norse <unk> on 11 February 1947 and LN @-@ <unk> Norse <unk> on 13 March . 
