Friedrich Hermann Wölfert

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Friedrich Hermann Wölfert (17 November 1850 in Riethnordhausen, Kreis Sangerhausen - 12 June 1897 in Tempelhof (in Berlin)) was a German publisher and aviation pioneer.[1]

Early life

From 1870 he studied theology and philosophy at Leipzig, and he founded his own publishing company in 1873.[1] He published over 50 books and newspapers, some of which he wrote himself.[1] In the same year he married Christiane Trautmann, with whom he had two daughters.[2]

Human-powered airships

1882 title sheet of the first German technical newspaper for airflight

After meeting the forester Georg Baumgarten in 1879, he became fascinated with airship flight and offered not only financial support but helped him further develop airships. Baumgarten had patented and experimented with his own airship designs, but his royal employer soon forbad him from airship work. Therefore they both continued work using Wölfert's name. Their first cooperative work, the Dreigondelluftschiff (three gondola airship) flew in 1880-01-31, and crashed.[1] In 1881 further models were built, all of them, non-rigid designs. Due to their activities the Verein zur Förderung der Luftschifffahrt was founded in 1881-09-08.[1]

Wölfert neglected his publishing business, which was sold in 1881.[1] After Baumgarten's death in 1884 he continued the work and built a series of seven airships, including the human-powered Deutschland which flew in Berlin.

Gottlieb Daimler's petrol engine

Daimler-airship model of 1888

After flying another airship in Dresden in 1887, a Leipzig illustrated newspaper printed a detailed account, describing it as a muscle-powered airship and hinting at a military project. Gottlieb Daimler noticed this article and, after patenting his new petrol engine for airflight, invited Wölfert to Cannstatt.[1]

On 1888-08-10 Wölfert's airship, driven by Daimler's so-called Standuhr (Grandfather Clock) petrol engine,[3] flew 10 kilometres from Cannstatt to Aldingen (part of Remseck am Neckar) and back. Other flights were made in Cannstatt, Ulm, Augsburg, Munich, and Vienna. He also offered the use of one for military purposes to the Berlin airship department.

1896 Berliner Gewerbeausstellung

Wölfert wished to present his airship at the 1896 Berliner Gewerbeausstellung (a large commercial exposition). A sponsor provided 50,000 Mark to build a hangar at the expo. At least three flights were made; one on 1896-05-20 reached the then record height of 1,940 metres.[1]

Later flights included the delivery of Post, from which some envelopes still exist. These successes led to support from the military and at the last, and fatal, flight at Tempelhof guests from Greece, China and Japan were present. Wölfert again named the airship Deutschland, which rose up about 500 metres but caught fire and crashed on 1897-06-12, killing both him and his mechanic.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Schulz
  2. ^ Editors of German wikipedia
  3. ^ George Whale, 1995, Chapter II / Early airships and their development to the present day / Germany. "8 horse-power benzine Daimler motor drove a twin-bladed aluminium propeller"
Persondata
NAME Wölfert, Friedrich Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION German publisher and airship builder
DATE OF BIRTH 1850-11-17
PLACE OF BIRTH Riethnordhausen, Kreis Sangerhausen
DATE OF DEATH 1897-06-12
PLACE OF DEATH Tempelhof (in Berlin)

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Friedrich Hermann Wölfert".