Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld
Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld (born May 1, 1892 in Königsberg i. Pr. , † February 5, 1929 in Berlin ) was a German aviation pioneer. He initiated the first east-west flight across the North Atlantic with the Junkers W 33 "Bremen" in 1928.
meaning
Hünefeld was already enthusiastic about aviation as a teenager , was seriously injured in his legs in World War I , in which he was unable to take part as an aviator due to his poor health since he was a teenager , then was in diplomatic service and from 1923 press officer at North German Lloyd . In addition to the Atlantic flight, Hünefeld undertook a sensational East Asian flight in 1928. He also appeared as a writer of dramas and poems.
Life
Günther was the son of Julius Freiherr von Hünefeld, the scion of a baron family originally resident in Hünfeld near Fulda, who had come to East Prussia via Thuringia, Saxony and Silesia . From 1801, the ancestors ran the “ Adamsverdruß ” glassworks for dolls in the Johannisburger Heide . Ehrenfried Günther's father was an officer in the East Prussian grenadier regiment " Crown Prince " in Königsberg, where he owned the Gehland estate near Sensburg and later Braxeinswalde near Tharau .
Childhood and youth
Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld was blind in his left eye, and later he could only see in his right eye with the help of a monocle . He spent his early childhood together with his two years older brother Hans in Eisenach with Hulda Lachmann (née Levinstein), the maternal grandmother, who brought the family into contact with artists such as the writer Walter Bloem and the actor Emanuel Reicher . The father sold the estate and the family moved to Berlin- Südende , where they lived in a house on Hermannstrasse. From the age of 7 von Hünefeld wrote his own poems, which testify to early maturity and piety. He was tutored at home by Hauslehrer Höhne and then attended high school in Steglitz, where he devoted himself to philosophy. As a child he was still healthy and athletic apart from the visual defect, among other things he also received fencing lessons. Early on, he became interested in political topics such as the Russian Revolution, which he dealt with in 1905 with the poem “The Revolution”, and the Russo-Japanese War. At this time he developed a pronounced patriotic awareness, also expressed through his membership in the German Fleet Association and his enthusiasm for everything military. He later wrote: Above all, however, in many of us, yes, I can say in most of us, was the idea of the army and education in the army; for the German youth of that time loved nothing as much as the soldiers and longed to be able to wear the colorful skirt one day.
From the age of 14 he often became seriously ill. Because of nephritis , he had to stop attending school several times and eventually left high school prematurely. After private tuition, he completed the primary school and hoped that with this degree he would later be able to study philosophy or obtain a doctorate .
The great baron
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After finishing school, a restless life began. In the morning hours he got enthusiastic about flying at the Johannisthal airfield near Berlin, where many of the early aviation pioneers had their workshops and where he also received his first flying training. Flying in small powered aircraft like those from Farman or the Rumpler Taube was only possible in Johannisthal in the early morning hours, as the space was reserved for the much larger zeppelins from 8 or 9 a.m. During the day he attended lectures in philosophy and literary history at Berlin University or worked as a dramaturge at a stage publisher. He spent the evenings and nights with aviator and literary friends mostly in the Café Großeswahn on Kurfürstendamm, at that time the central literary meeting place in the city. There he made the acquaintance of Maximilian Bern , among others , in whose magazine “Zehnte Muse” he published for the first time. At that time, Hünefeld saw himself as part of the Bohème and, despite his poor health, led an excessive life that earned him the nickname "The Great Baron". He wrote about his lifestyle at the time: We're flying! Morning after morning in Johannisthal. The sleep of the nights? Those who are young don't need sleep. And the work of the day - what are cigarettes for ?; they keep you awake.
War volunteer
At the outbreak of the First World War on August 1, 1914 Hünefeld reported immediately as a volunteer, but was initially pushed for a medical examination on August 5, when he because of his poor health due to a just survived pleurisy was retired. The father then placed him with the Red Cross , but Hünefeld only stayed there for two days. Since it in Lankwitz was a volunteer driver corps that any non-military agents participated with its own motorcycle he borrowed just decided a motorcycle, completed within five days in Eilkursen driver's license and moved as a dispatch rider in late August 1914, the Western Front . Hünefeld was distinguished by some daring journeys and, when the volunteer corps was quickly disbanded, came to the staff of the naval division near Mechelen in officer position without a specific rank . There he was seriously wounded by shrapnel during a report trip on September 30, 1914 . Injuries to both legs tied the young man to the bed for almost a year and resulted in permanent walking difficulties, as his right leg was shortened by four centimeters. Out of deep gratitude that he was able to keep his legs at all, he dedicated his first volume of poetry, "Kleine Liedlein" (Little Songs), from 1916 to the doctor in charge, Prof. Lerer. Ten years later, Hünefeld had part of the bone removed from the thigh of the longer leg in order to alleviate the handicap. The removed piece of bone then served as a knob on his walking stick .
In view of his handicap, a further military career was out of the question and he rejected further plans to return to the front as a driver. Instead, he directed the performance of a play for an aid organization for the benefit of Turkish war blind people. Through this commission, under the patronage of the Duchess of Meiningen, he came into contact with the Foreign Office, which obliged him to undertake diplomatic missions during a Balkan concert tour of a German opera orchestra with Prof. Carl Clewing , chamber singer Emmi Leisner and Thomaskantor Karl Straube .
Diplomatic service
At the end of 1916, Hünefeld was accepted into the diplomatic service . He received training in the Berlin passport department and then came to the German consulate in Maastricht , where he became vice-consul. In this position he carried out intelligence and propaganda tasks in the context of counter-espionage against Belgium. The English press later named him one of the most dangerous men in the German secret service.
For Hünefeld, who was loyal to the emperor, it was a bitter blow to see the abdicated Kaiser Wilhelm II crossing the border in Eysden on November 10, 1918 . When he had to officially greet his friend, Crown Prince Wilhelm, in exile in the Netherlands on November 12 , Hünefeld resigned from his office. He stayed with the Crown Prince in Holland for a year and a half in the rectory of Wieringen on an island in the Wieringermeer . From there he published his collection of poems Island of Banishment and essays on political topics in various newspapers.
Bremen
In 1921 Hünefeld returned to Germany, where he moved to Bremen because of the liberal spirit . There the merchants worked determinedly to rebuild a merchant fleet , while large other parts of Germany were still marked by political disputes. Hünefeld initially found a job at a recycling center of the Bremen tax authorities, which recycled the confiscated slide goods. He took an apartment on Rembertistraße in Bremen , where he gladly invited to social receptions. His eloquence and his perfectly formed appearance are praised. Although he felt comfortable in company, nothing is known about private relationships. Even his autobiographical poems rarely suggest love affairs.
A call to a position as "head of propaganda" at Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) in 1923 nourished the hope of being able to continue to act patriotically through this leadership position in the economy and in the course of the further development of this important shipping company and its technology back in contact with his old passion - the aviation - to come. In the early 1920s, commercial aviation was still in its infancy, and the requirements of the Versailles Treaty severely hampered technical development in the German Reich. Nevertheless, many companies and groups of companies worked through branches in Switzerland, Italy or South America to set up airlines and develop high-performance aircraft. During these years the public took an active part in record flights by daring pilots.
North German Lloyd
His duties as " Head of Propaganda" ( press officer ) at Norddeutscher Lloyd included managing all of NDL's advertising, to which he placed the requirement of a solid salary in an elegant and elegant design. Hünefeld was in contact with many important developers and decision-makers in the transport and aviation sectors of that time. His pace of work and his appearance in society should not have been noticeable how he suffered from multiple gastric operations from 1925, during which half of his stomach was removed and a new gastric outlet was created. Nevertheless, he processed these experiences in further poems.
In particular, Hünefeld had visions of increasing the aircraft's long-range capabilities. He followed the development of technology in this area with great interest. The North Atlantic had already been conquered several times from west to east, i.e. from America to Europe. The flight of the Curtiss NC-4 flying boat in 1919 and the first solo flight by Charles Lindbergh in 1927 were particularly spectacular. The route in the opposite direction, from Europe to America, as the airships R34 and LZ 126 had already done , was considered impossible for powered aircraft due to the prevailing winds and currents. However, Hünefeld was convinced of the feasibility of such an east-west overflight.
Transatlantic flight
Hünefeld found in Cornelius Edzard , the director of the North German Air Transport Company, a first supporter and possible pilot of a record flight. The Bremen privy councilor Dr. Strube, owner of the Darmstädter- und Nationalbank and member of the NDL presidium, who participated in the project because of the “national interest”. At the Junkers factories in Dessau , which were involved in the construction of long-haul aircraft , Hünefeld came into contact with Hermann Köhl , the night flight manager of Luft Hansa , who stood by as a technical advisor. Since his time as a military aviator in the First World War, Köhl has made outstanding contributions to blind flying and navigation flight and was therefore predestined for an Atlantic flight , in which long distances at night and in the weather can also not be flown on sight and can only be navigated using the gyrocompass .
At the end of the planning and consultation, Hünefeld had two Junkers W 33 machines at their disposal, which were named after the NDL flagships, the express steamers Bremen and Europa . The machines were extensively modified to withstand the stresses of an Atlantic flight. As a test for an Atlantic test, the Junkers factory pilots Johann Risticz and Fritz Loose initially set the long-term flight world record with the Europa . A first attempt to fly at the Atlantic took place on August 14, 1927. However, both the Bremen with Köhl, Hünefeld and Loose and the Europe with Edzard, Risticz and the journalist Knickerbocker had to turn back due to the bad weather. The Europa was badly damaged during the emergency landing at the Bremen airfield .
Hünefeld's health deteriorated and although he was just 34 years old, he knew that he didn't have much time. He worked at full speed on new North Atlantic flight plans. Meanwhile, Köhl was working on improving the turn indicator , a navigation instrument that is essential for flight. But the longer the preparations dragged on, the worse the public perception of record flights, which ultimately resulted in complete rejection. The reasons for this were many failed undertakings, such as Loose's renewed overflight attempt and the failure of an Irish team, as well as numerous victims in further attempts to fly over the Atlantic. A Berlin newspaper wrote: The hype in the ocean, which the world has had a lot to taste this year, is hopefully over. If single-engine land planes were to be seen over the ocean in 1928, then, according to the appalling teachings of that year, fools or romantic suicides are those who pilot them.
The press also portrayed Hünefeld as a seriously ill death candidate who wanted to end his life with a sensational suicide, whereas Köhl was the good-natured victim of Hünefeld's seduction. After these attacks, Luft Hansa distanced itself from record flight attempts in a public statement and tried to prevent Köhl from continuing to support the project. The NDL also held back with public support for the project. Hünefeld had to try another flight over the North Atlantic at his own risk and find financial backers in order to be able to finance the required aircraft, the Junkers W 33 Bremen . Although Lloyd and Hapag made money available again, they did not want to be mentioned in public.
Hünefeld and Köhl considered Baldonnel in Ireland as a new starting point , from where an Irish team had attempted to fly over. When there were calls in the press for long-haul flights to be banned internationally and legal prohibitions were feared, Hünefeld and Köhl hurriedly and secretly set off for Ireland with the Bremen at the end of March 1928 . To deceive the air police, Köhl had indicated the planned destination of the Dessau flight and was therefore released from the Luft Hansa without notice.
In Baldonnel, Hünefeld and Köhl found a co-pilot who was just as enthusiastic about the cause in the field commander James C. Fitzmaurice . Fitzmaurice had belonged to the Irish crew, which failed in 1927 with an attempt to fly over from Baldonnel. The sea flight department of the German naval observatory in Hamburg refused the airmen the requested weather service, for which the British Aviation Ministry stepped in, which on April 11, 1928 forecast good weather prospects for the coming day.
On the morning of April 12, 1928, the Junkers W 33 Bremen took off from Baldonnel. After the first 15 hours of flight had been calm, the pilots had to struggle with various pitfalls on the further route. Hünefeld, who was only a passenger for lack of flight experience, spent the flight in the rear of the aircraft, where he occasionally crawled between the built-in tanks for stabilization. After an exciting and dangerous flight lasting over 36 hours, Köhl landed the Bremen on April 13, 1928 on the south coast of Labrador on Greenly Island , a remote lighthouse island that belongs to Canada . Although the planes missed their actual destination, New York , by many hundreds of kilometers, the North Atlantic was crossed for the first time by an airplane in an east-west direction. Since the Bremen had been damaged on landing and the engine failed after the repair, the planes had to wait a few days on the lighthouse island. Hünefeld suffered severe poisoning. The aviator Floyd Bennett , who had started to pick up the Atlantic plane , died of complications from pneumonia, so that the flight of the plane was further delayed and it was only possible to leave for New York on April 26, 1928.
The fliers were celebrated for weeks in the USA and Canada. On May 3, Hünefeld gave a highly acclaimed speech in front of 4,000 German-Americans in Washington, in which he described the accomplished flight as a patriotic act under the sign of international reconciliation against the background of the World War, which had only ended a few years earlier. The aviators were awarded the highest US American award for aviators, the Distinguished Flying Cross , and were guests at countless receptions, but they turned down commercial offers to appear in variety theaters and the like. Hünefeld always emphasized the unifying character of the flight, spoke several times in churches and was completely exhausted in up to six speeches a day. Before returning to Germany, Hermann Köhl was rehabilitated by Luft Hansa, which named its largest and newest aircraft after him in May 1928. After the Deutsches Museum in Munich refused to hand over the Bremen , Hünefeld bequeathed the aircraft, which was no longer airworthy, to the City Museum of New York.
The planes returned to Germany from June 8th to 17th with the NDL steamer Columbus . In Bremen there was a big reception for the trio, which then went on a European sightseeing flight with numerous stops with the now restored Europa , Bremen's sister aircraft. The sightseeing flight was organized by Rudolph Deichmann, a friend of Hünefeld and former private secretary of the emperor, and led not only to Berlin, Cottbus, Coburg, Munich, Hamburg, London and Dublin but also to the Netherlands, where the aviators met the abdicated emperor in the Doorn house . The visit there, however, had a negative effect on the further course of the sightseeing flight, which only Hünefeld and Köhl completed after returning from Dublin. Because of this, the official reception in Cologne was canceled without further ado. After further stops in Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Dresden, Gdansk, Königsberg, Vienna and Budapest, the sightseeing flight ended in Dessau.
East Asia flight
After the end of the European sightseeing flight, Hünefeld collapsed in the office in July 1928. He had already suffered from constant pain during the sightseeing flight, but kept the sightseeing flight through with extreme effort. Now his body had capitulated and he had to undergo his twelfth operation in Berlin, a life-threatening operation on the appendix . While still in bed, he began preparations for another long-haul flight that was to take him to East Asia , where the Junkers factories had signed a license agreement with the Mitsubishi aircraft construction company in Tokyo. Hünefeld expected such a flight to have a political effect similar to that of the Atlantic flight. He also tried to find a flight route to East Asia via India that would be better usable for regular airmail traffic compared to the route already taken by other pilots via Siberia . Finally the Pacific should be crossed. During his eight-week hospital stay, Hünefeld largely completed the preparations for this flight. He had the Europa engine converted to make it suitable for use in the tropics with an additional cooler and a different compression ratio . He was able to win KG Lindner, the chief pilot of Aero-Transport-AG from Malmö, as a pilot, and the Junkers fitter Lengerich would accompany the flight.
Upon his release from the hospital, located Hünefeld made their way to Böblingen , where he also himself Ticket tried to acquire to the planned flight not only passengers, but also to his co-pilot. Since there were only 14 days between his discharge from the hospital and the planned take-off, during which autumn fog thwarted some training flights, he was unable to complete the required number of flights and, with the concession of the Württemberg government, only received an interim license as a pilot.
The East Asia flight began on September 19, 1928 in Berlin and led first to Sofia and then via Angora , Baghdad , Buschir and Karachi to Calcutta . There the planes incorrectly calculated the amount of fuel they needed, so that they had to make an emergency landing at Mandalay on the next leg to Hanoi due to a lack of fuel . Due to the onset of bad weather, the onward flight was delayed by twelve days before the crew could continue the flight via Hanoi , Canton and Shanghai to Tokyo . Again and again there were new weather-related delays. During official receptions, Hünefeld gave patriotic speeches. In Canton he said: We do not want to be your role model, not as your teachers, not as your masters, we want to come here as your brothers because we have experienced firsthand what it means to be under foreign dictatorship, and we do will also always have the feeling that only a free people with a free nationality can cultivate the spirit of sport and international understanding .
On the last stage from Shanghai to Tokyo, Hünefeld at the wheel of the machine was seized by a violent fever and delusions, so that Lindner had to take courageous action to prevent the machine from crashing. Towards the end of the stage, Lindner was forced to make an emergency landing due to thick fog and complete disorientation. The plane landed just 17 miles from Tokyo, bringing the 15,000-kilometer flight to a happy end. Hünefeld received the highest Japanese aviation award and was the only person who had earned both this and the American Distinguished Flying Cross .
The planned onward flight across the Pacific had to be canceled. Although the Japanese government had issued an initially questionable take-off permit, the time of year was already too far advanced for such an undertaking due to the multiple flight delays. Deprived of his task, Hünefeld, who “actually only fed on quinine ” on the flight to East Asia , collapsed again. He bequeathed the Europa to the Imperial Japanese Aeroclub. On October 30, 1928, he was able to return to Germany on the Siberia Express, where he arrived on November 18, 1928. The following weeks were filled with receptions and lectures, including in Dresden , Bremen , Berlin , Potsdam , Stockholm , Gothenburg and Malmö . North German Lloyd was considering setting up a special position for Hünefeld in the Berlin NDL agency, where it was supposed to deal with the problems of world air traffic. Hünefeld was full of plans for further pioneer flights. He intended a flight to America over the north polar region and then the realization of the prevented Pacific flight.
death
In December 1928 he went to the Berlin West Sanatorium for observation because of his stomach ailment, where he was told that another operation was necessary. To gain strength for the operation, Hünefeld drove to Mittenwald for ten days , where he spent the first quiet days in years. On February 4, 1929, he returned to the West Sanatorium for an operation. He had not told his beloved mother and friends about going to the sanatorium so as not to worry them. In the evening he wrote a letter to Luft Hansa, in which he asked for his private secretary Deichmann to be employed in the event of his death. Later that evening he wrote the poem with the telling title "On the Eve". One passage reads: You earth, who gave birth to me motherly, who was the goal and essence of my struggle, I greet you when God's word commands that the bond that kept me alive suddenly flutters and night falls. My German country, still dying I think yours! The following day, February 5, 1929, he died at the age of 36 as a result of an abdominal operation.
His funeral ceremony took place on February 10, 1929 in the Berlin Cathedral . In addition to fellow pilots, representatives from the Reich government and the Reichstag also attended, as well as envoys from the former emperor and crown prince and the Japanese ambassador. Obituaries and reports about the funeral service filled German and international newspapers. Hermann Köhl wrote in an obituary: Your service to the homeland has also become service to humanity . James C. Fitzmaurice wrote: His work was not only for the benefit of his country and people, but for the whole of the people. KG Lindner wrote: Hünefeld became one of those who made it their business to win back what his fatherland had lost in respect, friendship and sympathy . Hünefeld commemorations took place in many places. His grave in the Steglitz cemetery became the honor grave of the city of Berlin . The grave is in Section D at the view on the left - hereditary burial 165.
Appreciation
The Reich Ministry of Transport put a bust of Hünefeld on its premises. In 1930, when the airfield in Johannisthal was reopened, the first newly built shed was christened “Hünefeldschuppen”. The city of Bremen named a street after him in 1931, on which Bremen Airport and an Airbus location are located. In Dessau-Roßlau , Hünefeldstrasse leads to the airfield of the former Junkerswerke , in Cologne there is such a road near the former airfield Butzweilerhof. Other streets were named after him in Kiel-Holtenau , Magdeburg , Bottrop , Zweibrücken , Ottersleben and in 1935 in Wuppertal . In Berlin-Steglitz the elementary school and the Hünefeldzeile are named after him. In 2003, Deutsche Post issued a stamp and a textbook in honor of the Atlantic pilots.
Ten picture panels created by Bernhard Hoetger in 1934 on the Haus des Glockenspiels in Bremen's Böttcherstraße depict the early ocean conquerors, including Captain Hermann Köhl , Colonel James C. Fitzmaurice and Ehrenfried Günther Frh. Von Hünefeld on one of the rotating wooden panels .
Works
In addition to flying, Hünefeld also worked as a playwright and poet. He has written several plays and poetry. With the exception of the comedy “The Carnival Concert”, which premiered in the USA in 1927, his plays are set in times of political uncertainty: the drama “The Fear of Happiness”, premiered in Dresden in 1926, is set in France in 1831 after the fall of Charles X., his drama “Retraite “Takes place in 1848 at the time of the March riots in Berlin. His poems, on the other hand, are mostly of a patriotic or Christian nature and have autobiographical content. Also in his contributions to the pilot's book “Our Ocean Flight”, Hünefeld goes into his thoughts during the Atlantic flight on his biography and names faith and patriotism as the mainspring of his actions.
- Little songs , poems, 1916
- Island of Exile , 1920
- The Symphony of the Lonely , 1923
- The hour of the decision. Three one-act plays , Franz Leuwer Verlag, Bremen 1926
- The carnival concert. Comedy , Franz Leuwer Verlag, Bremen 1926
- The fear of happiness. Drama , Franz Leuwer Verlag, Bremen 1927
- Biblical characters and chants , 1928
- Our ocean flight , memoirs of Köhl, Fitzmaurice and Hünefeld, Berlin 1928
- I swore an oath! Poems from Germany's distress , Franz Leuwer Verlag, Bremen 1929
- From the eternal struggle. Poems. , 1929
- My East Asia flight. The first world flight Berlin-Tokyo. Completed and edited by Alexander Roechling on the basis of Hünefeld's notes and reports from KG Lindner, 1929
literature
- Gert Behrsing: Hünefeld, Günther Freiherr von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , pp. 741 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Karl-August Blendermann: Atlantic flight D 1167. With the "Bremen" over the ocean. This is the exciting story of the first German-Irish flight to the Atlantic. Hauschild Verlag, Bremen 1995, ISBN 3-929902-71-0 .
- Käthe Dorn: A flight of fancy. Memories of the ocean flyer from Hünefeld. Verlag Ernst Kaufmann, Lahr 1931 ( Flowers on the way 210).
- Martin Haug: Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld. The fighter for Germany's honor. In: Martin Haug: Who fought a good fight. On the wrestling and maturing of Christian Germans. Calwer club bookstore, Stuttgart 1940.
- Michael Hofbauer, Dieter Leder, Peter Schmelzle: The world of high-flyers. 75 years North Atlantic flight east-west. Deutsche Post AG, Bonn 2003.
- Fred W. Hotson: The Bremen. NARA-Verlag, Allershausen 1996, ISBN 3-925671-22-6 .
- Oswald Rathmann : In a plane across the ocean. From the life of the ocean conqueror Günther Freiherrn von Hünefeld. Bookstore of the Evangelical Society, Wuppertal-Elberfeld 1941.
- Friedrich Walter: Trutz death. Young Hünefeld's becoming and way. Harvest Publishing House, Potsdam 1929.
- Friedrich Walter: Hünefeld. A life of action. Harvest Publishing House, Potsdam 1930.
Web links
- Literature by and about Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ Quoted from Martin Haug: Those who fought a good fight , p. 225.
- ^ Wolfgang Stock: Wuppertal street names. Their origin and meaning . Thales Verlag, Essen-Werden 2002, ISBN 3-88908-481-8
- ↑ http://gso.gbv.de/DB=2.1/PPNSET?PPN=365164453
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hünefeld, Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German aviation pioneer and initiator of the first east-west flight over the North Atlantic in 1928 |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 1, 1892 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Koenigsberg i. Pr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 5, 1929 |
| Place of death | Berlin |