Igo Etrich

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Igo Etrich (1908)

Ignaz "Igo" Etrich (born December 25, 1879 in Ober Altstadt , Austria-Hungary , † February 4, 1967 in Salzburg ) was an Austrian pilot and aircraft designer.

Life

Etrich, whose father Ignaz Etrich owned spinning mills in Oberaltstadt, attended secondary school and commercial school in Leipzig . But he was mainly interested in the birds' ability to fly. He built an experimental laboratory with his father. After Otto Lilienthal's death , his father bought several gliders that showed him the way. In 1903 he developed the first flying wing based on the model of the flying seeds of Zanonia macrocarpa and got the patent for it in 1905. Franz Xaver Wels was his partner and later a test pilot.

Etrich Wels glider 1906

In 1906 a man-carrying flying wing flew for the first time with the Etrich Wels glider.

Etrich 1 , 1907

In 1907 Etrich went to Vienna , where he built his first motorized aircraft , the Etrich 1 , on the grounds of the rotunda in Vienna's Prater in 1907 , with an engine with a power of 24 hp attached to the rear. Only afterwards did he improve the aircraft (nicknamed Praterspatz ) with a front propeller and an additional conventional tail unit. With Franz Wels, later with Karl Illner , he developed the monoplane further - Wels separated from him and devoted himself to the double-decker .

Etrich II in the Technical Museum Vienna

After the airfield was founded in Wiener Neustadt in 1909, he built two hangars there and carried out further flight tests. He improved the Etrich 1 with a more powerful engine. The rudder was adjusted with the feet, for surface twisting ( ailerons were only generally used later) and the elevator , Etrich introduced control by means of a steering wheel from an automobile : the forerunner of today's control horn . In 1910 the maiden flight of the Etrich Taube , Etrich II , took place.

Etrich's Taube was patented in Austria , and due to the good flight performance, Etrich was able to conclude a contract with Edmund Rumpler , according to which he was granted the right, in return for a license fee, to replicate the aircraft in Germany under the name Etrich-Rumpler-Taube . However, the German patent office was unable to grant a patent for the Etrich Taube , so that anyone could copy the aircraft free of charge. Professor Friedrich Ahlborn wrote about the stability of flying machines from 1897 , who had recognized the shape of the Zanonia seed with its ideal flight characteristics and the importance of the shape for future aircraft construction. Rumpler then made no more payments to Etrich and, contrary to the contract, brought out the same aircraft under the name Rumpler-Taube .

Etrich Luft limousine, 1913

Etrich then founded the Etrich-Fliegerwerke in Liebau / Silesia (now Lubawka / Poland ) in 1912 and designed the first passenger aircraft with a fully enclosed passenger cabin, the aerial limousine . Ernst Heinkel headed the design office .

Later he founded the Brandenburgische Flugzeugwerke and took his very talented designer Ernst Heinkel with him from Liebau. After the First World War Etrich went to Trutnov back and designed in 1929 another plane: The sports pigeon , a 40 PS strong sports plane .

During the first test flights it turned out that this aircraft flew faster than the military aircraft of Czechoslovakia at the time . The Czech authorities accused Etrich of having built his aircraft for smuggling activities and confiscated it.

Igo Etrich then gave up his aviation efforts and devoted himself entirely to his textile machinery business .

In 1945 Etrich was expropriated and expelled from Czechoslovakia.

Later Etrich turned to spiritualism and, at an advanced age, also published a small brochure about his spiritualistic worldview ( confession and spiritual legacy of the aviation pioneer Dr. Ing.hc Igo Etrich ).

His grave of honor is located at the Salzburg municipal cemetery .

The Etrich II is exhibited in the Technical Museum in Vienna .

Sports pigeon in the National Technical Museum Prague

The sport pigeon is exhibited today in the Technical Museum in Prague .

Political commitment

Etrich was a member of the Sudeten German Party from 1935 to 1939 and officially joined the NSDAP in May 1939 . In his application for membership in the NSDAP, Etrich emphasized his readiness "after the victory of the German arms, to help solve the major technical problems that the German people will face as a result of the space gained in the East ."

Honors

Replica of the pigeon at the ILA 2004

In 1944, the Vienna University of Technology awarded Etrich an honorary doctorate . In 1955 he received the Cross of Merit (Steckkreuz) of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1959 Igo Etrich was awarded the Karl Renner Prize .

In 1971, in Vienna- Simmering (11th district), Etrichstrasse was named after the aircraft designer. Streets in Salzburg, Graz, Linz, Innsbruck and Berlin-Adlershof also bear his name.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Aero auction: Etrich Taube , accessed on February 2, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b c d Vienna's street names since 1860 as “Political Places of Remembrance” (PDF; 4.4 MB), p. 267, final research project report, Vienna, July 2013.
  3. ↑ ÖBL Online-Edition, volume 1: Igo Etrich , accessed on August 27, 2019.
  4. ↑ Vienna City Hall Correspondence, December 13, 1958, sheet 2496
  5. ↑ The pioneers of everyday life . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna December 14, 1958, p. 6 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
  6. ↑ Vienna City Hall Correspondence, January 17, 1959, sheet 83
  7. ↑ For men of the people . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 18, 1959, p. 2 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Etrich, Igo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Etrich, Ignaz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian pilot and aircraft designer
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Upper old town near Trautenau , Bohemia
DATE OF DEATH 4th February 1967
Place of death Salzburg