Albert Paul Veeh

Albert Paul Veeh (born May 9, 1864 in Apolda ; † February 26, 1914 in Düsseldorf ) was a pioneer in airship travel . He is best known for the construction of the semi-rigid airship "Veeh 1".

Life

Gustav Emil Albert Paul Veeh was born on May 9th, 1864 as the 3rd child of the master coppersmith Wilhelm Ferdinand Veeh and his wife Therese Adelheid, born. Braun was born in Apolda. His brother Franz ran a trimmings factory in Apolda . Veeh has been involved in the construction of airships since 1900, which he patented from 1908 . Two years later he founded "Luftschiffbau Veeh GmbH" with a consortium from Munich, which was renamed "Deutsche Luftschiffwerft GmbH" a year later. The airship “Veeh 1” was first built in the Parsevalhalle, named after August von Parseval, in Munich and was mainly financed by Veeh himself. The hall was closed in autumn 1911, so that from then on the airship was built in the airship hall in Düsseldorf on the Golzheimer Heide .

There were big problems building the airship. Only one engineer could be employed and the workshop had to be changed four times. At times it had to be installed outdoors. Veeh invested about 380,000 marks in the airship. He was supported by Mr. Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach , members of the von Stumm family , the Mannesmannröhren-Werke and others. After a workshop trip on July 8, 1912, the actual test drive was carried out three days later. Paul Veeh received 26 letters and 32 telegrams for the successful test drive. The public as well as the press and abroad were very interested. After some improvements and a second test drive, the third drive took place on October 25, 1912, during which a pipe section kinked and the controls failed. Nevertheless, the airship landed without any damage .

Although all three trips had proven the usefulness of the construction, the further expansion failed due to financial difficulties. The society did not find support from government agencies. Therefore Paul Veeh had to file for bankruptcy on October 31, 1913 . The German press demanded the redevelopment by the war ministry. Nevertheless, the airship was scrapped in November and December. Albert Paul Veeh died on February 26, 1914 of a larynx disease in the Marienhospital in Düsseldorf. Thus, after the British wanted to buy up the plans, he no longer saw the new interest of the War Office. He was buried on March 2, 1914 in the Nordfriedhof in Düsseldorf . He was given a grave of honor, the preservation of which was taken over by the city of Düsseldorf until 1974.

The city of Düsseldorf set a monument to Albert Paul Veeh by naming a street after him in the Düsseldorf-Eller district . The march “High in the Air” was also dedicated to him. His extensive estate is in the Düsseldorf City Archives. The contents of the estate, which was sent, for example, by grandson Günter Veeh from Moers , consists of correspondence, manuscripts about the construction of the airship “Veeh”, the bankruptcy of the company, photos and newspaper articles from 1911 to 1981. Another part of the estate became the City archives sent on January 27, 1985 by Mrs. Luise Veeh, Burgwald, whose deceased husband was a grandson of Paul Veeh.

Airship "Veeh 1"

Test airship V. 1 in the airship hangar in Düsseldorf, 1913

The airship, which was patented in 1911 and built according to the semi-rigid system, had a solid keel structure under an unstable balloon envelope, which accommodated the passengers, engines and supply rooms and gave the airship stability. The construction allowed an easy dismantling of the entire airship, which had a continuous, 80 m long and 2 m wide keel gondola.

The novelty of the construction was that Mannesmann tubes with a diameter of 3 cm were used as the structural element. The connection of the pipes, also invented by Veeh, made it possible to take the airship apart and transport it away in a very short time after landing outside the airship port. The volume was 9100 m³ and the payload was 3470 kg. Two 130 hp Daimler motors drove the two-winged wood screws. The airship was 85 m long and the fuselage diameter was 13 m.

Test drive on July 11, 1912

The test drive started at 5:00 a.m. Von der Haagen and driving engineer Elias had been ordered by the War Ministry. The 10-person crew consisted of graduate engineer Albert Simon as airship pilot, Mr. Baum from DELAG , who operated the rudder, Mr. Lorenz, who had to operate the elevator, the driving engineer Flocke and four other fitters. In the passenger cabin, the designer Paul Veeh and the head of the company, Dr. Albert Herkenrath, part.

After take-off, the airship performed various maneuvers over the field, which showed its excellent control skills. The “Veeh 1” returned to the airship port from a height of 150 m after about 30 minutes. There she made a turn on the spot and landed in the prescribed place. The airship landed and brought in without any problems. The trip participants and experts were very satisfied. Paul Veeh received 32 telegrams and 26 letters on the successful test drive. The public was very interested in the project and its success was reflected in the press. Newspapers from France, Italy and England reported extensively on this first test drive. The event was also reported in magazines and technical journals. Foreign countries also showed great interest.

literature

• Hugo Gerlach: Albert Paul Veeh - a pioneer of airship travel from our hometown Apolda. In: Apoldaer Heimat. 8th 1990

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.duesseldorf.de/stadtarchiv/fortstufene/tektonik/deposita/4-43-0.shtml Stadtarchiv Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf