Albin Longren

Albin Kasper Longren (born January 18, 1882 in Leonardville , Kansas , † November 19, 1950 in Adin , California ) was an American aviation pioneer. From 1911 Longren successfully flew his own aircraft designs. As a self-taught aircraft designer and pilot, he made his own aircraft career as Barnstormer and became known in the Midwest as "Birdman".

In the 1920s, he founded the Longren Aircraft Corporation and built several models of aircraft. Longren's handcrafted aircraft were valued by the aviation experts of the time. Longren developed various innovations such as a kind of monocoque , which, however, still required conventional reinforcements. In addition to founding his own company, he worked for well-known aircraft construction companies such as Spartan , Luscombe and Cessna for many years until his retirement in 1945 .

Early years

Longren was born on January 18, 1882 in a log cabin just outside Leonardville, Kansas. He was one of eight children of the farmer Charles Longren and his wife Emma.

As a young man he worked as a hardware store , but was also known as a handyman . As an enthusiastic hobbyist, he built his own automobiles and motorcycles from spare parts. He served in the Kansas National Guard and in that capacity was deployed in June 1910 as a security guard at one of the popular Topeka air shows at the time . Longren's interest in airplanes was sparked when he witnessed an airplane crash. The then 28-year-old hobbyist immediately began building his own flying machine.

Aviation careers

Topeka I.

Longren at the wheel of the Topeka I.

Longren rented rooms for a small workshop in Topeka and won his brother Ereanius and his mechanic friend William Janicke as employees. Together, the three men began building an aircraft, although they had no aviation experience or expert help. They built their prototypes in strict secrecy in order not to let possible failures get to the public. They even took the plane apart and secretly transported it in boxes for their first attempt at flight.

The biplane in pusher configuration had wings made of fabric-covered framework, was 12 meters long and 9.8 meters wide and weighed 283 kilograms. Driven by a V8 engine with 60 hp (44 kW), Longren's first aircraft, later called Topeka I, made its maiden flight on September 2, 1911.

Three days later, Longren flew the aircraft for a total of just under ten kilometers at an altitude of 200 ft (61 m) during the first public demonstration. Afterwards, beaming with joy, Longren said to a reporter for a local newspaper: “I'm glad now to let the people of Topeka know what I've built.” - “I'm happy to let the people of Topeka know what I've built . "

Longren Aircraft Company

Longren with his wife Dolly, around 1912

In order to be able to finance the construction of new aircraft, Longren appeared regularly at air shows. By participating in barnstormings across the United States, he became a popular attraction himself and was nicknamed "Birdman". Longren, who had never completed pilot training, completed over 1,300 demonstration flights over the next few years.

Longren met Dolly Trent at an event in Minneapolis and married her a short time later. His wife quickly became an indispensable part of his small business. Admiringly, Lorngren said of her: "She could repair a plane as well as any man." - "She can repair an airplane as well as any man." As a former beauty queen , Dolly also helped her husband in advertising. She was the lively counterpart to her silent husband.

Longren founded Longren Aircraft Corporation in Topeka and sold its aircraft by mail order. He designed and sold ten different models, all known for their high quality and durability. However, the sales figures were only modest and fluctuated widely. In late 1915, Longren was seriously injured in an accident during an air show and then concentrated mainly on the construction of aircraft. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, he retired from business for a long time and served for nearly two years as Chief Inspector of Aircraft at the Military Aviation Research and Development Center at McCook Field in Ohio .

Longren AK

Returning to Topeka, he started a construction he called "The New Longren Airplane", also known as "Longren AK". It was a small double-decker with an Anzani three- cylinder star engine with 60 hp (44 kW). The AK was robust, fast and agile. However, their most noticeable feature were retractable wings. When folded, they reduced the width of the aircraft from 5.8 to just 2.7 meters. Longren hoped that potential buyers would be able to accommodate the narrow aircraft in barns or garages . The AK was to become the T model of the skies. With the new products, the company gained national fame in 1921, just ten years after Longren's first flight.

Hull structures

Model G Longren biplane from 1916

The AK did not become the commercial success that Longren had hoped for, but the innovations developed for it greatly increased his reputation. In contrast to the fuselage constructions made of a fabric-covered, wooden frame, which were common at that time , Longren practically constructed a monocoque for the AK , which, however, still required additional struts. The fuselage of the AK consisted of two symmetrical half-shells in an aerodynamic shape. The two halves made of a vulcanized, fibrous material formed a hard shell, which was reinforced on both sides by wood. The advanced design of the AK was remarkable for its time. The Air & Space magazine of the Smithsonian Institute described it as the world's first semi-monocoque made of composite material.

Eventually, the US government showed an interest in Longren's handcrafted aircraft. Navy Inspector Karl Smith visited the Topeka facility and praised Longren's skills in his report. Although he used more or less unsuitable equipment, Longren was able to build a first class hull which Smith described as "phenomenal in its strength and very easy to produce". The three-layer composite material in particular impressed the Navy, which found the resistance of the material to bullets very astonishing. However, Longren was unable to raise sufficient capital to produce the required quantities, so the Navy did business with other manufacturers.

Later work

Contrary to his skill as a pilot and designer, Longren was unable to handle the financial side of the business and was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1924 . He sold the company's facilities and designs to new investors, who thereby founded the Alexander Aircraft Company . Longren himself then worked as a consultant for various aviation companies such as Spartan and Luscombe . During his career he received several aviation-related patents . His most important work dealt with a process for stretch drawing metal into ready-to-assemble fuselage elements . Luscombe was the first to use this technique on its Luscombe Phantom . The Phantom was the first mass-produced aircraft with an all-aluminum semi-monocoque fuselage. Longren took most of his patents with him to Cessna in 1935 , where he worked for three years as assistant manager.

During the 1930s, depending on Longren's personal and financial capabilities, new incarnations of the Longren Aircraft emerged. The last and largest company he founded in 1938 was an aircraft fuselage manufacturer in Torrance , California . The company existed long after the departure of its founder until April 1959 when it was bought by Aeronca .

Death and legacy

After his retirement from the professional world, Longren moved to a ranch in Aiden , California , where he lived until his death in 1950.

He is counted among the early aviation pioneers, who built and flew his own developments more or less at the same time as the Wright brothers during an exciting period of aviation before the First World War. Shortly after its founding in 1928, he was inducted into the exclusive club of aviation pioneers Early Birds of Aviation and in 1997 into the Hall of Fame of the Kansas Aviation Museum . The only surviving specimen of Longren's aircraft - the 1914 biplane that he broke in Abilene - is now on permanent display at the Kansas Museum of History . Longren remains a local hero in Kansas. The Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame recognized him for his special contribution to aviation. Kansas may be home to Amelia Earhart and Clyde Cessna, and Wichita is hailed as the Air Capital of the World, but Longren was the first successful pilot and aircraft builder in Kansas.

Web links

Commons : Albin K. Longren  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Ann Marie Bush: 'Birdman' took flight 100 years ago. In: The Topeka Capital-Journal. September 1, 2011, accessed May 22, 2018 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Albin K. Longren. Kansas Historical Society, January 2016, accessed May 22, 2018 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Giles Lambertson: The Birdman of Topeka. In: Air & Space. Smithsonian Institution, July 22, 2015, accessed May 23, 2018 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Longren Airplane Company. Kansas Historical Society, September 2013, accessed May 23, 2018 . 
5. ^ ^{A b c d} Richard Harris: 100th Anniversary of Kansas Aviation. (PDF) In: AAHS Flightline. American Aviation Historical Society, 2011, accessed May 23, 2018 . 
6. ^ Farmer's Airplane Rises From Barnyard . In: Popular Science . Volume 99, No. 6 . Modern Publishing Co., December 1921, pp. 47 (English).
7. ^ Frederick Thomas Jane: Jane's All the World's Aircraft . McGraw-Hill, New York 1934 (English).
8. ↑ American airplanes: Lo - Lu. Aerofiles, accessed May 23, 2018 . 
9. ↑ Patents by Albin K. Longren. Free Patents Online, 2016, accessed May 23, 2018 . 
10. ^ Other Sales, Mergers. In: New York Times . April 14, 1959, accessed May 23, 2018 . 
11. ^ ^{A b} Kenneth D. Mace: Pioneer Airmen of Kansas . In: Aviation Quarterly . Volume 5, No. 2 . Airtrails, Inc, 1979, pp. 152 to 163 (English).
12. ↑ ^{a b} Chris Grenz: Topeka Flight History Rich. In: Topeka Capital Journal. August 31, 2003, archived from the original on January 29, 2016 ; accessed on May 23, 2018 (English). 
13. ^ Past Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame Inductees. Kansas Aviation Museum, accessed May 23, 2018 . 
14. ↑ Longren's Biplane. Kansas Historical Society, December 2014, accessed May 23, 2018 . 
15. ^ Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame. Kansas Aviation Museum, 2016, accessed May 23, 2018 .