Arthur Martens

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arthur Martens in 1923 in the Rhön

Arthur Martens (born March 28, 1897 in Gilten , † November 16, 1937 in Steene , near Ostend , Belgium ) was a German glider pioneer and engineer . He became famous in 1922 when he set the first hour record in gliding.

Life

Arthur Martens took part in the First World War as a lieutenant and front pilot in the Manfred von Richthofens fighter wing. After the end of the war, he began studying mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Hanover in 1919 , which he graduated with a degree in engineering.

During his studies, Martens worked as a test pilot (“fly-in pilot”) at the Hanoverian Waggonfabrik (HAWA). On October 22, 1919, accompanied by a passenger, he climbed a HAWA D 6 D 84 motorized airplane to 8,430 m above sea level, which set a new German altitude record. A short time later he improved the world altitude record with a machine of the type Hannover CV first to 9250 and then to 9650 m.

Autumn glider flights in the Rhön in the presence of Erich Ludendorff (right). World record of 12 km long-haul flight, set by Martens (left). (1923)
Postage stamp with the motif of the HAWA Vampyr (1979)

At the beginning of the 1920s Martens became enthusiastic about the sport of gliding . Between 1921 and 1925 he won eight German competitions and set several world records. He also took part in competitions abroad (including 1923 victory in the first competition on the Waschberg near Vienna - 269.6 m altitude, distance of 10 km; 1924 participation in the second coastal competition on the Curonian Spit ). After he had already set two world records in 1921 with the HAWA H 1 Vampyr , which he helped to design, the following year he set an hour record at the Rhön gliding competition, winning an “industry prize” (a glider flight of at least 40 minutes with a return to the starting point and then a 5th km long-distance flight in a straight line) is well known internationally. Martens went into the air on August 18, 1922 in the Vampyr with a rubber rope start from the horse's head on the Wasserkuppe , the highest point in Hesse . The spectators on the ground formed numbers to show him the exact flight time in minutes. After circumnavigating the Wasserkuppe ten times and flying a total of 66 minutes, he successfully landed the Vampyr , setting three world records. In addition to the first hourly flight without a motor, Martens covered a distance of 8.9 km and 108 m take-off cant. At the same time, he was the first glider pilot to use the updraft with a lying figure eight , a technique that is widely used today.

Before the end of his career as a glider pilot, Martens built the world's first glider flying school on the Wasserkuppe. He ceded this to the newly founded Rhön-Rossitten-Gesellschaft (RRG) in 1925 . With the first night flight on the occasion of the Rossitten competition and his participation from September 27th to October 11th in the 3rd Soviet all-union gliding competition in Koktebel in the Crimea , Martens ended his career as a glider pilot.

In 1925 Martens became head of the sales department of the United German Metalworks (VDM) in Heddernheim . As an engineer he contributed to the improvement of the metal propeller and the development of adjusting screws. Martens variable pitch propellers have also been used in successful flight world record attempts. As a motorized pilot, he was nominated for the Hindenburg Cup in 1928 , while he took part in the Germany flight in 1933 . Martens also wrote two books on gliding in the 1920s.

Arthur Martens was married. He regularly sent his wife Lotte "Greetings from the air" via Oberursel with a Dornier Do 17 when he was working at VDM. In 1937, at the age of 40, Martens was killed when a Belgian transport plane crashed near Ostend . He belonged to a tour group around the former Hereditary Grand Duke Georg Donatus of Hesse-Darmstadt , who was also enthusiastic about aviation , and was on his way to a wedding in London . Martens was an honorary member of the German Model and Glider Flying Association .

After the war, Martens widow married the aviation pioneer and later Secretary General of the German Aero Club , Fritz Stamer . In 1949 the glider club in Oberursel was named after him, which merged with the Bad Homburg Aviation Club (LSC) in 2004.

Records

  • October 22, 1919: German engine flight altitude record of 8,430 m above sea level with one passenger (aircraft type: HAWA D. 6 D 84)
  • 1919: Engine flight altitude record of 9250 m (aircraft type: Hannover CV)
  • 1919: Engine flight altitude record of 9650 m (aircraft type: Hannover CV)
  • August 25, 1921: World record for gliding distance at the Rhön gliding competition with 3.58 km (aircraft type: HAWA Vampyr )
  • 1921: World record in gliding with 7.5 km in 15.6 minutes (aircraft type: HAWA Vampyr)
  • August 18, 1922: Glider flight hours and distance record with 66 minutes flight time over 8.9 km, 108 m take-off cant (aircraft type: HAWA Vampyr)
  • 1923: world record in gliding distance of 12 km (airplane: "Strolch")
  • October 14, 1924: world record for glider flight with 21.2 km at the 1st International Competition in Asiago , Italy (route: Monte Mazze - Dueville with the plane "Moritz")

Publications

  • Gliding (1925; together with Alfried Gymnich)
  • Motorless in the air (1927)

literature

Web links

Commons : Arthur Martens  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Arthur Martens . In: Brüning, Kurt : Great Men of Lower Saxony: Committing Fathers to Actions . Hanover, 1939 (accessed via World Biographical Information System ).
  2. ^ A b c d Georg Brütting:  Martens, Arthur. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , p. 267 f. ( Digitized version ).
  3. ↑ a b Marthens, Arthur . In: Killy, Walther (Ed.): Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie . Munich [et al.]: Saur, 1995–1999 (accessed via World Biographical Information System ).
  4. ↑ Pioneer flight over the horse's head . In: Etzel, Stefan: Hiking in the Rhön . Ostfildern: DuMont-Reiseverl., 2010. - ISBN 978-3-7701-8025-7 , pp. 24-25.
  5. ↑ a b Konanz, Hans: With heartfelt greetings from the Oberurseler Einflieger . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , October 16, 1999, p. 2 LR (Lokalrundschau, edition: Hochtaunus district).
  6. ↑ Marthens, Arthur . In: Norman, Hippolyt von (Ed.): Deutsches Sportlexikon . Berlin: Schwabacher, 1928 (accessed via World Biographical Information System ).
  7. ↑ Nenninger, Claudia: Thousands are losing the ground under their feet . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , September 13, 1999, p. 2 LR (Lokalrundschau, edition: Hochtaunus-Kreis).
  8. ↑ "Our aircraft fleet is great" . In: Usigner Anzeiger , March 26, 2005 (accessed via Wiso Presse ).
personal data
SURNAME Martens, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German glider pioneer and engineer
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Gilten
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 1937
Place of death Steene , Ostend , Belgium