Carl Wilhelm Witterstätter

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Karl Wilhelm Witterstätter (born June 18, 1883 in Oppenheim ; † October 7, 1964 there ) was a German aviation pioneer .

Life

Witterstätter completed his studies in airship and aviation technology at the Technical University of Darmstadt as a graduate engineer. In 1910 he began his flying career at August Euler's flight school in Darmstadt, where he obtained his 52nd German pilot's license on January 17, 1911. He was one of the so-called " Old Eagles ".

With his own aircraft, he successfully took part in flight competitions and air show events:

  • First German reliability flight on the Upper Rhine (May 1911) from Baden-Baden via Freiburg, Mühlhausen, Strasbourg, Weissenburg, Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Worms, Oppenheim, Mainz, Frankfurt, Offenbach, Darmstadt and back to Frankfurt.
  • Northwest flight (1911) from Bremen to Hamburg.
  • Sightseeing flights in Mainz (1912) to popularize aviation.

In 1913, he lost his two Rumpler pigeons in a faulty train transport to an event . Witterstätter was not discouraged and in 1914 became a flight instructor and aircraft manufacturer in Leipzig.

Witterstätter was a pilot in the air force in the First World War 1914–1918 and did not return until three years after the end of the war.

He then worked for several years as a lecturer at the Kyffhäuser technical center in Bad Frankenhausen . The Kyffhäuser technical center for agricultural machinery, aircraft and electrical engineering was founded in 1896 and existed until 1946. In 1908, Professor Siegmund Huppert, the director of the Kyffhäuser technical center, began his lectures on the design and construction of aircraft. The technical educational institution thus had the first chair in Germany for aircraft construction.

Witterstätter later continued his career in the technical service of the Reich Aviation Ministry in Berlin.

In 1951 he returned to Oppenheim impoverished. He received high awards for his services to aviation. In the last years of his life he passed on his experiences at the local glider airfield to the youth. Witterstätter died in 1964 after a brief illness.

literature

  • Oberhaus, Michael: In the footsteps of the aviation pioneer Karl Wilhelm Witterstätter . Published in: Oppenheimer Hefte No. 19/20 - 1999, pp. 144–146, publisher: Oppenheimer Geschichtsverein, editor: Martin Held, ISBN 3-87854-146-5

Footnotes

  1. a b F. Rasch (ed.): Yearbook of the German Aviation Association 1913 . Pass & Garleb, Berlin 1913, 8th guide list, c) flight guide, p. 132 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. Flight test on a Voisin double-decker, a license replica from Euler
  3. The 817 men and women who passed the pilot's exam on August 1, 1914, before the outbreak of World War I, are referred to as “Old Eagles”.
  4. Contrary to his express instructions, the two freight cars were not parked in front of, but behind the locomotive. Flying sparks caused the textile covering and the wooden construction of the aircraft to catch fire. Both burned out completely.
  5. ^ Directory of the members of the air force 1914–1918
  6. a b Website of Bad Frankenhausen city portrait. Retrieved August 10, 2019 .
  7. The teaching building was the refectory of the Cistercian convent St. Georgii since 1215 and is now part of the Kyffhäuser Gymnasium (House II). see the web link of the Kyffhäuser Gymnasium
  8. ^ Website of Bad Frankenhausen Airfield Udersleben

Web links