Cornelius Edzard

Cornelius Henri Edzard (born May 22, 1898 in Bremen ; † January 8, 1962 in Bremen) was a German aviation pioneer , flight instructor and airport director.

Life

Edzard was the son of the Bremen lawyer Conrad Edzard (1858-1930) and Magda Edzard, née Melchers (1864-1947). Already in his youth he was an enthusiastic supporter of the beginning aircraft era and built high-performance, award-winning aircraft models. During the First World War he was a volunteer pilot . After the end of the war he worked briefly as a farmer for Count Luckner. In 1923 he became a one- flyer for Bremer Flugzeugbau AG , later Focke-Wulf-Flugzeugbau AG . From 1924 he was chief pilot at Focke-Wulf. In 1924 he participated in the establishment of the Bremer Luftverkehrs GmbH (later Norddeutsche Luftverkehrs AG ), which existed until 1933 and was its managing director.

From August 3 to 5, 1927, the pilots Edzard and Johann Risticz set a flight record of 52 hours and 22 minutes with a Junkers W 33 , which was carried out by the Junkers factory as part of the preparatory flights for the Atlantic crossing. The attempt of the first East-West Atlantic crossing with the single-engine Junkers plane Europa by the two pilots Edzard and Risticz and the journalist Knickerbocker, as well as the ' Bremen ' failed on August 5, 1927. Due to a storm, both planes had to turn around and the 'Europa 'was badly damaged during the emergency landing at the Bremen airfield. Günther von Hünefeld with Köhl and Fitzmaurice managed this Atlantic crossing in 1928.

Edzard became director of Bremen Airport in 1933 and managing director of the Bremen airport operating company founded in 1921 . In 1935 he became a major , later a colonel and commander of flying schools in the Air Force .

After the Second World War , he and others re-established the Bremen Aviation Association in 1950 . Edzard worked as an aviation expert for the Bremen Senate. As a founding member of the 'Helikopter-Union Bremen GmbH, (1953) whose authorized signatory he was, he promoted the helicopter throughout Germany.

Dietz (Dietrich Hermann) Edzard (1893–1963), painter and Kurt (Conrad Karl) Edzard (1890–1972), sculptors, were Edzard's brothers.

His ashes were scattered over Bremen airport by his eldest daughter. His urn is in the Riensberg cemetery in Bremen in the family grave of Gustav Cornelius Melcher - his maternal grandfather.

Honors

The Cornelius-Edzard-Straße at Bremen Airport in Bremen Neustadt has been named after him.

literature

• Heinz Conradis: Cornelius, Henry. In: Historical Society Bremen, State Archive Bremen (Ed.): Bremische Biographie 1912–1962. Hauschild, Bremen 1969, p. 130 (column 1) to p. 131 (column 1).
• Herbert Black Forest : The Great Bremen Lexicon . 2nd, updated, revised and expanded edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X