Germany flight
The Deutschlandflug is a competition for airplane pilots that was held for the first time from June 11th to July 10th, 1911. Pilots whose names went down in aviation history took part in the following flights to Germany. Names like Ernst Udet or Elly Beinhorn are on the lists. During the Nazi era , the flights turned into gigantic shows with up to 400 participating aircraft. Later, in June 1956, the tradition was resumed as an event for lovers that has been held every two years since then. In 2011 the Deutschlandflug celebrated its 100th birthday.
chronology
1911
The first "German round flight for the BZ-Preis der Lüfte 1911" was started on June 11, 1911 from the Johannisthal airfield near Berlin. The prizes were around 450,000 marks, of which around 350,000 marks were raised by the participating cities and 100,000 marks by BZ ( Ullstein Verlag ). To get in the mood, the “National Flight Week” took place in Johannisthal from June 4, 1911, during which the pilot Georg Schendel and his mechanic fell fatally. It started despite warnings about stormy weather.
24 planes were registered for the sightseeing flight; on the first day seven started, on the following days the others. The authorities expected around 100,000 visitors; 600,000 came, causing unprecedented traffic chaos: “Not only in Berlin, the whole world remains in suspense for a month on the course of the stage flights. The pilots had to have nerves of steel to withstand the rigors of the sightseeing flight. "17 stages had to be completed: Magdeburg, Schwerin, Hamburg, Kiel, Lübeck, Lüneburg, Hanover, Minden, Bielefeld, Münster, Cologne, Dortmund, Kassel, Nordhausen, Halberstadt, Dessau, Berlin. The pilots started one after the other and completed one stage a day, staying for more than a day at some stage locations to compete in flight competitions, such as the Kiel flight meeting. There it was about the relay price endowed with 4500 marks with a flight to Eutin. On June 19, Hellmuth Hirth also set a new altitude record of 2200 meters on a flight from Kiel , the previous one over 2000 meters was a few days old. The stage winner was the one who had flown the fastest route, the overall winner was the one who had flown the most kilometers at the end of the advertised route.
- Participants (selection)
- Bruno Büchner (Aviation Biplane)
- Reinhold Jahnow
- Emile Jeannin
- Benno König (Albatros biplane)
- Felix Laitsch
- Otto Lindpaintner (Farman two-decker)
- Otto Reichardt (Euler Grand Duke)
- Theodor Schauenburg (Wright biplane)
- Robert Thelen (AdAstra-Wright biplane)
- Hans Robert Vollmöller (Farman two-decker)
- Eugen Wiencziers
- Oscar Wittenstein
It was not until July 10 that eight of the original 24 planes were back in Berlin; the rest of them fell by the wayside. First place went to Benno König , who flew 1882.50 km and received 40,000 marks for it, Hans Vollmöller came second and Bruno Büchner came third.
1925 to 1933
While the main purpose of the 1911 event was to make aviation popular in Germany, it was the sightseeing flight from May 31 to June 19, 1925 that brought German motorized aviation back to life after it was banned at the end of the First World War . The organizers were the German Aviation Association (DLV) and the Aero Club of Germany . This time around 195,000 marks were available in prize money, of which the Ullstein Verlag had contributed 100,000 marks with the BZ -Preis der Lüfte . The competition, which stretched over a total distance of 5000 kilometers and served 34 cities, took the form of a reliability test. It was flown in three groups: Group A (light aircraft up to 40 HP), Group B (aircraft up to 80 HP), Group C (aircraft up to 120 HP). There were around 30 pilots in each group, including Antonius Raab , Kurt Katzenstein , Ernst Udet and Wolfram von Richthofen . Since the winning aircraft in all three groups were equipped with German engines, they were awarded the “ Richthofen Prize ” at the same time .
The start of the individual groups followed at intervals on May 31st from 4 a.m. Several fixed sightseeing routes had to be mastered, all of which had their starting point and destination from Berlin 's Tempelhof Airport . White control stations were installed at the airports to be approached, which the pilots had to bypass.
The smallest machine at the start was the light-engine aircraft "Mohamed", which was designed and built by members of the Academic Aviation Group at the Technical University of Darmstadt . As a conclusion, Flugsport wrote : "If we want to advance the development of light aircraft in the next few years, a competition for light engines must be issued immediately," because further development of the light aircraft without a corresponding further development of the engine is "not possible".
The Germany flight in 1931 was endowed with 50,000 marks in prize money, it consisted of a technical test and a cross-country flight over 2000 kilometers within two days. It was then determined that further flights to Germany should no longer test the technology of the aircraft, but rather the skills of the crew.
1933 to 1938
The Germany flight in 1937 was the first major aviation event after the armament of the Wehrmacht and was organized by the National Socialist Air Corps (NSFK). The pilots did not take part individually, but in groups of three, of which 62 were at the start; 61 of them also reached the destination. The associations did not fly a predetermined route together, but were able to choose their own flight path in order to fly to more than 70 defined evaluation targets. On four days of the competition, the three-man associations disbanded and the planes flew individually.
The German sports pilot stated: "There is no human life to complain about in this competition, which made the highest demands on the machines and crew, which after six exhausting days of flight also had to pass local tasks and skill tests (target dropping and obstacle landings)."
Also in the Germany flights in 1934, 1935 and 1937 only formations of three to seven aircraft took part. In 1937, private pilots also took off with their own aircraft for the first time. The Deutschlandflug 1938 flight was the largest flight sporting event in international aviation to date: around 400 aircraft took off and covered a total of around 2,500,000 kilometers over eight days of the competition. In this competition, both the flight route and the airports to be approached could be chosen by oneself. Due to the inexperience of many pilots and bad weather, there were several serious accidents.
The Germany flight planned for 1939 no longer took place.
1956 to 2009
After the return of German air sovereignty in 1955, another flight to Germany took place one year later. Since then, the organizer has been the German Aero Club . The competition is no longer intended to be a test for man and machine, but rather as a joint event to bring together German powered pilots. Reliability, flying skills and disciplined flying, but also cultivating friendships and promoting motorized aviation, should from now on be the purpose of the Deutschlandflug. Franz Burda , a committed supporter of the Germany flight idea, took over the patronage and donated the “Burda Prize of the Air”, a Piper L4 sports aircraft. Until 1977, the winners were allowed to take home aircraft or cash prizes for their club donated by Burda. From 1958 the Germany flight took place regularly every two years. While around 130 aircraft took part in 1958, the number of participating machines fluctuated in the following years. The record year was 1963 when 200 aircraft were registered. In 1991 a tourism rating was introduced alongside the competition class.
In 1995, an ultralight aircraft took off for the first time as a test on the Deutschlandflug; in an official ranking it would have taken 27th place, so that nothing stood in the way of future participation.
100 years of Germany flight 2011
The anniversary flight “100 Years of Flight to Germany” took place from July 6th to 9th, 2011 and led from Hanover to the Schleissheim airfield near Munich , which in turn celebrates its 100th birthday in 2012; a total of 120 aircraft took part.
2013 to the present
There were also flights to Germany in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Winner from 1911 to 2011
| year | Pilots | Airplane type, club from 1956 |
|---|---|---|
| 1911 | Benno König / Lieutenant Steffen | LVG double decker |
| 1925 | Group A: Bruno Loerzer Group B: Karl Hochmuth Group C: Hans Ritter |
Daimler-Benz L-21 Udet U 10 Caspar-Theis CT 1 |
| 1931 | Oskar Dinort | Clamp L 26 |
| 1933 | Akaflieg Hannover with Köhnk / Grube Höfft / Esche, Dietrich / Weigand, Roese / Endres Beseler / Bode |
Clamp L 25 |
| 1934 | Akaflieg Hannover with Weigand / Westerkamp Bode / Kreutzträger, Esche / Baist |
Clamp L 25 |
| 1935 | Danzig with Braun / Rohwer, Cuno / Kuhn Czolbe / Wagner, Schneider / Jahnke Blumers / Pasternack |
Clamp L 25 |
| 1937 | Stuttgart with Keidel / Walz, Hasenmayer / Büsing Schmidt-Striebel |
Clamp L 25 |
| 1938 | Breslau with Friedrich / Reichmann, Linke / scribe Hans Deutschmann / Burkhardt |
Focke-Wulf Goldfinch |
| 1956 | 1. Claus Kühl / Emil Schmelzinger 2. Elly Beinhorn / Gerd Maier |
Mannheimer Luftsportverein Breisgau Aviation Association |
| 1957 | Kurt Müller / Irmgard Müller | Air sports group Kempten |
| 1958 | Edgar Dittmar / Georg Brütting | Aero Club Coburg |
| 1961 | Gerd Maier / Paul König | Offenburg |
| 1963 | Lutz Gäbler / Fritz Kühne | Pain |
| 1965 | Franz Strobel / Otto Haas | Sports Aviation Club Augsburg |
| 1967 | Emil Wuggazer / R. Schmidt | Air Force Sports Group Leipheim |
| 1969 | W. Müller / E. Schlagmüller | Aviation group Aschaffenburg |
| 1971 | Michael Kimmerle / Ernst Mattern | Fliegergruppe Giengen |
| 1973 | Overall winner: Hans Dittes / Eugen Armbruster Category A: R. Mangelsdorf / HJ Ahlemann Category B: H. Schmitt / G. Hübner category C: Hans Dittes / Eugen Armbruster |
PA 28 Lübeck Aviation Association Cessna 172 PA 28 |
| 1975 | 1. Josef Wagner / Hermann Graf 2. Hans Dittes / Ortwig Rettig 3. Edith Neuer / Gunter Nieschler |
Sports Aviation Club Augsburg |
| 1977 | 1. Josef Wagner / Hermann Graf 2. Barnsteiner / Wegscheider 3. Illig / Windmüller |
Sports Aviation Club Augsburg |
| 1979 | 1. Otto Höfling / Dr. Horst Möller 2. Häßlein / Häßlein 3. Barnsteiner / Lettko |
FSC Aschaffenburg |
| 1981 | 1. Otto Höfling / Michael Amtmann 2. Kurt Kabelitz / Uwe Reszka 3. Gozdowski / Goebel |
FSC Aschaffenburg
|
| 1983 | 1. Gert-Hinrich Tebbenhoff / Klaus Haug 2. Roland Husemann / Sturmi Westerbarkey 3. Christine Vad / Dr. Heidrun Rothenbach |
Aero Club Osnabrück |
| 1985 | 1. Christiane Collin / Axel Maurer 2. Edith Neuer / Gunter Nieschler 3. Dr. Reinhold Schmülling / Roland Junge |
Aero Club Reichelsheim |
| 1987 | because of bad weather without rating | |
| 1989 | 1. Friedrich Rink / Werner Rau 2. Heinz Nagel / Hermann Haaga 3. Hans Joachim Ahlemann / Dr. Klaus Lucke |
LSC Friedrichshafen |
| 1991 | 1. Christiane and Axel Maurer 2. Reinhard Ruck / Dr. Manfred Meyer 3. Edith Neuer / Gunter Nieschler |
FSC Aschaffenburg CdF Oldenburg |
| 1993 | 1. Helmut Felderhoff / Rolf Heyne 2. Christiane and Axel Maurer 3. Reinhard Ruck / Dr. Manfred Meyer |
DASA-MBB Augsburg FSC Aschaffenburg CdF Oldenburg |
| 1995 | Overall ranking: 1. Edith Neuer / Gunter Nieschler 2. Roland Husemann / Florian Kappler 3. Dr. Friedhelm Siebert / Uwe Siebert Beginners' rating : 1st Arnold Schmutte / Ulrich Wermuth Tourism rating: 1st Hans-Dieter Bonsmann / Anton Beidl |
FMS Kirchheim / Teck LSV Bielefeld Gütersloh Kurhessischer Verein für Luftfahrt Marburg |
| 1997 | Overall ranking: 1st Edith Neuer / Gunter Nieschler 2nd Arnold Grubek / Dörthe Schweiger 3rd Helmut Bäder / Gerhard Spreng Beginner ranking : 1st Christopher Hess / Heiko Müller |
FMS Kirchheim / Teck DFS-FC Offenbach FMS Kirchheim / Teck aerokurier |
| 1999 | Overall ranking: 1st Arnold and Dörthe Grubek 2nd Helmut Bäder / Arnulf Spreng 3rd Peter Denzler / Gunter Nieschler Beginners ranking : 1st Jochen Klein / Rolf Uchtmann Tourism ranking : 1st Rainer Ahrens / Dieter Sieg / Hans Thomas Hansen |
DFS-FC Offenbach FMS Kirchheim / Teck |
| 2001 | Overall ranking: 1. Helmut Bäder / Arnulf Spreng, 2. Andreas Marko / Rudolf Rieger, 3. Peter Denzler / Gunter Nieschler Beginners ranking : 1. Corinna Offenbach / Tabata Tietke Tourism ranking : 1. Günther Budde / Wolfgang Peters |
FMS Kirchheim / Teck German Precision Flight Association BWLV Hahnweide |
| 2003 | Overall rating: 1. Helmut Bäder / Arnulf Spreng 2. Ralf-Rainer Schmalstieg / Fred Pierskalla 3. Hans Joachim Ahlemann / Winfried Heller Beginners' rating : 1. Marcus and Astrid Ciesielski Tourism rating : 1. Steffen Müller / Werner Olsen |
FMS Kirchheim / Teck Hodenhagen Husum Ratingen |
| 2005 | Overall ranking: 1. Corinna Fuchs / Tabata Tiedtke 2. Andreas Marko / Rudolf Rieger 3. Helmut Bäder / Gerhard Spreng Beginners ranking: 1. Ingo Weise / Timo Wolf Touring group: 1. Günther Budde / Wolfgang Peters - Thomas Tschuschke / Evelyn Zuro |
LSC Babenhausen German Precision Flight Association FMS Kirchheim / Teck Flugsportvereinigung Celle |
| 2007 | Overall ranking: 1. Klaus and Renate Heege 2. Marcus and Astrid Ciesielski 3. Helmut Bäder / Gerhard Spreng Beginners ranking: 1. Karl Peterlini / Christiane Early touring group: 1. Carsten and Astrid Braun |
AC Baden-Baden LSG Breitscheid FMS Kirchheim / Teck HFC Frankfurt |
| 2009 | Overall ranking: 1. Arnold and Dörthe Grubek 2. Helmut Bäder / Gerhard Spreng 3. Werner and Stefan Lindner Beginner ranking: 1. Robert and Carla Deppe Tourism ranking: 1. Horst Müller / Frank Eichberger / Thomas Müller |
HFC Frankfurt FMS Kirchheim / Teck HFC Frankfurt LSV Breitscheid-Haiger PC Berlin bears |
| 2011 | Overall ranking: 1. Marcus and Astrid Ciesielski 2. Helmut Bäder / Gerhard Spreng 3. Axel and Uwe Maurer Beginners ranking: 1. Björn Hansen / Tomke-Kristin Alburg-Hansen Touring group: 1. Dr. Bernd Günther / Wolfgang Berger |
LSG Breitscheid-Haiger FMS Kirchheim / Teck HFC Frankfurt Fliegerfreunde Conneforde FSC Suhl |
Web links
- The start of the first flight to Germany on wdr.de
- 100 years of flight to Germany. A traditional competition through the ages on www.daec.de
- Route of the current flight to Germany in 2011
- Chronicle of the flight to Germany
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aviation , June 28, 1911, p. 463
- ↑ a b Willi Hackenberger : The old eagles. Pioneers in German aviation . Munich 1960, p. 68f.
- ↑ Hackenberger, p. 72
- ↑ Flugsport , June 28, 1911, pp. 438ff.
- ↑ Deutschlandflug-Chronik on daec.de
- ↑ Originally the aircraft was named "Mahomet", an abbreviation of "MAssenbach-HOppe Make a low-wing aircraft". Massenbach and Hoppe were the designers. "Mahomet" was corrupted to "Mohamed".
- ↑ Flugsport , June 17, 1925, pp. 235f.
- ↑ Deutschlandflug 1937 on histaviation.com
- ↑ Der Deutsche Sportflieger , Issue 8 / August 1937, p. 8
- ↑ Deutschlandflug 2011 reaches its destination Schleissheim on aerokurier.de ( Memento from September 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ A b Georg Brütting: "Deutschlandflug", Flug Revue , November 1971, p. 51, Chronik des Deutschlandflugs on daec.de