Donald Marcus Kelway Marendaz

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Marendaz Special 13/70 2-Seater Sports 1932

Donald Marcus Kelway Marendaz (born January 17, 1897 in Neath , Glamorgan , Wales , † November 6, 1988 in Horncastle , Lincolnshire ) was a British fighter pilot during the First World War , entrepreneur, racing driver and designer of automobiles , components and aircraft.

Origin and youth

Marendaz's family originally came from Portugal and came to South Wales via Switzerland around 1750 . His parents were the grain merchant Richard Emmanuel Marendaz (1859-1937) and Ada Frances Kelway Marendaz (1870-1968). Donald ("DMK") was the oldest of six siblings. He was a second cousin of the poet Edward Thomas . The school attended Marendaz in Monmouth (Wales) . Here he also followed some of Charles Rolls' balloon flights . After his school days he did an apprenticeship at Siddeley-Deasy in Coventry , England , a major manufacturer of automobiles, airplanes and engines.

Military service and marriage

Early version of the Armstrong Whitworth FK8 reconnaissance aircraft. (1917)

In November 1916, Marendaz joined the Royal Flying Corps and was trained as a pilot on Farman aircraft. This was followed in 1917 with only 20 flight hours, the transfer to the 35th season in France where he flew aerial reconnaissance with Armstrong-Whitworth FK8 . He also took part in the Battle of Cambrai (November 1917) where he was the only pilot who managed to observe the combat area, which was covered by thick fog. After being wounded in early 1918, he was transferred to a base near Coventry .

On February 20, 1918, he married Dorothy Robinet Evans . The family had three daughters. He retired from military service in April 1919 with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant (Pilot Officer) . This rank corresponds to that of a lieutenant in the land forces. Nevertheless, he even allowed himself to be addressed by the captain (captain) on official occasions .

Alvis and Marseal

For a short time he worked again for Siddeley-Deasey , but then followed the chief engineer and plant manager Thomas George John (1880-1946). He had bought a company in Coventry which he called TG John & Co. Ltd. reorganized. The company manufactured stationary engines under the Electra brand . This later became the Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd. , but by this point Marendaz had already left the company. It is unclear whether this happened voluntarily or under pressure.

Together with Charles A. Seelhoff (1893–?), Who had been trained with him at Siddeley-Deasy , he founded the Marseal Motors Company Limited in Coventry for the manufacture of automobile transmissions. After a customer was unable to accept a larger delivery, an automobile was developed around this gearbox that could be sold satisfactorily as the Marseel and, after Seelhoff's departure, as the Marseal for a number of years. Marendaz was responsible for sales and in this capacity began to use car racing as an instrument. From 1922 he appeared at motorsport events in Brooklands . Production of the Marseal was discontinued in 1924 or 1925, depending on the source. How many vehicles were made is unclear; numbers between 550 and 1200 are given.

Dorothy Summers worked as a secretary at Marseal; she later followed him to DMK Marendaz Limited and stayed in the company until it closed in 1936. Summers made a name for herself as a racing driver in Marendaz Special racing cars and in 1954 became Donald Marendaz's second wife.

Marendaz Special

As a result, Marendaz moved to London and worked for a short time on the stock exchange . This was followed by another leap into self-employment with the production of sports cars. The vehicles called Marendaz Special were built in his DMK Marendaz Co. Ltd. from 1926 . in the London borough of Southwark . In the beginning Marendaz used purchased four-cylinder engines from Anzani, which could also be equipped with a compressor . Probably from an at Anzani discontinued project for a series - eight-cylinder developed Marendaz own version. This was offered, but only a prototype seems to have been made. Only about 30 cars had been built by 1932. Marendaz also repaired and maintained third-party vehicles and maintained the local branch of the US brand Graham-Paige . DMK Marendaz had an aversion to journalists and repeatedly took legal action against press reports about his company and his cars that were unfavorable after his introduction.

On November 29, 1928, Marendaz caused a serious traffic accident that resulted in death. It was convicted of negligence and had to pay £ 1,850 in damages to the widow of the accident victim GB.

In 1931 the development of a new, larger model began. Marendaz used a six-cylinder engine from Continental with a displacement of 1.8 liters, which he however revised. Shortly after the launch of 13/70 , the company moved to Maidenhead , Berkshire , England . As Marendaz Special Cars Limited , sports cars were offered in a confusing large number of variants until 1936 but were sold in minimal numbers. In principle it was always the same basic model with different engines. From 1935, a version with Coventry Climax six-cylinder was also offered. Production ended in early 1936, and the last Marendaz Specials may have been assembled in early 1937.

Racing

DMK Marendaz actively participated in motorsport from 1922 to the mid-1930s. He held three 24-hour speed records, two of them on the Marendaz Special built in London :

simultaneously 500 km (average 71.13 mph (114.47 km / h)) and 3 hours (average 70.53 mph (113.51 km / h))
driven on Marendaz Special 11/55 on November 10, 1927: Brooklands . The vehicle still exists.
  • Class F, 1.5 liters ; 1425 miles (2293 km) with an average of 73.0 mph (117.5 km / h).
Team: DMK Marendaz / KN Forrest / LL Hanks
driven on Marendaz Special 11/55 on 5./6. November 1928; Montlhery ; the vehicle belonged to Hanks.
  • Class B ; driven on Graham-Paige eight-cylinder (5296 cm³) on 23/24. December 1929; Montlhéry .

His greatest success in a race was a class win (1500-2000 cm³) including a lap record (73.07 mph (117.59 km / h)) at the RAC Tourist Trophy ("TT") in 1935 in Ards near Belfast ( Northern Ireland ).

Marendaz had bad luck at the 1928 German Grand Prix . At the race on the Nürburgring , which was advertised as a competition for sports cars , he retired after an accident before he had finished the first lap.

Marendaz Special had potential but wasn't reliable enough for big competitions. This was shown by two attempts by Marendaz to take part in the Le Mans 24-hour race . Both times, in 1928 and 1933 , he was unable to start.

With the 15/90 of the aforementioned Tourist Trophy 1935, Earl Howe / Tommy Wisdom took part in the 1936 French Grand Prix in Montlhéry , which was also advertised as a sports car race. The car retired on the fourth lap due to a technical defect.

Marendaz also drove club races with a Graham Paige .

Marendaz's secretary Dorothy Summers and the parents of Sir Stirling Moss also took part in races with Marendaz Specials .

Planes

His company had to close in early 1936 and was liquidated.

After that, Marendaz pushed ahead with the development of an airplane. He founded International Aircraft and Engineering, Ltd. which was set up across from his former auto manufacture in the Cordwallis Works industrial park in Maidenhead. A first prototype of his open, two - seater low- wing aircraft Marendaz Mark III was destroyed in a hangar fire in 1937. Marendaz then moved his company to Barton-in-the-Clay ( Bedfordshire ), where a second prototype was made, but it never flew. One of the two machines had the identification G-AFZX .

De Havilland DH.60 "Moth"
Avro 594 "Avian"

DMK Marendaz founded the Bedford School of Flying which offered courses on De Havilland DH.60 Moth and Avro Avian and operated from Barton-in-the-Clay and Eaton Bray . In cooperation with the government, the school trained around 500 pilots.

However, Marendaz mainly continued to work on the development of an aircraft. For this purpose, Marendaz Aircraft, Ltd. was founded in 1938 . was founded, although it is unclear whether this is a reorganization of its International Aircraft and Engineering, Ltd. or was a start-up. Britain had begun rearmament as a result of the troubled times in Europe. Marendaz figured out chances that the Royal Air Force (RAF) might be interested in a machine for pilot training, and built a third prototype (identification G-AFGG ). This time a much more modern low-wing aircraft with a closed cabin and retractable landing gear was created . However, the RAF rejected his Marendaz trainer .

Next life

As a result, he gave up aircraft development and in 1939 sold both Marendaz Aircraft, Ltd. as well as the flight school.

In 1940, shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War , Marendaz was interned for a short time as a supporter of Oswald Mosley and his BUF according to Defense Regulation 18B . While the BUF was banned shortly afterwards, Marendaz, probably as a veteran of the First World War , was released after a few days.

Then he began to work artistically and to write books. His first was a treatise on pilot training which appeared in 1944 under the title You Can Fly in the Bernard's Technical Books series (No. 32). Among his other works is Revelations of Old Worcester (1950). In 1954 he divorced his wife and married Dorothy Summers . The couple had two children and lived in South Africa for many years .

Marendaz was working on a small diesel engine for a tractor of which only a prototype was made. In 1959 he founded Marendaz Diesel Tractors, Ltd. in Mayerton , Johannesburg ( Transvaal , South Africa) . After its failure in 1965 there were legal and possibly political disputes which culminated in charges of fraud. In 1972 he returned to Great Britain and settled in Lincolnshire where he lived in seclusion. He died in 1988.

Works

  • DM K Marendaz : You can fly (=  Bernard's technical books . No. 32 ). Bernards Limited , London 1944, OCLC 44075451 .
  • DM K Marendaz : Revelations of old Worcester . Stewart Printing Co. , Cape Town 1950, OCLC 49987219 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Capt. Donald Marcus Kelway Marendaz . Davies Family Trees , June 6, 2015, accessed June 11, 2015 (enL).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Donald Marcus Kelway Marendaz . In: The All - British Marendaz Special . Graham Skillen, Derrymount , accessed June 11, 2015 .
  3. ↑ a b c Capt. Donald Marcus Kelway Marendaz . Lovelook.net , archived from the original on June 12, 2015 ; accessed on April 7, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
  4. ↑ a b 6èmes Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans 1928 . Le Mans Register , accessed on June 11, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Thomas George John . Grace's Guide - British Industrial Story , accessed June 11, 2015 .
  6. ^ TG John Ltd. . Grace's Guide - British Industrial Story , accessed June 11, 2015 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h Donald Marcus Kelway Marendaz . Grace's Guide - British Industrial Story , accessed June 11, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Charles_A._Seelhoff . Grace's Guide - British Industrial Story , accessed June 11, 2015 .
  9. ↑ a b c Marendaz Special - Racing success on the track and elsewhere . In: The All - British Marendaz Special . Graham Skillen, Derrymount , accessed June 11, 2015 .
  10. ↑ a b c d Register of Marendaz Special Cars . In: The All - British Marendaz Special . Graham Skillen, Derrymount , accessed June 11, 2015 .
  11. ↑ 11émes Grand prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans 1933 . Le Mans Register , accessed on June 11, 2015 .
  12. ↑ a b Marendaz Special Models . In: The All - British Marendaz Special . Graham Skillen, Derrymount , accessed June 11, 2015 .

annotation

  1. ↑ Defense Regulation 18B allowed the government to detain persons potentially threatening the state without charge or trial. In addition to him, about 740 other BUF supporters were taken into custody (see British Union of Fascists ), including many veterans of the First World War and the Boer War . His quick release from internment suggests that his loyalty to the state has not been in doubt.
personal data
SURNAME Marendaz, Donald Marcus Kelway
ALTERNATIVE NAMES DMK
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British engineer, automobile and aircraft manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Neath , Glamorgan , Wales
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1988
Place of death Horncastle , Lincolnshire