Enrico Forlanini

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Enrico Forlanini (born December 13, 1848 in Milan ; † October 9, 1930 ibid) was an Italian engineer , inventor and aviation pioneer .

Life

Experimental helicopter by Enrico Forlanini (1877)
Enrico Forlanini's helicopter
Forlaninis hydrofoil in 1910 on Lake Maggiore

His father Federico was the chief doctor of a Milan hospital . Enrico's older brother Carlo Forlanini (1847–1918) was also a doctor and twice proposed for the Nobel Prize for his work in the field of respiratory and lung diseases . Enrico Forlanini graduated from the Military Academy in Turin and became a pioneer officer in 1868 . In 1870 he began experimenting with propellers in a barracks in Casale Monferrato . In 1874 he took a leave of absence from the army and enrolled in the Milan Polytechnic , where he completed an engineering degree. In 1876 he had to return to the military, but continued his experiments.

In 1877 he built an unmanned helicopter with steam propulsion . In the summer of that year he demonstrated this aircraft in a public park in Milan. The model helicopter with its two coaxial rotors rotating in opposite directions (see Kamow ) flew for about 20 seconds and 13 meters high. The machine weighed 3.5 kg. Around 1910, when it came to flight technology in the German-speaking world, Forlanini was first mentioned and the year 1877.

After Forlanini had definitely given up his military career, he worked as an engineer at a company in Forlí , whose owner he became in 1895 and whose headquarters he moved to Milan. Here he also built a wind tunnel for his experiments with aircraft .

From 1901 to 1909 Forlanini built his first airship (first flight July 2, 1909), which he named after Leonardo da Vinci . His third airship built Forlanini in 1915 for the British government, his fourth for the Italian Navy, and the two following put Italy in World War one.

Shortly after the turn of the century Forlanini also dealt with the development of flying boats . This resulted in the first hydrofoil , which he is considered to be the inventor.

He remained active as a researcher and designer in the aerospace and mechanical industries until his death in 1930. In 1937, Milan Linate Airport was named after Enrico Forlanini.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flying machines . In: Lexicon of all technology and its auxiliary sciences . tape 4 , 1906, pp. 100 ( Online , zeno.org [accessed November 15, 2014]).
  2. ↑ Flight technique . In: Brockhaus' Kleines Konversations-Lexikon . 5th edition. tape 1 . Leipzig 1911, p. 594 ( Online , zeno.org [accessed November 15, 2014]).
  3. ↑ Enrico Forlanini. Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, accessed November 15, 2014 (Italian).
personal data
SURNAME Forlanini, Enrico
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian engineer and aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Milan , Austrian Empire
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 1930
Place of death Milan , Italy