Franz Scheubel

Franz Nikolaus Scheubel (born March 7, 1899 in Heilbad Heiligenstadt ; † August 6, 1976 in Darmstadt ) was a German graduate engineer and university professor for aerospace research and mechanical engineering.

Life

Franz Nikolaus Scheubel studied at the TH Berlin and the TH Aachen from 1919 to 1923 . In July 1923 he completed his studies with a degree in engineering. From September 1, 1923, he was assistant at the Aerodynamic Institute of the TH Aachen for four years. From November 1, 1927 to December 31, 1929 he worked in the flight engineering department of the Army Weapons Office in Berlin. In May 1928 he received his doctorate from the TH Aachen. The title of the dissertation submitted in 1927 was: About fuel atomization in light engine carburetors . He also completed his habilitation in March 1930 at the TH Aachen. Then he was a private lecturer in mechanics and aviation. 1930 and 1931 he was head of the aerodynamic institute at the TH Aachen. From 1931 to 1933 he was an assistant. In January 1933, he succeeded Carl Eberhardt (1877-1932) as associate professor for airship travel and aviation technology at the TH Darmstadt and at the same time head of the Aerodynamic Institute in Darmstadt. Scheubel added the new lectures flight performance and flight characteristics as well as a flight technology internship to the curriculum.

Based on designs by Scheubel and with massive support from Gauleiter Jakob Sprenger (politician) , a new wind tunnel was built in May 1934 on the premises of the German Research Institute for Glider Flight (DFS) in the immediate vicinity of the airfield in Griesheim . The inauguration took place on July 1, 1936. Originally planned for the construction in what was then the university area in the city center, a construction with vertical air recirculation was chosen in order to save land.

Scheubel joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1937 . He was also a supporting member of the National Socialist Aviation Corps (NSFK) created in 1937 . He was also a member of the National Socialist German Lecturer Association (NSDDB) and, alongside Karl Lieser and Friedrich List, was one of the main pillars of the Nazi regime at the TH Darmstadt and confidante of Gauleiter Jakob Sprenger (politician) .

Scheubel's professorship was converted into a full professorship by the Hessian state government on February 9, 1937. This was related to the efforts of the TH and the Gauleiter to develop Darmstadt into a focal point for aviation research.

After the outbreak of the Second World War and the temporary closure of the Technical University of Darmstadt, Scheubel and the staff of the Aerodynamic Institute were given leave of absence and released for “carrying out important state-political tasks”. Scheubel was only made available for teaching at the reopened TH Darmstadt insofar as the war-critical work could be carried out.

From 1941 to 1945 Scheubel was Dean of the Aviation Department in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, which had been redesigned since 1940.

After the Second World War, research in the field of aviation and flight technology was banned in Germany, so that the corresponding chairs at the TH Darmstadt were no longer established. Scheubel moved to the United States in November 1945 and worked as a civil scientist in the Air Force's War Department. Due to an illness he returned to the TH Darmstadt in June 1946. On the initiative of the university management, he took over the official business of the full professorship of Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulic Machines in the newly created Faculty of Mechanical Engineering with effect from December 14, 1946. This professorship was vacant after the death of Wilhelm Wagenbach in March 1945. Scheubel's dismissal in November 1946 had thus become obsolete. In 1947 Scheubel was Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering for two years. He retired at the end of February 1967.

Franz Nikolaus Scheubel was married to Jutta Anna Luise Hoefer from Barmen in September 1938. He died on August 6, 1976 in Darmstadt.

Honors

• War Merit Cross II. Class without swords

Works

• About fuel atomization in light engine carburetors, Oldenburg 1928.
• Thoughts on technology and tactics in aerial warfare, publications by the German Academy of Aviation Research, Issue 24, Munich and Berlin 1940.
• Parachute Opening Shock, in: The Surgeon General, US Air Force (eds.): German Aviation Medicine: World War II, vol 1, Washington DC: US ​​Government Printing Office, 1950, pp. 599-611.

literature

• Andreas Göller: The beginnings of aviation research at the Technical University of Darmstadt until 1945, in: Andreas Göller and Annegret Holtmann (eds.): A century of aviation history between tradition, research and landscape management, Darmstadt 2008, pp. 179–208.
• Melanie Hanel: The Technical University of Darmstadt in the “Third Reich”, dissertation, Darmstadt 2013.
• Christa Wolf and Marianne Viefhaus: Directory of professors at TH Darmstadt, Darmstadt 1977, p. 180.