Franz Zeno Diemer

Franz Zeno Diemer (born July 3, 1889 in Oberammergau , † April 17, 1954 in Friedrichshafen ) was a German pilot .

Life

Franz Zeno Diemer was born in Oberammergau as the eldest of seven children of the artist Michael Zeno Diemer and his wife Hermine (born von Hillern , the eldest daughter of the writer Wilhelmine von Hillern ).

School and military

In 1909 Diemer graduated from the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich . He then completed an apprenticeship as a civil engineer at the Royal Bavarian Technical University in Munich .

In 1912 he joined the Royal Bavarian Infantry Body Regiment . After switching to the air force, he was a first lieutenant member of Bogohl 8 ( bomb squadron of the Supreme Army Command ).

Test pilot at BMW

During the war he worked as a test pilot for BMW. The focus was on testing aircraft engines. In 1918 Diemer flew high altitude attempts with an Albatros and a BMW IIIa aircraft engine from Halberstadt . The tests were also supervised by Max Friz , the designer at BMW.

Dornier

After working for BMW, Diemer was hired as a test pilot and one-flyer at Dornier in Friedrichshafen on July 1, 1921 . In 1922, he followed Dornier's move to Marina di Pisa in Italy as a test pilot, head of the aerodynamic department and head of the advertising department. From 1935 he was only head of the advertising department and editor-in-chief of the company newspaper "Dornier-Post" (from autumn 1935) until July 1938.

From August 1939 to the end of 1944 he served as a soldier in the Air Force and then returned to Dornier, where he was responsible for the suggestion system until the termination of his employment in March 1946.

Franz Zeno Diemer died in Friedrichshafen in 1954.

Services

On June 17, 1919, Franz Zeno Diemer set an altitude record of 9,760 meters with the DFW F 37 / III (also DFW C.IV (T25) ) powered aircraft . This performance was made possible by the aircraft engine BMW IV (successor to the BMW IIIa ), which was equipped with an altitude carburetor. The record high was reached in 89 minutes from Oberwiesenfeld airfield . BMW advertised the record as a "world height record"; however, it was not recognized because Germany was not a member of the FAI .

This high-altitude flight was preceded by a test flight at 9,200 meters on May 11, 1919, which was also immediately implemented in advertising by BMW.

literature

• Alexander Michel: From the factory newspaper to the guide. Company journals of large industrial companies from 1890 to 1945 (=  contributions to company history . Volume 96 ). Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-515-07210-1 , pp. 319 .

Web links

• Josef Riederer : Franz Zeno Diemer. His youth, his military service and his world record. In: Contributions to the history of the Ammergau. Historical working group Unterammergau, 2014, accessed on July 15, 2017 (document at Academia.edu). 
• Franz Zeno Diemer. In: BMW history. BMW AG, accessed on July 15, 2017 (curriculum vitae in the BMW Group archive): "Trial pilot" 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Annual report on the K. Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Munich 1908/09.
2. ^ Franz Zeno Diemer with Max Friz. In: BMW history. BMW AG, 1918, accessed on July 15, 2017 (document in the BMW Group Archive). 
3. ↑ Franz Zeno Diemer's record high altitude flight. In: BMW history. BMW AG, June 17, 1919, accessed on July 15, 2017 (document in the BMW Group Archive): “The BMW test pilot Franz Zeno Diemer will start on June 17, 1919 with a DFW-F 37 / III (" C-IV ") from Oberwiesenfeld and sets the first (still unofficial) BMW world record; a high-altitude record over 9,760 m with an aircraft powered by a BMW Motor IV, a successor to the IIIa. " 
4. ↑ The German altitude record: 9200 meters. In: BMW history. BMW AG, May 11, 1919, accessed on July 15, 2017 (document in the BMW Group Archive).