Georg Madelung

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Georg Hans Madelung (born July 31, 1889 in Rostock , † August 17, 1972 in Uffing ) was a German engineer, professor and aircraft manufacturer.

biography

Madelung's father was the surgeon Otto Wilhelm Madelung and his mother Hedwig Auguste Madelung, nee. King. From 1895 to 1907 he attended the Protestant grammar school in Strasbourg . In 1927 he married Elisabeth Emma Messerschmitt, with whom he had two sons and two daughters.

In 1907 Georg Madelung volunteered for military service. From 1909 he studied at the University of Strasbourg , TH Karlsruhe , TH Hannover and TH (Berlin-) Charlottenburg . In 1910 he joined the Association of German Flight Technicians, and in 1912 he was instrumental in founding the Scientific Society for Flight Technology. During the First World War he was first lieutenant in the 15th Res. Army Corps, 30th Res. Division, Res. Machine Gun Dept. 3. He then served in the air force , was assigned to the Albatros aircraft factory and was employed in the type testing department. In 1915 he became Wilhelm Hoff's assistant in the German Aviation Research Institute (DVL) in Berlin-Adlershof. In 1917 he received flight training and was transferred to Jagdstaffel 33.

In 1919 he successfully passed his examination to become a qualified engineer at the TH Berlin . On September 13, 1919, he took part in a record flight attempt with a Junkers F 13 . The world record height of 6750 m was reached with 8 people.

In 1921 he was at the TH Hannover to Dr. engineer of mechanical engineering doctorate . His dissertation deals with the theory of propellers. In 1921 he developed the design of the Vampyr glider , which, with the design features of "the lowest possible air resistance ", "the wing with the least possible bracing ", " single-spar wing", " torsion nose " and " ailerons as control surfaces ", was trend-setting for modern glider construction. The Vampyr proved its superiority over other designs in the Rhön competitions in 1921 and 1922.

From 1921 to 1924 he was an aircraft designer in the USA and from 1925 to 1929 he was promoted to head of the aircraft department of the German Research Institute for Aviation and became a member of the board. In 1926 Madelung was appointed full professor at the TH Berlin and in 1929 at the TH Stuttgart at the Aviation Institute .

He successfully calculations in the aeronautics by such as the calculation of an all-metal - monoplane , of aircraft fuselage constructions and biplanes and Knick bends in aircraft.

In 1937 he joined the NSDAP and in the same year became a full member of the newly founded German Academy of Aviation Research . In 1941 he founded the Graf Zeppelin research institute and became its director. This research institute dealt with the construction of bombs , torpedo stabilization , underwater detonations , construction of aircraft catapults and parachutes for decelerating aircraft and recovering missiles. The latter developments were also widely used in space travel. Georg Madelung was an expert in all areas of work at the Graf Zeppelin Research Station. He also worked for Wernher von Braun's rocket program .

From 1946 to 1954 he was on leave of absence from the TH Stuttgart to the Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda in Maryland , where he studied the human body to withstand great accelerations and decelerations, and then resumed teaching and research at the university Stuttgart to include.

Georg Madelung belonged to the anti-communist committee Rainer Barzel and other CDU / CSU politicians founded in 1959 . After Major Fred Sagner resigned as Vice President and Deputy Chairman of the association, he took over both positions in 1960.

His son Gero Otto Georg Madelung (1928–2018) was the technical director of Messerschmitt AG and later director of Panavia Aircraft GmbH and MBB GmbH as well as professor of aerospace engineering at the Technical University of Munich . He was married to the teaching therapist and author Eva Madelung , a daughter of Robert Bosch . Another son, Wilferd Ferdinand Madelung (* 1930), was Professor of Oriental Studies at Oxford University and is the author of numerous publications on Arabic philosophy.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Supf: The book of German flight history . Pre-war period - wartime period - post-war period until 1932. Ed .: Association for the promotion of air sports. tape 2 . Drei Brunnen Verlag, Stuttgart, p. 144 .
  2. ↑ Information from Gero Madelung
  3. ↑ The Junkers F 13: ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) The record flight of the F 13 “Annelise”, accessed on February 2, 2009
  4. ^ Dietmar Geistmann: The gliders and motor gliders in Germany . 1st edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-613-02739-8 , pp. 20 .
  5. ^ Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 386.
  6. ↑ Hirschel: Aeronautical Research, p. 59 f (see literature)
  7. ↑ DER SPIEGEL 28/1960: Freedom with binoculars (accessed on May 9, 2014)
personal data
SURNAME Madelung, Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Madelung, Georg Hans (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German aircraft technician and bomb specialist in the Third Reich
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Rostock
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 1972
Place of death Uffing