Thank god aspen leaves
Gottlob Espenlaub (born October 25, 1900 in Balzholz , † January 9, 1972 ) was a German pilot and aircraft designer .
Life
He was born as the eldest of 15 children of a village shepherd. After completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter, he served in World War I and discovered his passion for flying in 1920 at the annual gliding and gliding competitions on the Wasserkuppe in the Rhön. In 1922 he and Alexander Lippisch built the tailless glider Espenlaub E2, which is very reminiscent of today's hang glider. From 1923 he constructed his own gliders, which later resulted in the Flugzeugwerke-Espenlaub, which he founded . In March 1927 he wanted to be the first person to be towed into the air in a glider by a motorized airplane . However, the attempt was stopped by him as soon as he was being towed, as there was a broken rudder on his machine. He is also considered to be the pioneer of rocket aircraft . At the Düsseldorf-Lohausen airfield , he carried out experiments with normal gliders equipped with rocket propellants and his E15 flying wing. After a crash, which he survived seriously injured, the attempts were stopped. Further attempts were made with the flying wing designer Alexander Leo Soldenhoff .
Due to this accident, which he survived with luck, he turned his life to charitable causes in the late 1920s. He held religious events in his factory. The homeless and alcoholics received food, lodging and sometimes even a job in his company.
In 1939 he moved his aircraft factory from Düsseldorf to Langerfeld airfield in Wuppertal . During the Second World War, Gottlob Espenlaub constructed anti-aircraft kites of special sizes in 1941, which, like captive balloons, were used as a barrier around industrial plants and airports. These were used at various airfields in Berlin and Wuppertal.
After the end of the Second World War, Gottlob Espenlaub turned to the construction of vehicles. In 1953 a trade magazine reported that the German company Espenlaub had brought out the prototype of a passenger car. It was a four-seater coupé with an aluminum body made from a shell construction. The vehicle had front-wheel drive, its 1000 cc engine developed 40 hp. It was hoped to be able to offer 30 vehicles a month at a price of 8,000 DM each.
Gottlob Espenlaub also lived in the Villa Espenlaub , a building that is now a listed building in the Wuppertal district of Barmen . He died in 1972 after a long heart condition, his grave is in the Unterbarmer cemetery .
See also
- Espenlaub (automobiles) , the Espenlaub automobiles from 1928 to 1953 include (pre-) production models and some very bizarre experimental vehicles.
- List of known people in aviation
swell
- In the "Berlin Illustrated Night Edition" of October 22, 1929
- Gerhard Fieseler : My path in the sky: the builder of the Fieseler Storch and the V 1 tells his life . (Autobiography). Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-453-01539-8 (unabridged paperback edition Heyne, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-453-01539-8 ).
- Antonius Raab : Raab flies - memories of an aviation pioneer . (Autobiography). Konkret Literatur Verlag, Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-922144-32-2 .
literature
- Joachim Matthias: Our pilots tell - glider pilot Gottlob Espenlaub - art and sports pilot Ernst Udet - Willy Polte and Bruno Rodschinka, air captains of the Deutsche Luft-Hansa, with a look back from Lilienthal to the present and a section about world and ocean pilots . CJE Volckmann Nachf., Berlin-Charlottenburg 1927.
- Friedrich Wilhelm Radenbach: Gottlob Espenlaub: A pilot's life / Friedrich Wilhelm Radenbach . With text drawings v. Rolf Wilde u. many orig. photos, Thienemann, Stuttgart 1942.
Web links
- Curriculum vitae of Gottlob Espenlaub ( Memento from 9 August 2011 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Raab flies , pp. 91-101
- ↑ My path in the sky , p. 117
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aspen leaves, thank God |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German aviator and aircraft designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 25, 1900 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Courtship wood |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 9, 1972 |