Gustav Witte (pilot)

Gustav Witte (born July 21, 1870 , † March 15, 1912 in Berlin ) was a German pilot .

Life

Gustav Witte worked as a postman in Berlin, but after Hans Grad's flights in October 1909, he decided to become a pilot. In December of the same year he and an acquaintance bought an old, scrapped Wright biplane from the Ikarus Society and painstakingly rebuilt it in 1910 at the Johannisthal airfield . Because of the lack of a water cooler, he designed a new one for the associated 33 HP NAG engine. With this biplane he gradually taught himself to fly in 1911. On August 22, 1911, he passed the flight test in front of two witnesses from the German Aviation Association and was the 97th pilot to receive the German pilot's license. Shortly afterwards he moved to Teltow and opened his own flight school in cooperation with Flugmaschine Wright GmbH . His students included Karl Mohns and Alfred Friedrich , who set several records in 1912/13.

From September 24 to October 1, 1911, Witte took part in the Johannisthal Autumn Flight Week and, despite its outdated flight design, took third place, endowed with 2,810  marks . He made a night flight by moonlight on March 5, 1912.

On March 15, 1912, Witte held a show flying in front of some of the schoolchildren despite the gusty wind. Probably as a result of a material defect, his flying machine suddenly turned into a steep glide. Witte fell unchecked from 50 meters and died at the scene of the accident.

Others

Gustav Witte was known to the Berlin population because of his job as a "flying mailman".

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Günter Schmitt: When the classic cars flew. The history of the Berlin-Johannisthal airfield. Transpress, Berlin 1980, DNB 810401320 , p. 120.
2. ↑ Günter Schmitt: The "flying postman" Gustav Witte. In: Flieger Revue 2/1994, pp. 24–25.