Hanns Klemm

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Hanns Klemm (born April 4, 1885 in Stuttgart , † April 30, 1961 in Fischbachau ) was a German engineer and entrepreneur . He was one of the most famous German aircraft designers.

Career

After finishing school, Hanns Klemm first studied civil engineering at the Technical University of Stuttgart . During his student days he became a member of the Ghibellinia fraternity . After completing his diploma in 1907, he worked for the Württemberg State Railways for two years , where he became familiar with the new type of concrete Monier construction, which continued to determine his path. From 1909 he was assistant at the chair for bridge, tunnel and foundation engineering at his university, where he was appointed government master builder in 1911.

In 1914 he volunteered for military service, but was released a year later due to illness. At the Imperial Shipyard in Gdansk he was able to deal again with his favorite area, reinforced concrete and steel building. He did not come into contact with aviation until April 1917, when he applied for a job as structural engineer and iron constructor at Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH in Friedrichshafen and was hired as head of the test department in Seemoos under Claude Dornier . There he really got to know aircraft construction with the sole building material metal. But already in autumn of that year he switched to his Hansa-Brandenburg aircraft works in Briest due to an offer from his federal brother Ernst Heinkel , where he was also able to gain experience with composite construction as a chief structural engineer. As a down-to-earth Swabian, he was happy to take the opportunity to come back to Stuttgart. From April 1918 on, he worked as a senior designer at Daimler aircraft construction in Sindelfingen , where, according to his ideas, a high-performance fighter aircraft, the Daimler L 11 , was created and shortly afterwards the Daimler L 14 reconnaissance aircraft , both high-wing aircraft . Only in these of his last two positions did he come into closer contact with wood as a building material. From this, however, his great love for this material, which from his point of view had so many advantages, arose, which significantly shaped his further path.

But first after the end of the war he had the task of converting the aircraft factory into a development and manufacturing facility for new types of car bodies. It was during this time that he had the idea of ​​the type of aircraft that would later make his name world famous. Flying should be done with a light aircraft made of wood. Light, of high strength with low weight and easy to process without large devices. His goal was such an aircraft, aerodynamically high-quality with low mass and low wing loading, for which an engine with low power was sufficient. For the time being he pursued this under the umbrella of Daimler, under which name his first drafts up to the Daimler L 20 also appeared.

Klemms planes

Klemm's first model, the Daimler L 15 , which is a continuation of the way he counted his two previous military aircraft designs, was a light aircraft with an Indian motorcycle engine with only 7.5 HP (5.5 kW) . In the spring of 1919, however, there was already a break while rolling. Rebuilt, initially tested as a glider and finally equipped with a 12 HP (8.8 kW) Harley-Davidson engine, his new employee, Martin Schrenk , made sensational flights with it. Among other things, the L 15 took part in the “Bodensee Flugwoche” in 1924, this time on floats. He persuaded Klemm to use a square fuselage that was now easy to build, instead of the well-rounded fuselage of the L 15 in the next draft, the L 20 (still a Daimler aircraft). This aircraft, of which more than 100 units were built, was equipped with an in-house engine of only 20 HP (15 kW), a design by Ferdinand Porsche , and was soon sold all over the world.

In 1926, Klemm went into business for himself and founded Leichtflugzeugbau Klemm GmbH in Böblingen . In 1928/1929 Freiherr Friedrich-Karl von König-Warthausen made a spectacular trip around the world with an L 20, which he reported on in two books. The flight earned him the Hindenburg Cup in 1928, the highest German award for flying achievements. Elly Beinhorn received the same award four years later after flying around the world in a Klemm Kl 26 with an Argus engine . The flight school , which was affiliated with the company, produced many pilots who later became very famous.

From the L 20, but now under the leadership of Schrenk's successor, Robert Lusser , his most famous aircraft, the Klemm L 25 , later renamed Kl 25. It already produced over 600 units, with no fewer than 14 different types of engine installed. Licenses were issued to Great Britain and the USA. This was followed by the Klemm Kl 31 and Klemm Kl 32 cabin aircraft . Lusser's successor was Friedrich Fecher , who brought with him the composite construction preferred by the Technical Office of the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) and was responsible for the Klemm Kl 35 . With this aircraft, Hanns Klemm suffered a setback because the V 1 crashed in Rechlin with a broken wing, which was explained with a material defect, but in reality was probably due to overuse. Recalculations and strength tests showed that the regulations were met perfectly. Production could begin. The aircraft was then built in large numbers both at the main factory and by Fieseler and later by the Czech company Zlín for the Air Force. The Klemm Kl 36 designed for the European sightseeing flight in 1934 was also Fecher's work. In 1934, however, he went to the new Klemm branch in Halle , which was set up at the request of the RLM, as a senior designer , where he took the design for the twin-engine KL 104 touring aircraft with him. After renaming the plant to Flugzeugwerk Halle (later Siebel Flugzeugwerke ) it became Fh 104.

The successor to Fechers in Böblingen was Carl Bucher , who came from the Bavarian Aircraft Works in Augsburg . He was responsible for all the Klemm aircraft that were built during the war, such as the Klemm Kl 105 , Klemm Kl 106 and Klemm Kl 107 as well as the Klemm Kl 151 and Klemm Kl 152 . In the period from 1936 onwards, Klemm developed a new type of production method in wood, which he called the Klemm partial shell construction. He was able to do his doctorate at the TH Stuttgart in 1937 on the adhesive process developed in the process. Klemm joined the NSDAP in 1933 , but left the party again in 1943 in protest because his company was placed under state supervision and forced to manufacture aircraft in metal ( Arado Ar 96 and finally Messerschmitt Me 163 ) and he himself had been expropriated. The exit has understandably brought him into great distress.

post war period

After the end of the Second World War, Hanns Klemm initially lived off the exploitation of his glue patents. In the summer of 1952, during a conversation between Hanns Klemm, his son Hannsjürgen and other former members of the Leichtflugzeugbau Klemm company, the question was whether, after the general aircraft construction ban expected to be lifted in the near future, Klemm aircraft construction should be brought back to life . Klemm declared that he was no longer willing to actively participate due to his poor overall condition. The plan was pursued further and so in mid-1954 the group around Hannsjürgen Klemm started talks with Ludwig Bölkow and Wolf Hirth . In October, a preliminary contract for the establishment of a working group was concluded. In 1955, the revision of the plans of Kl 107 at Bölkow, which had been saved from the collapse, began by the newly arrived Carl Bucher. The prototype of the Kl 107 A built in Nabern first flew in the summer of 1956 with Karl Voy at the wheel. The Klemm-Flugzeug GmbH was founded by the Klemm GmbH and the Bölkow KG on October 18, 1957 for their sales . Two years later, on April 30, 1959, Bölkow took over the Klemm shares, so that from then on, production and sales were exclusively at Apparatebau Nabern GmbH , which was owned by Bölkow . The Klemm-Flugzeug GmbH was then dissolved. With the successor model of the Kl 107, version C, the Bölkow 207 derived from it , the name Klemm finally disappeared from the list of new registrations. Hanns Klemm had already been elected honorary citizen by the city of Böblingen in 1955 for his services . He died in 1961 after a full life and was buried in Fischbachau.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Klemm, Hanns
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1961
Place of death Fischbachau