Hans Grade

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hans Grade in front of his house (1939)
Hans Grade (around 1900)
Replica of the Grade three-decker in the Technikmuseum Magdeburg (2015)
Hans Grade in a monoplane (1909)
Grade "Dragonfly" (1909)
Hans Grade on his birthday flight in 1939
Airbus A310 MRT MedEvac "Hans Grade" of the Air Force (2003)
Grade car 4/16 hp, built in 1922

Johannes Gustav Paul "Hans" Grade (born May 17, 1879 in Köslin , Pomerania Province , Prussia , today Poland ; † October 22, 1946 in Borkheide ) was a German mechanical engineer , entrepreneur and aviation pioneer .

Life

Hans Grade worked as a mechanical engineering trainee in Grevenbroich and attended the Technical University in Charlottenburg from 1900 to 1904 , where in 1900 he was a member of the Gothia fraternity in Berlin .

In 1903, Grade constructed his first motorcycle in Köslin and took over an engine workshop, which he ran until 1905. In 1905 he founded Grade-Motoren-Werke GmbH in Magdeburg . After joining the Magdeburg Pioneer Battalion in 1907, he began building his first three-decker aircraft with a six-cylinder two-stroke engine and made his first flight on the Cracauer Anger in Magdeburg on October 28, 1908 . At a height of about eight meters, he overcame 100 meters on the flight. The flight ended in a crash landing. Up to May 1909, Grade undertook around 70 flights with a maximum flight length of about 700 m on the site, about which the international trade press reported. These first German motorized flights with fixed-wing aircraft took place more than 20 years after the first flights / first flights of airships - in 1883 and 1884 (electric motorized, return to the starting point) in France and 1888 in Germany.

On August 14, 1909, Grade moved his workshop to Bork, today's Borkheide . After only three days, on August 17, 1909, he made the first flight in Bork with his monoplane "Libelle", which was still developed in Magdeburg . While trying to win the “ Lanz Prize of the Skies ”, he crashed into a pine forest on September 26, 1909 when the propeller broke. He survived the incident unharmed and won the 40,000  gold mark prize on October 30, 1909 at the Johannisthal airfield . He then went on sightseeing flights in Hamburg , Bremen , Breslau and Magdeburg. In 1910 Grade built an aircraft factory in Bork and founded the first flight school in Germany. Both were in operation until 1914. 80 aircraft were built and around 130 students were trained. Grade was one of the first German motorized pilots. His pilot's license dated February 1, 1910, issued by the Berlin Airship Association , bears the number 2.

In September 1910 he succeeded in the first continuous flight with a monoplane, during which he was in the air for 4 hours and 30 minutes. On October 28, 1910, Grade wanted to carry out the first overland flight from Bork to Berlin-Johannisthal, the route of which was to lead over about 60 km from Bork via Beelitz , Trebbin , Blankenfelde and Rudow. Due to the adverse weather, this flight was postponed by two days. On October 30, 1910, he took off with his “grade monoplane” for the cross-country flight organized by the Association of German Air Technicians . The other participants were Eugen Wiencziers with a Blériot monoplane and Robert Thelen in a Wright double decker. In front of many onlookers (a special train with reduced prices went to Bork from Berlin), Grade landed safely at its destination after a flight time of 53 minutes and 40 seconds and an average speed of 83 km / h. Wincziers won this flight and received 2,500  gold marks for it , but Grade came second with his self-designed, significantly weaker engine, received 1,500 gold marks, and left third-placed Thelen (1,000 gold marks) well behind (his time: 56 minutes 50 seconds) themselves. Another striking feature of Grade's engine was the low fuel consumption of only around 10 liters.

Grade then carried out his first overland flight with a three-decker on April 9, 1911, and one day later achieved an altitude record of 1,450 m with it. 1912 degrees by the Emperor was Wilhelm II. Of the Crown 4th grade awarded.

On February 18, 1912, the first mail was carried in a Hans Grade plane from Bork to Brück - only 6 km away - by the pilot Hermann Pentz . Own postage stamps were issued to finance the flight. The flight is seen as the first airmail service in Germany.

He made his first attempt with the first seaplane on August 21, 1912 in Blankensee near Trebbin . Hans Grade built in 1913, the first for the inverted suitable aircraft.

From 1914 on, he mainly dealt with repairs of war aircraft and developed a tractor . He later developed the first German small car and began production in 1922. Germany was prohibited from building aircraft under the provisions of the Versailles Treaty . Up to 2000 cars were produced by 1927. Up to 800 workers were employed in Grades Automobile Plant.

In 1927 Grade Automobilwerke AG had to close due to financial difficulties. In the 1930s, Grade tried unsuccessfully to develop a new people's plane. In 1934, Grade took on research assignments from industry.

After the Second World War he was temporarily expropriated, but received all of his property back before his death. Hans Grade was married to Käthe Grothum from Magdeburg, aunt of the actress Brigitte Grothum .

Honors

The Hans Grade Elementary School in Borkheide and the Hans Grade School in Berlin-Johannisthal are reminiscent of the aviation pioneer. The Hans Grade Museum is also located in Borkheide. Furthermore, in Borkheide, a monument created in 1980 by the Potsdam sculptor Petra Raschke commemorates the aviation pioneer.

In addition, Gradestrasse in Britz , Hans-Grade-Allee in Schönefeld near Berlin and Hans-Grade-Ring in Potsdam are named after him. In the cities of Neuruppin and Werder (Havel) there is a Hans-Grade-Straße near former military airfields. The city of Magdeburg named a street and a school after him. On the door of Magdeburg's historic town hall , one of the bronze reliefs by Heinrich Apel , on which important events in the city's history are depicted, depicts Grades Flug from 1908. There is a Hans-Grade-Weg in the north of Nuremberg.

The Air Force has named a Medevac Airbus A310 MRT (10 + 26) after him. Previously, a Boeing 707 (10 + 02) in readiness for flight carried his name. The Güstrower Flugsportverein bears its name in the club's title: “Aero Club von Güstrow Hans Grade e. V. ".

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Hans Grade's first powered flight, the Hans Grade Festival Weeks took place from September 28 to November 2, 2008 in the Millennium Tower and in the Magdeburg Technology Museum , a series of events with exhibitions, lectures and theater performances by the city of Magdeburg honored the aviation pioneer. Here also was from Henning Wagenbreth designed special brand of Deutsche Post "100 years of powered flight - Hans Grade" presents.

See also

literature

Movie

In the 1914 film Der Flug in die Sonne with Tilla Durieux , Hans Grade was the first German pilot to fly in a feature film.

In the 1938 film Ziel in den Wolken about the beginnings of aviation in Berlin-Johannisthal, directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner , Hans Grade plays himself.

Web links

Commons : Hans Grade  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Certificate No. 213, Main Birth Register, Standes-Amt Coeslin 1879. (JPG) In: Materiały zdigitalizowane / Digitized materials. Archiwum Państwowe w Koszalinie / State Archives in Koszalin, accessed on February 24, 2018 .
  2. ↑ 100 years of German powered flight - Hans Grade wins the first Lanz Prize of the Skies. In: FliegerRevue. November 2009, pp. 50-53.
  3. ^ German Airplane - The Grade. (PDF) In: FLIGHT, JANUARY 2, 1909. Flightglobal.com , January 2, 1909, pp. 3–4 , accessed on October 30, 2014 (English): “It is reported from Berlin that an engineer named Grade had succeeded in making flights from 100 to 400 meters in length at an altitude of about 1 meter and at speeds varying from 30 to 40 kiloms. per hour. "
  4. ↑ Mr. Grade Has a Case. (PDF) In: FLIGHT, OCTOBER 2, 1909. Flightglobal.com , October 2, 1909, p. 612 , accessed on October 30, 2014 (English): "While making an attempt to win the Lanz Prize [...]"
  5. ↑ Exactly 100 years ago, Hans Grade took off on the first German powered flight. ( Memento from August 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: Märkische Allgemeine Online. November 3, 2008.
  6. ↑ Gradestrasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )
  7. ↑ Festival weeks in honor of Hans Grade in Magdeburg, MDR ( Memento from August 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).
  8. ↑ Federal Ministry of Finance presents special postage stamp “100 Years of Motorized Flight - Hans Grade” ( Memento from August 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). Press release of the Federal Ministry of Finance No. 48/2008, October 28, 2008.
  9. ↑ Borkheide - Germany's first motor pilot, Hans Grade, died 50 years ago today. In: Berliner Zeitung. October 22, 1996, accessed April 6, 2016.
  10. ↑ Aim in the clouds. www.filmportal.de, accessed on April 6, 2016. - 100 min, 35 mm film, 1: 1.37, b / w, sound, first performance December 1, 1938 Berlin.
personal data
SURNAME Grade, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grade, Johannes Gustav Paul (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH May 17, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Koslin
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1946
Place of death Borkheide