Hermann Moedebeck

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Hermann Moedebeck

Hermann Wilhelm Ludwig Moedebeck (born June 10, 1857 in Berlin ; † March 1, 1910 there ) was a German officer . He is one of the leading personalities in the development of aviation and accompanied the entire development of aviation journalistically.

Life

Training and military career

Hermann Moedebeck came from a Westphalian family. He attended the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Berlin and joined the Silesian Foot Artillery Regiment No. 6 of the Prussian Army in Neisse in 1877 as a flag junior . After attending the artillery school in Charlottenburg , Moedebeck was assigned to the Spandau War School in 1883 .

Promoter of aviation development

In 1883 he began his aviation career when, as a young artillery lieutenant, he joined the Association for the Promotion of Airship Travel, which was founded in 1882 and was elected to the board of directors in 1884. From 1884 to 1890, Moedebeck's command as a second lieutenant in the airship department of the balloon detachment at the old Berlin Ostbahnhof lasted , which had a decisive influence on his further work. In 1886 Moedebeck's first book was published, the Luftschiffahrt handbook with special consideration of its military use . The book is a comprehensive account of air (shipping) travel. Moedebeck became with numerous publications the German capacity in the field of airship travel. His pocket book for practical use by flight technicians and airmen was published in four editions and in translations by 1923.

Professional background

Several positions in the artillery followed in the military , including in Thorn in 1890 , in Cologne in 1892 and in 1893 at the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress . In 1896 he was transferred to Strasbourg, where he and the meteorologist Hugo Hergesell founded the Upper Rhine Association for Airship Travel. Moedebeck also became a member of the International Commission for Scientific Aviation . The illustrated aeronautical messages, edited by Moedebeck in 1898, and the German magazine for airship travel in 1909 , emerged from the illustrated communications published in Strasbourg since 1897 . In 1900 he became an artillery officer from the square in Swinoujscie , a year later a major in the staff of the foot artillery regiment in Neisse and in 1903 an artillery officer from the square in Graudenz . In 1907 Moedebeck took his leave as lieutenant colonel in order to devote himself entirely to building up German airship travel. In 1902 he co-founded the German Airship Association (DLV), and in 1905 he took part in the establishment of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale .

"Father" of aeronautical cartography

In 1888 Moedebeck was the first to point out the need for special maps for air travelers. He suggested printing maps with easy-to-read elevation numbers and clearly highlighting landscape landmarks. So it was only logical in 1907 when the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale commissioned him to set up an international commission for aeronautical maps and to select its members himself. Moedebeck tackled the task energetically and published proposals for a signature key as early as 1908. He held mainly three groups of signatures for important orientation signatures for lighthouses , industrial plants , railway stations , etc., security signatures for high-voltage lines , wetlands, particularly wind and poor areas. as well as signatures relating to assistance for gas stations , aerological observatories or the headquarters of aviation associations.

Private life path

Moedebeck had been married to Else, née von Mandel, since 1889. On March 1, 1910, Moedebeck died in Berlin at the age of less than 53 and was carried to the grave with great sympathy by military and athletic comrades-in-arms.

Fonts (selection)

  • Handbook of aviation with special reference to its military use. 1886.
  • Pocket book for practical use by flight technicians and aeronauts. 1895/1904/1911/1923.

The Moedebeck archive is located in the Dresden Transport Museum .

literature

  • Victor Silberer: Hermann WL Moedebeck . In: Wiener Luftschiffer-Zeitung. Volume 3, No. 5, 1904, pp. 98f.
  • Oskar Albrecht, Willy Eggers, Theo Müller: Hermann Moedebeck, Lieutenant Colonel, "father" of aviation cartography, 1857–1910 . Military geographic service of the Bundeswehr, Bonn 1974.
  • Götz Ulrich Penzel: A life for aviation. Hermann Wilhelm Ludwig Moedebeck (1857–1910) . Sandstone Communication, Dresden 2020, ISBN 978-3-95498-543-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ H. Stade: 40 years of the Berlin Aviation Association. Berlin 1921, p. 10.
  2. ^ Review of August von Parseval in Zeitschrift für Luftschiffahrt. 1895, Volume XIV., Booklet VIII / IX, p. 230.
  3. ^ Moedebeck corresponded with Otto Lilienthal about possible flight attempts from the Ehrenbreitstein
  4. ^ Hermann Moedebeck: International Commission for Aeronautical Maps. Official report on the activities until 1 April 1908 . In: Illustrierte Aeronautische Mitteilungen 12, No. 7, 1908, pp. 145–150.
  5. ↑ Stefan Siemer: image scholars geotechnical engineer. Aerial photograph and cartography around 1900 . In: Alexander Gall (Hrsg.): Construct, communicate, present. Images of science and technology . Wallstein Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8353-0180-1 , p. 69-108 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
personal data
SURNAME Moedebeck, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moedebeck, Hermann Wilhelm Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, aviation publicist
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH March 1, 1910
Place of death Berlin