Jacob Goedecker

Jacob Goedecker (around 1940)

Jacob Goedecker (* 6. January 1882 in Warsaw ; † 19th July 1957 ) was a German aircraft design engineer from Gonsenheim .

Education

Goedecker came from a wealthy Mainz family. As a businessman and manufacturer, his father was the owner of sugar and machine factories in Germany and in the Weichselland . In 1896, reports in magazines aroused the then 14-year-old's enthusiasm for aviation. During his mechanical engineering and shipbuilding studies from 1902–1906 at the technical colleges in Aachen and Berlin , he met Professor Hugo Junkers , who taught there. He tried to encourage his students to work, invent and think independently through practical work in the laboratory. Goedecker and Junkers dealt intensively with aircraft design and construction (independently of one another) during their studies. It was during this time that Goedecker's first flight models were created.

Company formation

Anthony Fokker in Gonsenheim on his "Spider"

In 1909 Goedecker founded the “J. Goedecker Flugmaschinenwerke ”. His first machines were built with the help of boat builders, and they were flown in Gonsenheim on the " Großer Sand ". Aviation engineer Paul Lange carried out the first test flights in April 1910 with one of the Gonsenheim aircraft manufacturer's own designs based on the " Etrich dove". Goedecker achieved initial successes, using balloon tires on the landing gear. In his flight school, founded in 1911, some later famous pilots learned their craft, u. a. also Anthony Fokker , who later became a flyer and trainer there. In the same year Goedecker built the first "Spider" for Fokker.

Aircraft construction until the end of 1919

In Gonsenheim monoplane , biplane and two flying boats were built. He submitted the first drafts for a gyroplane to the military in 1910, but they were rejected. At the end of 1911, his flying machine works were already employing 22 people. Successful participation in various flight days and at the ALA 1912 aviation exhibition in Berlin consolidated Goedecker's good reputation. In 1913 he was still producing sport aircraft, from 1914 two-seater biplanes for the military. During the First World War , some double-deckers of the German Air Force came from Goedecker's factory, but he received no further orders from the military and focused mainly on repairs.

New beginning

After the war, Goedecker's aircraft production continued to stagnate, as the Armistice Agreement and the Treaty of Versailles also severely restricted his work. The Allies confiscated parts of the Gonsenheim factory. From 1920 Goedecker dealt with the development of gliders and the production of car bodies. When he was able to resume operations in Gonsenheim in 1930, he had lost touch with technical developments. In 1932 he designed the ornithopter , the first electrically operated bird wing aircraft, and worked in Darmstadt for the German research institute for gliding. In the 1950s he had international success with the first airworthy model helicopters .

Awards and honors

A memorial stone created by Adalbert Ditt on Elbestrasse in Gonsenheim has been a reminder of the aviation pioneer and his work since 1982 . This has been in a historic location since the end of 2013. It was repositioned on the green area of ​​Willy-Brandt-Platz, where the “Großer Sand” airfield used to be.

literature

• Mechthild Goedecker: The Gonsenheim aviation pioneer Jacob Goedecker (1882–1957) . In: “Gonsenheimer Jahrbuch”, 4th year (1996), pages 94–97.
• Hermann-Dieter Müller: 90 years of the Flugzeugwerk-Werke Jacob Goedecker Mainz-Gonsenheim (1909–1999) . In: “Gonsenheimer Jahrbuch” 6th year (1998), pages 51–86.
• Leopold Anslinger: "Mein Fliegerleben", In "Gonsenheimer Jahrbuch" 11th year (2003), pages 54–85.
• Hermann-Dieter Müller: Founded 100 years ago in August 1909: - The 6th German aircraft factory Jacob Goedecker in Gonsenheim near Mainz . In: “Gonsenheimer Jahrbuch”, 16th year (2008), pp. 33–58.