Jatho dragon
| Jatho dragon | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Pressure - propeller plane |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
not before 1907 |
| Number of pieces: |
1 |
.svg){kind=small}
The Jatho kite was a flying machine that was built by Karl Jatho from 1900 at the latest. According to timely sources, it did not fly before 1907. There are no independent documents that describe a flight at all.
From 1933 report Oppermann and Supf referring to Jatho notes of short flights from 18 August 1903. Accordingly, the Jatho dragon would before the Wright Flyer of Wright brothers flew that took off only four months later. From which, for the Jatho kite, a priority claim to the first powered aircraft that was heavier than air and could fly is derived. The priority claim is incomplete.
development
Karl Jatho started building a flying machine from 1900 at the latest. The first documented public exhibition of his "triple" was on the occasion of the International Sports Exhibition in Berlin from April 20 to May 5, 1907 (see picture above). The most recent sources for his project are from 1907 and 1909:
“A flying machine designed by Mr. Karl Jatho in Hanover was inspected this morning by a number of interested parties, officers and representatives of the press. Mr. Jatho has been working on the attempt to produce a steerable airship for twelve years. He believes his intention, like the French airship Santos Dumont , to be achieved by a flying machine. The Jathosche airship consists of six sails (a horizontal main support sail, a horizontal control sail, two vertical fixed sails and two vertical control sails), a propeller and a nacelle on which the sails are mounted. The flying machine is powered by a Buchet motor powered by twelve horses. The equilibrium is kept by the horizontal control sail, which is also supposed to steer the apparatus up and down, as well as to lift it forwards and backwards. The basic direction is given by the two vertical control sails, which also serve to describe the lateral curves. The airship is provisionally set up for a driver whose seat is in front of the engine. The whole thing rests on five wheels which are arranged so that they can be tilted in the longitudinal direction from front to back; the front wheel is steerable to indicate the direction when starting on earth, respectively. still to change. When the device, rolling on the earth and propelled by the propeller, has reached a speed of 12 meters per second, the driver, as the inventor assumes, lifts the longitudinal rod of the horizontal control sail against the air and then the wind pressure should lift the device push the rear wheels so that the sails are inclined at the necessary angle to raise the apparatus. The base sail is so large that it can act as a parachute in the event of an engine failure. Mr. Jatho thinks he will climb the Vahrenwalder Heide in 8-10 days. He hopes to first achieve a speed of 70 kilometers per hour with his machine at a height of 10-12 meters. After the planned ascent, we will come back to the installation of the flying machine in more detail. "
"The dirigible airship, that of Mr. Jatho, which the builder called 'hang glider', has come close to completion in these days, so that perhaps on Wednesday [21. August 1907] the first ascent can take place. This was already planned for Sunday, but had to be postponed for a few days because of some metal parts whose dispatch from Dresden was delayed. The 'hang glider' has recently seen some significant improvements, including: a. instead of the low-lying bicycle controls, a higher automobile steering wheel. "
"Karl Jatho. One of the first to build flying machines in Germany was K. Jatho in Hanover. As early as 1900 he built a glider with an area of 10 square meters and later a triplane with a wing area of 48 square meters on three wheels, in which a 9 hp Buchet engine was installed. This device was on display at the 1907 sports exhibition in Berlin. On the basis of several attempts, Jatho converted it into a two-decker, which will be described in more detail here. […] The apparatus was placed on a system of five wheels; one was in the front, two in the middle and two in the back, but not all wheels touched the ground, because the rear wheels are slightly higher than the front ones. […] If Jatho has not yet made any significant flights with his apparatus, this is probably due to the far too low position of the center of gravity, to the far too weak engine. Jatho himself recognized this too; because he now wants to install a 35 HP Körting motor of 1200 rpm and a weight of 80 kg in his apparatus. [...] "
Jatho Notes
Information on the Jatho kite, which reports on "air jumps" in 1903, is published from 1928 with reference to Karl Jatho's diary. On September 17, 1933, the weekly supplement of the Hannoversche Anzeiger reported that there were “impeccable” witnesses for the “air jumps” of 1903. The exact wording and a concrete reference to the whereabouts of the certified witness statements are not given in the sources.
According to Jatho's diary notes, the first test on August 18, 1903, successfully lifted his device, which at that time corresponded to the triple surface shown in Berlin in April 1907 (see picture above). On August 21, 1903, the aircraft was depressed by cross winds during takeoff and damaged in the process. As a result, it was fundamentally converted into a two-area. With the converted flying machine, many flight attempts and flights were made between September 11, 1903 and the end of November 1903, during which Jatho reached a distance of up to 60 meters and a height of up to 3.5 meters.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Triple | Two-sided |
|---|---|---|
| design type |
Pressure - propeller aircraft rudder and elevator are located above the wing |
|
| crew | a pilot, seated | |
| height | 4.5 m | ? |
| length | 3.6 m | |
| span | 7.5 m and 7.0 m | 8.0 m |
| "Air sail" | 48.32 m² | 36.00 m² |
| profile | no wing profile (kite principle) | |
| Wing area | 40.54 m² | 28.22 m² |
| Area of the ( canard ) elevator | 7.78 m² | |
| Area of the 2 rudders | 2.3 m² each | |
| Area of the 2 side fins | 1.75 m² each | |
| Wing extension | 2.496 and 2.722 | 2.268 |
| Empty mass | 225 kg | 185 kg |
| Engine ground | 64 kg | |
| Start speed | (unknown) | (unknown) |
| Top speed | (unknown) | |
| Engine | an air-cooled single-cylinder four-stroke engine "Buchet", 9/12 HP | |
Reconstructions
Two reconstructions of the Jatho kite were made in 1933 and 2006. So far, none of the replicas has made a “leap into the air” as Jatho noted.
literature
- Wolfgang Leonhardt : Karl Jathos first powered flight 1903. Books on Demand , Norderstedt 2002, ISBN 3-8311-3499-5
- Theo Oppermann: Ikaros is alive! The life story of a German: Karl Jatho the world's first powered pilot . Verlag Oppermann & Leddin, Wunstorf 1933, 1 thousand.
- Edmund Rumpler : Die Flugmaschine - Critical discussion of executed flying machines with special consideration of the historical development . Berlin Aviation Association, Berlin 1909.
- Peter Supf : The book of German flight history . 2nd Edition. tape 1 . Drei Brunnen Verl., Stuttgart 1956 (complete, combined and extended edition; first edition 1935).
Remarks
- ↑ control area included
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hannoverscher Courier No 26955 from Thursday, August 1, 1907
- ^ A b Edmund Rumpler, Die Flugmaschine ..., 1909
- ↑ Theo Oppermann: Ikaros is alive!
- ↑ Peter Supf: The book of German flight history
- ^ Illustrirte Zeitung: Weekly supplement of the Hannoversche Anzeiger from September 17, 1933
- ^ Leonhardt: Karl Jatho's first powered flight in 1903.
- ^ Karl Jatho's first powered flight in 1903 by Wolfgang Leonhardt
- ↑ Part 1 and Part 2 about the attempted flight of the replicated Jatho kite