Jochen von Kalckreuth

Jochen von Kalckreuth (born December 16, 1931 in Obrawalde , district of Meseritz , Posen-West Prussia ; † May 4, 1977 ( plane crash ) in Krün near Mittenwald , Upper Bavaria ) was a well-known glider pilot , holder of several Alpine records and author of glider books .

The official name of the professional advertising clerk was Adam Joachim von Kalckreuth .

family

Kalckreuth was the son of the farmer and landowner Joachim von Kalckreuth (1902–1970) and his first wife Marie von Helldorf (1908–1989). The parents' marriage ended in divorce in 1946.

Jochen married at the age of forty on September 11, 1971 in Schwalbach am Taunus . His wife became the publishing clerk and interpreter Gabriela Pfaff (* 1944 in Hirschberg in the Riesengebirge , Lower Silesia), the daughter of a high official.

Gliding

Kalckreuth soon spent all of his free time on the subject of gliding ; He was particularly fascinated by the influences of the weather , its rapid variability in the high mountains and its interpretation for the optimal flight route (see Meteorological Navigation ). In doing so, like Harro Wödl in Austria, he laid the most important basis for his record flights. One reviewer wrote :

Professionally as an advertising clerk all over Europe, he used every free hour for flight training and for high-performance flights between Mont Blanc and Grossglockner , Marmolada and Wilder Kaiser . Kalckreuth was also successful as a writer.

Kalckreuth wrote some books about his flights ( alpine crossings , triangular and long-haul flights ), the nature of which ranges from semi-technical to illustrated books .

His most important, richly illustrated book “Segeln über den Alpen” (Sailing over the Alps) deals with the history of flight without a motor , flight meteorology , alpine flight technology and the tactics of cross-country flights. According to the blurb, the FAZ wrote in 1972: “ Crossing the Alps is the great multiplication table for glider pilots. Between Geneva and Vienna, between Allgäu and Ticino, they have conquered a magnificent playground. Every year brings new best performances and conquests. "

Fascination with the weather

Kalckreuth's secret of success was his scientific and intuitive understanding of atmospheric processes. He became a master in finding and exploiting the updrafts and leaving them in time for a rapid cross-country flight. At the same time, he could enjoy the landscape below him.

This is how he describes a 7000 meter high updraft under a Ticino lee cloud : “Now I can follow the ascent movement in a wide panorama view without an altimeter . The still angular mountain relief begins to smooth out, loses its contours, remains in the depths as a map ... The top of the sky is slowly turning a dark blue, the lightless space shimmers through the nearby stratosphere. "

Regarding the turbulence in a foehn wall , he writes: “In the wild air dance of this hour, the light aircraft was tested like its pilot. The narrow peaks of the surface fluttered about for meters. Arms and legs floated weightlessly in the fall of sudden winds. "

Fonts

• Sailing over the Alps: Experience and technology of high mountain flight - a record pilot reports . Bücheli, Zug 1986.
• Start in the wind. Experienced Rhön history 1911–1926 . Edited with Peter Riedel. 2nd Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-87943-539-1 .
• The silent adventure. Experiences and encounters of an alpine pilot . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-613-02206-0 .

See also

• Kalckreuth (noble family)

literature

• Genealogical manual of the nobility . Noble houses A Volume XXIV, page 143. Volume 111 of the complete series. Starke, Limburg (Lahn) 1996, ISSN  0435-2408 .