Körting disaster
The Körting disaster was an airship accident in the Danube monarchy near the Fischamend military-aeronautical institute . The clash of the Austro-Hungarian military airship M.III Körting with a military plane and the subsequent crash of both aircraft killed nine people. The accident ushered in the end of the era of kuk airship travel .
Course of events
On the morning of June 20, 1914, the seven-person airship rose near Fischamend and drove 300 meters into the Königsberg. In order to produce overlapping terrain photographs with a panorama apparatus according to Theodor Scheimpflug , it moved in spirals.
After a short flight time, observing officers found that the airship was not moving as usual. A double-decker manned by two people was dispatched to investigate. He circled the airship several times. There was a collision. The plane leaned to one side, overturned, and fell to the ground.
The airship hovered quietly in the air for a few more seconds. Calling for help, the crew climbed up on the fastening ropes of the passenger cabin known as the gondola. This tried and tested measure served to reduce a collision with the ground in an emergency. After a flame, the airship fell to the ground under thick black smoke.
root cause
After the aircraft rose over the airship at a short distance, it was depressed and brushed against the balloon. A strong gust of wind is to be assumed. The left wing tore a piece out of the balloon envelope. The filling gas ignited.
The aircraft was unbalanced by the impact.
The official report of the Austro-Hungarian airship under Commander Emil Uzelac to the Austro-Hungarian War Ministry on June 21, 1914 also shows that the aircraft was unequivocally pushed into the stern of the airship. The fact that the aircraft collided with the airship is proven by remains of balloon material found on the wing and engine of the remains of the aircraft. These were 30 meters from the remains of the airship. The accident report also describes that an illusion of the pilot that was not taken into account when the distance to the airship was too close and that it moved, could have led to the collision. The scene of the accident was also a well-known gust hole to the balloon officers. Furthermore, the wind eddies occurring behind a moving airship, which have a suction effect, may have contributed to the disaster. Most likely, the report is suggesting a jerky movement caused by a gust that is attributable to the passing aircraft colliding with the balloon.
The Austro-Hungarian airship department attributed the accident to the fault of the aircraft pilot, since the circumnavigation of airships by airplanes did not comply with the binding regulations for behavior on the airfield and were not ordered.
Crash site
The manager of the nearby Ludwigshof, called Meierhofs of the Batthyany family , two fitters from the Austro-Hungarian state railways , a military man and field workers observed the drama up close and were the first to witness the hard-to-reach crash site. This was located south of Fischamend, a 45-minute walk from the flight station, near the Königsberg on the border with Enzersdorf an der Fischa .
In the afternoon Archduke Karl Franz Joseph , 1916–1918 last Austrian Emperor, visited the crash site. The recovery of the disfigured and burned victims turned out to be difficult.
Victim
The casualties were laid out in a chapel in Fischamender. The fish of the community doctor Dr. Blitz, who despite several interventions , had to take care of the 5000 employees of the military-aeronautical institute alone, carried out the inspection.
After the moving funeral ceremonies, the aircraft involved in the accident were transferred to the Vienna Central Cemetery . The fish of the residents escorted the casualties to the market tower. The funeral procession passed a thick line of people. All houses carried mourning flags.
A memorial service attended by top-class guests was celebrated at the central cemetery. A squadron of airplanes circled the cemetery several times in lowering loops and dropped flowers. A mourning rally also took place in the Hungarian Chamber of Deputies. The nine victims rest in a grave of honor in Vienna's central cemetery. These are Captain Johann Hauswirth, First Lieutenant Ernst Hofstätter, Lieutenant Otto Haidinger, Corporal Franz Chadima, Private Franz Weber, Engineer Gustav Kammerer, First Lieutenant Adolf Breuer, First Lieutenant Ernst Flatz and Frigate Lieutenant Wolfgang Ernst Siegfried Puchta.
Crashed aircraft
The Fischamend airship accident involved the collision between the M.III Körting airship and a Farman HF-20 biplane.
M.III Körting
The M.III Körting was a semi-rigid impact airship . Its first voyage took place on January 1, 1911 in Fischamend. Before the crash, the 68-meter-long military airship had made at least 84 documented journeys. It was stationed at the Fischamend military aeronautical institute . In research, the airship, also known as a steering ship or motor balloon, was used for radio telegraphy and land surveying .
Farman HF-20
The Farman HF-20 was a French aircraft owned by Henri Farman . It was used as a training aircraft in the Fischamend Military Aeronautical Institute .
International press
The Körting catastrophe aroused great media interest and received worldwide attention. In addition to numerous local newspapers and magazines, a Dutch newspaper from the university town of Tilburg reported on the day of the accident. Between June 20, 1914 and August 1, 1914, when the First World War had already begun, articles appeared in newspapers from France, Spain, Luxembourg and Holland. Reports have also been made in the United States and Australia.
It is one of the most serious aviation disasters in Austria.
Decline of the Austro-Hungarian airships
As early as 1911, the Austro-Hungarian War Ministry made the decision to give preference to the aircraft “heavier than air” in research and development. Due to this decision and failures in the further development of the airships, the aircraft convinced.
The loss of the Körting confirmed this.
Trivia
First Lieutenant Flatz was considered a wild daredevil and one of the best pilots. It was reported in the newspapers that Captain Hauswirth, in command of the M.III Körting on his last voyage, after a great “ride” in the days before the accident, said to the pilot Flatz: “Flatz, I'll shoot you if You come too close to my balloon! "
It can be assumed that Lieutenant Haidinger had to take on the position of first lieutenant who had come too late for promotion for a short time and therefore fell victim to the accident by chance. A fireworker also escaped death after being stopped at the last moment from the last trip of the Körting .
It was an unfortunate coincidence that the young wife of the only married victim, Oberleutnant Hofstätter, Erica, drove her automobile to Fischamend when the disaster struck. She had to watch her husband die.
literature
- Rudolf Ster, Reinhard Ringl: The Austro-Hungarian Military Aeronautical Institute Fischamend. Volume 1: The great time of the Austro-Hungarian airships 1908–1914 . Carina-Verlag, Fohnsdorf 2017, ISBN 978-3-9503429-8-7 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Military balloon catastrophe near Vienna | aera - breaking history. Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Rodolf Ster, Reinhard Ringl: The kuk military aeronautical institute Fischamend . Ed .: ILF. tape 1 . carinaverlag, Hetzendorf 2017, ISBN 978-3-9503429-8-7 , p. 200 .
- ↑ a b c Exhibition Movement in the Air in the visitor world of Vienna Airport in spring 2019
- ^ New exhibition at Vienna Airport “Movement in the Air” - Aviation Fischamend interest group. Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
- ^ New exhibition at Vienna Airport “Movement in the Air”. Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
- ↑ Home. Retrieved February 5, 2020 .