Lanz Prize of the Skies

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The Lanz-Preis der Lüfte was a prize donated in 1908 by the Mannheim industrialist Karl Lanz to promote German aviation technology, the main amount of which went to Hans Grade on October 30, 1909 .

Motivation and tender

The agricultural machinery manufacturer Karl Lanz, who later built rigid airships and airplanes himself under the name Schütte-Lanz with Johann Schütte, noticed the backwardness of German aviation technology in international comparison. Since he saw himself as a promoter of technical innovations - he also supported Graf Zeppelin after the destruction of LZ 4 in the Echterdingen disaster with 50,000 marks - he decided to create an incentive for aircraft designers and aviation pioneers by donating a prize. Even a member of the Berlin Association for Airship TravelOn April 15, 1908, he made an amount of 50,000 marks available to them, of which 10,000 marks were intended to provide direct financial support for German flight technicians, while 40,000 marks were advertised as the "Lanz Prize of the Air". The basic task demanded that the competition participants complete a prescribed course: In a figure eight movement, it was necessary to fly around two marking points 1,000 meters apart and finally return to the starting line. Only German pilots whose machines were built in Germany and all of their parts were manufactured in Germany were allowed to apply.

winner

Hans Grade with his dragonfly

The first German aviator who succeeded in fulfilling this task was Hans Grade from Magdeburg. On October 30, 1909, he competed with his self-designed monoplane Libelle with a four-cylinder two-stroke engine that he also designed . He completed the prescribed distance in 2:43 minutes at the Johannisthal airfield . The next day he even managed to circling the marker points several times in a flight time of 6:52 minutes and at an altitude of up to 30 meters. Karl Lanz then donated five more prizes, which were awarded in competitions in 1910. On April 28, 1910, Adolf Behrend won the second Lanz Prize endowed with 7,000 marks on a Schultze-Herfort monoplane, and on July 11, 1910 Hermann Dorner won the third Lanz Prize (3,000 marks) on a T-II monoplane. On August 6, 1910, Emile Jeannin won the fourth Lanz Prize (2,000 marks) on a Farman double-decker. Two other prizes went to Fritz Heidenreich (1872–1937) and Raimund Eyring (1868–1911).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b H. Schäfer:  Lanz, Karl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-00194-X , p. 624 ( digitized version ).
  2. ^ H. Stade: 40 Years of the Berlin Aviation Association , Berlin 1921, p. 26.
  3. ^ E. Schulz (Ed.): Aviation pioneer Hans Grade. Memories by Manfred Günther , series: VIB - Veranstaltungen in Berlin, Vol. 2, pp. 15-20.
  4. ↑ Alexander Kauther, Paul Wirtz: The lone warrior Dorner. From the life of the aircraft manufacturer, pilot and entrepreneur Hermann Dorner (1882–1963) . GRIN Verlag, 2011, p. 22
  5. ↑ Sonja Steiner-Welz: Schütte-Lanz aircraft from Mannheim . Volume 1: Die Luftschiffe , Reinhard Welz Vermittler Verlag eK, Mannheim 2006, p. 72 . ISBN 3-936041-94-6

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