MW
MW (short for "Let's do!") Is the name of a balloon of the German Association for the Promotion of Airship Travel , with which five preparatory trips were carried out in 1891 as part of the Berlin scientific aviation to explore the free atmosphere .
The balloon
At the end of the 1880s, the Berlin meteorologists Wilhelm von Bezold and Richard Aßmann recognized that in order to be able to understand weather events in depth, physical quantities such as temperature, pressure and humidity not only exist on the ground, but also in the free atmosphere had to measure. In his celebratory speech on the subject of the importance of airship travel for meteorology on June 2, 1888, before the German Association for the Promotion of Airship Travel , von Bezold outlined the idea of a lavishly designed research program. Assmann, chairman of the association since 1889, became the organizer of the Berlin scientific aviation. Initially, however, there was a lack of financial means to purchase a suitable balloon. Assmann tried to raise private funds from prominent members of the association where there was still no state support.
In 1891 the managing director of the Berliner Börsen-Zeitung , Kurt Killisch-Horn (1856–1915), made a balloon available to the club for the organization of club trips. The name M. W. was a joke abbreviation for "Do we do!" That was popular in Berlin at the time. The balloon had been manufactured according to plans by the prime lieutenant of the Berlin airship department and later designer of military airships of the Groß-Basenach type , Hans Groß , and had a capacity of 1180 m³. When designing the basket, the special requirements of meteorologists were taken into account. He received z. B. a boom so that the temperature outside the basket could be measured, so undisturbed by the body heat of the passengers or the basket heated by the sun. The boom could be used briefly for reading.
Aviation
In addition to private trips by the owner, five scientific air trips were made with the balloon M. W. between January and November 1891. The starting point was an area provided by Werner von Siemens next to the Charlottenburg gas works . Since the balloon was relatively heavy, no great heights could be reached. The observation results were therefore still relatively modest compared to later trips with the Humboldt and Phönix balloons . Aßmann later referred to the journeys with the M.W. as preparatory journeys, as they primarily served to refine the observation method and to gain experience with the instruments, in particular with the aspiration psychrometer he had just developed in cooperation with Hans Bartsch von Sigsfeld .
Arthur Berson , who in the following years developed into the most important player in Berlin's scientific aviation, was involved for the first time as an observer in the third ascent . The director of the Blue Hill Observatory , the American Abbott Lawrence Rotch , took part in the fourth ascent . From 1894 he established the exploration of the atmosphere with weather kites in aerology .
After the fifth trip, the damage to the balloon was so great that it could no longer be used. It was only with the construction of the Humboldt balloon that actual scientific aviation could begin in 1893.
| date | Travel time (h: min) | Trip length (km) | Maximum height (m) | Attendees | Landing location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 30th | 3:03 | 139 | 1330 | Big, Assmann, Killisch | Schönwalde , Western Pomerania |
| March 13th | 4:17 | 54 | 1805 | Great, Assmann | Fehrbellin |
| 8th August | 2:46 | 89 | 1720 | Gurlitt, Berson, Killisch | Bärwalde , Neumark |
| October 24th | 3:05 | 34 | 1240 | Big, Berson, Rotch | Schmachtenhagen |
| November 27th | 3:14 | 90 | 1870 | Big, Berson, Killisch | Koenigsberg , Neumark |
See also
literature
- Richard Aßmann, Arthur Berson (ed.): Scientific aviation . Vieweg, Braunschweig 1899 (Volume 1), 1900 (Volume 2 and 3)
- Richard Assmann, Arthur Berson, Hans Groß, Victor Kremser, Reinhard Süring: Contributions to the exploration of the atmosphere by means of the balloon . Mayer and Müller, 1900
- Hans Steinhagen : The weather man. Life and work of Richard Assmann . Findling, Neuenhagen 2005, ISBN 3-933603-33-1 .