Martha Mendel

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Martha Mendel (born October 8, 1907 in Düsseldorf , † March 17, 1975 in Gießen ), the "iron Martha", was a German sports teacher , glider pilot , parachutist and aircraft builder , who became the first German woman in Mainz in 1930 in the Middle Rhine Association for Aviation -Segelfluggruppe founded the women's glider group Mainz-Wiesbaden . In April 1935 she achieved a world record in continuous gliding .

Life

Martha Mendel attended the girls' secondary school in Düsseldorf and was trained as a handicraft and home economics teacher in Bonn , followed by training as a gymnastics and gymnastics teacher at the women's work school in Mainz (today the vocational Sophie Scholl school). After completing her training, she was employed in Giessen at the Aliceschule as a trainer for gym teachers. Later she completed her training as a rowing teacher .

After the Second World War she was a founding member of the Lützellinden and Wieseck Aero Club .

Martha Mendel died on March 17, 1975 in the Gießen Clinic; her long-time friend Hanna Reitsch made a few loops above the hospital in her honor.

Women's glider group

The gliding group, founded in 1930 under the direction of Martha Mendel, was affiliated with the Mittelrheinischer Verein für Luftfahrt eV and, when it was founded, consisted of 16 sports teachers and students from the gymnastics seminar at the Mainz women's work school. In January 1930 the group began single-seat training on the " Großer Sand ".

In the spring of 1931, when the students completed their training and started their jobs at other schools, only four women remained, who first had to join the men's glider group before they could found their club again in 1932.

In the summer of 1932, Mendel entered the 13th Rhön competition on the Wasserkuppe with the Kassel 20 aircraft built by the group. She only got four starts, which was not enough for a top rank, but she was awarded a medal of honor. In 1933 Mendel was also registered for the competition, but did not take part.

Sports training

Martha Mendel acquired her A license in the spring of 1931, the B license in the following autumn and the C license in the spring of 1932. She was one of the first female glider pilots to be trained in the aircraft towing method introduced in 1931 .

In June 1937, she earned the Glider Achievement Badge. At the DFS gliding school in Griesheim , she attended a course in engineering gliding.

Sporting successes

In May 1932, Mendel set her first glider record at a height of 800 meters. In April 1935 she set a new world record in continuous gliding with 11 hours and 28 minutes, which was previously held by Hanna Reitsch . In the same month she did her first skydive.

Honors

In Giessen, the Martha-Mendel-Weg leading to the glider airfield in the Wieseck district is named after her.

literature

  • Evelyn Zegenhagen: "Dashing German girls": female pilots between 1918 and 1945. Wallstein Verlag, 2007. ISBN 3-8353-0179-9 .
  • Jörg M. Hormann, Evelyn Zegenhagen: German aviation pioneers 1900–1950. Verlag Delius Klasing, 2008. ISBN 3-7688-2484-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German aviation pioneers. P. 6
  2. ↑ AOPA-Lette r 02/2001 with an excerpt from a newspaper article on the occasion of the foundation and a group photo of the members
  3. ↑ "Dashing German Girls". P. 364
personal data
SURNAME Mendel, Martha
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German glider pilot, skydiver and sports teacher
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1975
Place of death to water