Martin Schempp

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Martin Schempp with a model of the "Wolf" glider

Martin Schempp (born March 23, 1905 in Stuttgart , † July 9, 1984 in Kirchheim unter Teck ) was a German glider pioneer.

Life

After completing his commercial training, he worked in his father's craft business. In 1926, at the age of 21, he emigrated to the USA in the hope of finding better working conditions there. After various odd jobs, he finally found a job as a chemical laboratory assistant in a steel mill. A lecture by Charles Lindbergh about his ocean flight made him so enthusiastic about aviation that he returned to Germany in 1928 to learn to fly. After completing his basic glider training, he acquired his motorized pilot's license from the Klemm company in Böblingen . During this time he got to know Wolf Hirth , with whom he remained close friends for life.

Martin Schempp returned to the USA in 1929 to build German glider constructions under license from the “Haller-Hirth Sailplanes” and also to work as a glider instructor at the “Haller School Of Soaring Flight” in Pittsburgh (Greensburg Airport). Spectacular flights with some unwanted water landings made him and glider famous in the USA. After his successes at the 2nd National Gliding Competition in 1931 in Elmira (the American Wasserkuppe), he flew 63.7 miles in this competition the following year and reached an altitude of 5,370 feet . He was second in cross-country flight and first in flight high. Because of these successes he received the Silver-C No. 8 (worldwide). At the end of 1932 he relocated to California and worked with William Hawley Bowlus on his high-performance sailor "Albatros".

Minimoa

Since the professional prospects in the USA were too uncertain for him, Martin Schempp accepted an offer from Wolf Hirth , at that time head of the gliding school on the Hornberg, to hire him there as a gliding instructor.

Sports aircraft construction

In 1935 Martin Schempp founded his own company in Göppingen with the support of Wolf Hirth , the "Sportflugzeugbau Göppingen Martin Schempp". Martin Schempp proved to be an accomplished and prudent entrepreneur who, with his workforce, should succeed in manufacturing high-quality gliders inexpensively for decades. Gö-1 Wolf and Gö-3 Minimoa became world famous sailors. In 1938, Wolf Hirth, mainly responsible for construction, officially entered the company as a partner, which then also took on the new name Sportflugzeugbau Schempp-Hirth . In the same year the company moved to Kirchheim unter Teck . In 1939, the customer list included all continents except Australia. The Minimoa, 110 of which were built, is still considered to be one of the most beautiful gliders of the wood era.

In 1939 Wolf Hirth opened his own company in Nabern , which worked closely with Schempp-Hirth during the war. In addition to gliders for pilot training, they supplied the Gö-4 two-seater (a design by Wolfgang Hütter ) and the Habicht, an aerobatic glider, mainly wooden components for Messerschmitt, the Me 321/323 Gigant and the Messerschmitt Bf 109 .

Mayor of Kirchheim

For the Americans, Martin Schempp had such a high degree of human integrity and recognition that they appointed him as interim mayor of Kirchheim unter Teck as head of a manufacturing company for military products after the end of the war, despite the formal "burden". Relieved by an elected mayor in autumn 1945, he devoted himself entirely to the business, now to make urgently needed furniture and household items from the aircraft materials that had been saved after the end of the war.

When gliding was allowed again in Germany in 1951, he left this market to Wolf Hirth. Only after Wolf Hirth's death in 1959 did Schempp-Hirth devote himself to the manufacture of gliders, in addition to the engineered aircraft construction, which was still initiated with Wolf Hirth's advice and help. Martin Schempp acquired the license of the then best standard class sailor "Standard Austria" and built it in series. He quickly realized that the future would belong to plastic gliders and secured the collaboration of Klaus Holighaus . His first work for Schempp-Hirth was to enlarge the span of Standard Austria to the SHK with 17 m wings. Arriving in Kirchheim, Klaus Holighaus implemented his ideas in the plastic sailor for the open class - the Cirrus . Martin Schempp gave him complete freedom in this, a freedom that Klaus Holighaus used for the world successes of Cirrus, Nimbus , Standard Cirrus and Janus .

After the handover of the management in 1969 and the management in 1972, Martin Schempp transferred the Schempp-Hirth company entirely into the hands of Klaus Holighaus in 1977 and after 42 years of active design, management and support, he retired, growing and achieving success following great interest and keen sympathy. Martin Schempp died on July 9, 1984 after a long illness.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Schempp, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German glider pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 1984
Place of death Kirchheim unter Teck