Max Cartier

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Max Cartier (1896–1928) Lieutenant Colonel, aviation pioneer, test pilot
Max Cartier, lieutenant colonel

Max Cartier (born May 29, 1896 in Olten , † January 24, 1928 in Thun ) was a Swiss pilot . He was a test pilot and one of the first mail pilots in Switzerland. After Walter Mittelholzer and Oskar Bider, Cartier is one of the most famous Swiss pilots.

life and work

After finishing school, Max Cartier joined the SBB workshop in Olten and after completing his apprenticeship in 1916, he worked as a mechanic at the Dübendorf airfield, which opened in 1910 . There he got the tools for his profession and the great practical-technical superiority that was later paired with his flying talent and set him apart. Oskar Bider recognized Cartier's talents and accepted him into his own flying class after finishing pilot school. After Cartier had served in the Solothurn Infantry Regiment 11, he acquired his pilot's license in 1917 and was promoted by Bider to lieutenant in the flying group.

After the end of the war in late autumn 1918, when the military pilots stationed in Dübendorf demobilized, Cartier switched to the newly founded Ad Astra Aero airline , where he initially flew the “Savoia” type seaplanes or the “Macci-Nieuport” hydroplanes. These flights took Cartier over the Alps several times and he hit all the major Swiss lakes. Cartier was sent to many flight days , which were held in some places at the time, to promote the rise of civil aviation.

Ad Astra Aero - Zürichhorn - Albis-Fallätsche-Uetliberg - around 1920
Flying boats of the Ad Astra Aeoro at Zurich Horn

When the first airmail line Zurich (Dübendorf) - Bern - ( Kirchlindach ) - Lausanne - Geneva was opened, Cartier flew daily as a mail plane with the military aircraft DH-3, with the exception of Sundays or when the weather was too bad. Cartier was also transferred to Kirchlindach, the then Bern airport, and at the same time appointed as its boss. From there he started out on Alpine tours with or without passengers.

Together with the Olten Officer's Society and the Olten aviator Max Buri, Cartier obtained the assurance from the Directorate for Military Airfields in Dübendorf that it would have a military flight squadron - equipped with a Haefeli DH-3 double-decker - on July 27, 1919 on the first day of flight in Olten on the Altmatt to conduct the flight day.

In 1921 Cartier ended his activity as a commercial aviator and followed the appointment to the Federal Construction Workshop "K + W" in Thun. There he worked as a test pilot.

MA-7 from K + W in Thun
MA-7 from K + W in Thun

On April 23, 1925, Cartier flew the MA-7 fighter plane at 9800 meters above sea level, which earned him the Swiss altitude record and attracted international attention.

On January 24, 1928, Cartier launched the prototype biplane MA-8a of the Swiss Federal Design Workshop, which was overpowered by a 450 HP engine, for test flights. In completing the aerobatics program, Cartier flew two loops . At the second, shortly before reaching the apex, the structural strut on the right broke at a height of 500 meters, the lower surface folded up and both wings separated from the fuselage. The plane crashed at high speed vertically at the «Kleine Allmend» to the earth. The hull shattered; Cartier was thrown from the cockpit and died.

He left behind his wife and two year old son.

The investigative commission set up to clarify the situation uncovered serious design deficiencies, which led to disciplinary measures in the “K + W”. The chief designer August Haefeli left "K + W" in the same year. Under new management, aircraft were built in Thun for around 10 years, but almost exclusively French and Dutch licenses.

Max Cartier (1896–1928) memorial on the Gheid airfield in Olten
Monument on the Gheid airfield

On July 22, 1930, a memorial stone for Cartier was inaugurated on the airfield of "Gheid" in Olten. Since 1968, the stone Icarus created by Hans Borer at the reformed town church of St. Martin has commemorated nine people from Solothurn who had their dream of flying their undoing . The memorial commemorates the aviation pioneers Max Cartier, Adolf Schädler , Theodor Borrer , Werner Bodmer, Alexander Frei, Paul Ziegler, Gottfried Gueniat, Eugen Bouché and Ernst Gerber.

literature

Web links

Commons : Max Cartier  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Max Cartier; in Olten and Dübendorf
  2. ↑ Macchi M.3 flying boat
  3. ↑ Max Cartier; as an Ad Astra Aeoro pilot
  4. ↑ Max Cartier; Flight day on the Altmatt in Olten
  5. ↑ Photo report about the crash
  6. ↑ Max Cartier's death flight and its cause research
personal data
SURNAME Cartier, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss pilot
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Olten
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1928
Place of death Tuna