Max Schirmer

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Max Schirmer (born November 1, 1896 in Schwäbisch Gmünd , † July 27, 1984 in Ludwigsburg ) was a German engineer and long-time aerodynamicist at Luftschiffbau Zeppelin in Friedrichshafen .

Life

Max Schirmer was born the son of a notary and attended secondary school in his hometown. After obtaining the school-leaving certificate, military service took place in the First World War . After a nine-month internship at the Schwäbische Hüttenwerke in Wasseralfingen , Schirmer studied mechanical engineering from October 1919 to July 1922 at what was then the Technical University of Stuttgart .

As a graduate engineer, he began his career at Maschinen- und Schiffbau GmbH in Manzell on Lake Constance, and after nine months he switched to the aerodynamic test department of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin . In October 1924 he took over the management of the department from his predecessor Wolfgang Klemperer , which he held until the end of the war in 1945.

From 1951 to 1966 Schirmer worked for the filter system manufacturer Mann + Hummel in Ludwigsburg in the field of aeroacoustics .

Act

In his professional life, Max Schirmer led aerodynamic tests on all airships since the "reparations airship" LZ 126 by, as well as for aircraft design of the Dornier works up to the Do X .

He brought the aerodynamic knowledge he gained into the design of railcars and automobile bodies. Among other things, he was involved in the design of the DR-877 multiple unit “Fliegender Hamburger” and the design of streamlined pantographs for electric multiple units . Schirmer also developed numerous measuring devices for recording pressure and air forces, which were used both in the wind tunnel and on the real object. For realistic model measurements of rail vehicles in the wind tunnel, he constructed a track running at up to 150 km / h.

Max Schirmer received his doctorate in 1942 from the Technical University of Braunschweig on the subject of “aerodynamic model tests on German and foreign airship prototypes in the wind tunnel of the Zeppelin airship in Friedrichshafen” . In the years of the Second World War he was involved in the development of war aircraft as well as in rocket tests at the Peenemünde Army Research Institute.

literature

  • Max Schirmer: Aerodynamic model tests on German and foreign airship prototypes in the wind tunnel of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin in Friedrichshafen. Dissertation. Braunschweig 1942.
  • Michael J. Neufeld: The Rocket and the Reich. Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. Harvard 1996. ISBN 978-0-674-77650-0 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schirmer, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German aerodynamicist
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwäbisch Gmünd
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 1984
Place of death Ludwigsburg , Germany