Bernard Pietenpol
Bernard Harold Pietenpol (born February 17, 1901 in Cherry Grove , Minnesota , † January 11, 1984 in Spring Valley , Minnesota) was an American aircraft designer.
Life
Bernard Pietenpol was born in 1901 and his father ran a general store in Cherry Grove. Bernhard attended elementary school in his birthplace. The father's shop is still one of the few original shops in town today. From the beginning, Bernard showed a talent for all things that were mechanically driven and was also known in the city as a "mechanical genius". He repaired lawn mowers, tractors and built wheelchairs for needy residents, developed gas-powered electricity generators and converted motorcycles and automobiles.
He came to aviation through his mentor WJ Krueger, a woodworker. Together with his friends Don Finke and Orrin Hoopman, the first airplane powered by a car engine from a Ford Model T was built in 1920 based on his plans . In 1926 he built a single biplane with a Gnome engine , but it was no longer marketed.
The aim of Pietenpol was to design an aircraft that could easily be assembled by yourself and that was very inexpensive. Pietenpol became known as a designer in the 1920s through his high-decker Pietenpol Air Camper and the Pietenpol Sky Scout model . The plans for the self-construction of the Pietenpol machines were first published in a four-part series in the magazines Mechanix Illustrated Magazine and Flying and Glider 1932–1933. For a long time, his planes were built in large numbers around the world, for example in Canada, England, Europe, Australia and Africa, equipped with various engines. Pietenpol prefers wooden constructions for his planes so that every average carpenter could build his planes with normal skills. Later he also offered machines with a hull version made of tubular steel framework as an option.
In 1981, his workshop and garage were added to the National Register of Historic Places . His hangar on the Cherry Grove airfield was dismantled as part of the EAA AirVenture Museum and rebuilt at the airfield in Oshkosh , Wisconsin. Pietenpol died in 1984.
Posthumously
In 1991, Bernard H. Pietenpol was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame .
A restored Pietenpol-built Air Camper from the first series is now in the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading , Pennsylvania, and a Sky Scout is on display at the Pioneer Flight Museum in Kingsbury , Texas .
In 2007 a documentary with the title: "Finding Flight" was made by Jesse Roesler and Jen Larson. The film tells the story of Bernard H. Pietenpol, who became part of American aviation history with just eight classes in elementary school.
literature
- Mechanix Illustrated magazine 1933
- Sport Aviation, March 1958 issue
- Sport Aviation, February 1960 edition
- Bernard Pietenpol, a pioneer designer of experimental aircraft, died Wednesday in Spring Valley, Minn .. in: The Cincinnati Enquirer, Friday, January 13, 1984. Faran & McLean, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1984, p. 24.
Web links
- Homepage of the family Pietenpol (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pietenpol, Bernard |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Pietenpol, Bernard H. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American aircraft designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 17, 1901 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cherry Grove , Minnesota |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 11, 1984 |
| Place of death | Spring Valley , Minnesota |