Reinhold Platz

Reinhold Platz 1921

Fokker Dr.I (1917)

Fokker D.VII (1918)

Fokker D.VIII (1918)

Fokker F.II (1919)

Reinhold Platz (born January 16, 1886 in Cottbus , † September 15, 1966 in Ahrensburg ) was a German locksmith , aircraft designer and manager of the Fokker -Werke.

Life

Reinhold Platz attended elementary school in Cottbus and Berlin from 1892 to 1900 .

locksmith

In the oxygen factory in Berlin he learned the metalworking trade. In 1905, when Fouché introduced autogenous welding in Germany, Platz was one of the first to learn it. He demonstrated welding in Russia , Switzerland and Germany at various companies and thus came into contact with the young aircraft industry. In the years 1907 to 1909 he did his military service with the 1st Guard Regiment z. F. in Potsdam.

Welding expert

In 1912, Platz applied to the Fokker aircraft factory, which was then located in Berlin-Johannisthal, where he introduced the welding of the tubular steel fuselages of the Fokker aircraft.

When Fokker moved to Schwerin in 1913 , Platz took over the locksmith and welding shop as a master, his main tasks were the training of welders (including women) and the development of new welded constructions. He worked in the test department with the lead engineer Martin Kreutzer .

Aircraft designer

In June 1916, Kreutzer crashed on a test flight and died a day later. Fokker tested new engineers in quick succession but was not satisfied with the results. There was room as a chief designer. Initially he was concerned with strength calculations, but at the end of 1916 his first aircraft type, the Fokker VI, was created . Like his employer, Fokker, Platz had no previous theoretical knowledge of aircraft construction. For aircraft that Platz had developed for Fokker, there were often no design drawings; these were often only made upon acceptance by the inspection committee.

Under the direction of Reinhold Platz, over 40 different types of aircraft were built up to 1920, including the Fokker Dr.I triplane made famous by Manfred von Richthofen at the beginning of 1917 . Other significant designs were the Fokker D.VII , the Fokker D.VIII and the first Fokker airliner F.II . In 1918, Platz became head of the aircraft factory in Schwerin, which was renamed “Schweriner Industriewerke” after the war. Boats, scales and bed frames were made there.

After the liquidation of the Schwerin industrial works and his relocation to Holland in 1921, Platz only took over the management of the Fokker works in Veere . In 1922 he developed the space glider . In 1924 he became the technical director of the Fokkerwerke Amsterdam , where he worked until he separated from Fokker in 1931.

Building Supervisor

After a long stay in Schwerin, Platz began to work for the Reich Aviation Ministry in 1934 . There he was responsible for Heinkel and Arado until 1939 , for Dornier in 1940 and from 1941 until the end of the war for Henschel , Arado, Volkswagen and other companies as building supervisor. In 1938 he was promoted to chief engineer and was also acting agent for the production of the V1 .

After 1945 he developed various civil patents.

literature

• Alfred Richard Weyl: Fokker. The creative years. London 1965.
• Michael Tate: Fokker, Design & Development to 1919 . Lulu Publishing 2016.

Web links

• Image and information on dutch-aviation.nl (English)
• further information on aerofile.info (English)