Richard Vogt (engineer)

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Richard Vogt (born December 19, 1894 in Schwäbisch Gmünd , † January 1979 in Santa Barbara , California , USA ) was a German engineer and aircraft designer.

Life

Richard Vogt was the seventh of twelve children and went to school in Cannstatt near Stuttgart. There he was able to observe Ernst Heinkel's first flight attempts, among other things . Together with a friend, this led to his first own aircraft design, which he tested unsuccessfully on the Mutlanger Heide in 1912 with police approval . After graduating from high school, he worked for a machine factory in Ludwigshafen for a year. After being wounded in World War I , he received pilot training in Halberstadt at his own request. After his release in August 1916, he met Claude Dornier at the Zeppelin airship in Friedrichshafen , who promoted him. After the war, he completed his studies at the Technical University of Stuttgart within two years and was then assistant to Professor Baumann at the Institute for Aviation and Automotive Engineering until 1922 . There he applied for his first patent and received his doctorate in engineering. At this time he also developed the RIVO small car with propeller drive , which he presented in 1921 at the 14th International Motor Show in Berlin.

On behalf of Claude Dornier, he then went briefly to Italy and then from 1923 to 1933 to Kawasaki in Kobe in Japan, who built Dornier aircraft under license. There he ended up being chief designer and had designed several aircraft: Type 92 (double-decker fighter aircraft), KDA-2 (double-decker reconnaissance aircraft, built in 1927, 707 units), KDA-3 (single -seater fighter , 1928), KDA-5 / type 92 -I (biplane fighter, 1932, built with Takeo Doi, 380 pieces). His successor was Takeo Doi , who was trained by him and who later designed the Ki-61 Hien .

In 1933 he received an offer from Blohm & Voss, among others , to work as chief designer. His second design there was the Ha 137 with the continuous tubular spar with integrated fuel tank that was typical for him later . The BV 138 , the Ha 139 , the Ha 140 , BV 141 and the flying boats BV 222 and BV 238 were also created there under his leadership and significant participation. The P 200 design for an eight-engine flying boat with a range of 8,000 km could not be implemented. However, his design for the BV 155 high altitude fighter was able to take off on its maiden flight at the end of 1944 and beginning of 1945. Various jet fighter designs remained at the drawing board stage.

After the war he was first questioned by the British, but then requested at short notice by the United States Army Air Forces as part of Operation Paperclip and taken to the United States, where he worked as a civilian employee for the US Air research laboratory from the beginning of 1947 to 1954 Force in Dayton, Ohio . He then became chief designer of the Aerophysics Development Corporation until it closed down in 1960. From August 1960 to August 1966, he was an employee of George Schairer in the research and testing department of Boeing . There he dealt u. a. with vertical take-offs and hydrofoils . His last task was to recalculate the Boeing 747 design. In his retirement he worked on the invention of a capsize-proof sailing boat and wrote his memoirs. A fire in 1977 destroyed his house with most of his personal and technical documents. In January 1979 he died of a heart attack .

Richard Vogt was married and had two sons.

In Schwäbisch Gmünder area Rehnenhof-Wetzgau is the Richard Vogt path named after him.

literature

  • Richard Vogt: World-wide memoirs of an aircraft designer. Steinebach, 1976, ISBN 3-87500-008-0 . Autobiography
  • Jürgen Michels, Olaf Przybilski: Peenemünde and its heirs in East and West. Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 1997, ISBN 3-7637-5960-3 .

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ List of aircraft designed by Richard Vogt in Japan on users.skynet.be
personal data
SURNAME Vogt, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer and aircraft designer
DATE OF BIRTH December 19, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwäbisch Gmünd
DATE OF DEATH January 1979
Place of death Santa Barbara , California, USA