Theodor Schauenburg

Theodor Ludwig Schauenburg (born October 14, 1885 in Oldenburg , † May 30, 1917 Nieder Neuendorf ) was a German aviation pioneer and as such one of the Old Eagles .

Life

Theodor Schauenburg was the son of the Oldenburg businessman Eduard Schauenburg and Anna Elisabeth Marie Schauenburg, née Neynaber. The family moved to Osnabrück , where Theodor Schauenburg spent most of his childhood and youth. After elementary school he completed an apprenticeship and, after completing his military service, an art school for interior design in Berlin , in order to later join his parents' business. During his time in Berlin, Schauenburg rowed successfully at the Berlin rowing club "Sport Borussia" and was a member of a student association . On September 15, 1913, Theodor Schauenburg married Gertrud Wacker from Leipzig in Berlin. The couple had three children in 1917.

The aviation pioneer

Schauenburg's interest was in flying from an early age. After visiting the International Aviation Exhibition in Frankfurt / Main in 1909 , he made contact with the Wright brothers in the fall of 1909 , who were doing sightseeing flights in and around Berlin. Soon afterwards, Schauenburg became a student pilot of Fridolin Keidel . On June 22nd, 1910, Theodor Schauenburg received the pilot's license No. 11 from the German Airship Association (DLV) on a Wright biplane at the Johannisthal airfield . Schauenburg first flew for the Ikarus Society (Berlin / Johannisthal), undertook many sightseeing flights in the following years (including the Germany flight in 1911) and trained flight students himself. He designed and built flying machines and survived several crashes without any problems. In 1912, Schauenburg flew for the Allgemeine Fluggesellschaft (AFG) in Johannisthal and in January 1913 switched to the Deutsche Flugzeugwerke in what is now the Leipzig district of Lindenthal . On June 1, 1913, he became chief pilot and construction pilot at the aeronautical engineering department of AEG in Hennigsdorf, which was founded in 1910 . He also trained pilots, for which, in addition to a flying school, an airfield in Nieder Neuendorf had been available since 1912 . During this time, Schauenburg lived in Tegel near Berlin.

First World War

In August 1914, Schauenburg took to the field with Field Aviation Department 30 . On August 13, the unit crossed the border into Belgium near Aachen and went to northern France. Schauenburg first flew as a reconnaissance aircraft and received the Iron Cross in August 1914 . After the unit was relocated to the Carpathian Mountains at the end of 1914 , Schauenburg succeeded in shooting down a Russian monoplane of French design.

1916 and end of life (1917)

In the middle / end of 1915, Schauenburg returned to the AEG aircraft factory in Hennigsdorf with the rank of lieutenant in the reserve and EK II , was claimed to be indispensable and again worked as a test pilot and flight instructor . On May 30, 1917, Theodor Schauenburg fatally crashed south of Nieder Neuendorf airfield during looping attempts with an AEG aircraft. He was buried in Tegel on June 4, 1917.

Web links

• Klaus Euhausen: Aviation pioneer ("old eagle") Theodor Schauenburg and the AEG airfield Nieder Neuendorf. (PDF; 7 MB)
• Johannisthal Airport (private website)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus Euhausen / Jörg Mückler: Alter Adler No. 11. " Towards the sun" - Theodor Schauenburg . In: Das Propellerblatt, No. 38/2017.