Willy Messerschmitt

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Willy Messerschmitt (1958)

Wilhelm "Willy" Emil Messerschmitt (born June 26, 1898 in Frankfurt am Main , † September 15, 1978 in Munich ) was a German aircraft designer and entrepreneur . He is considered a pioneer in aviation .

Life

The Messerschmitt wine bar in Bamberg (right)

'Willy' Messerschmitt was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1898 as the son of Baptist Ferdinand Messerschmitt and his second wife Anna Maria, geb. Schaller, born. From 1906 he grew up in Bamberg , where his parents ran a large wine shop with a wine bar. At the age of ten he was already building model airplanes and later, still as a schoolboy, gliding planes , which he tried out himself with friends. As a 13-year-old student he met the glider pioneer and government builder Friedrich Harth (1880–1936), who was to have a decisive influence on his life. Immediately after graduating from high school, Messerschmitt was drafted into military service in the First World War in 1917 .

1920s - the dawn of a new era

After the end of the war, he studied engineering at the Technical University of Munich from 1918 to 1923 and founded Messerschmitt Flugzeugbau GmbH in Bamberg during his studies , which developed the " M 17 " sport aircraft and the " M 18 " motorized airliner in addition to gliders . In 1923, Hans Hackmack won the high-flying price at the Rhön glider competition with Messerschmitt's S 14 design . In addition to his entrepreneurial activity, he held a teaching position at the Technical University of Munich from 1930.

In mid-September 1925, Messerschmitt was looking for a financial backer to equip the M 17 light aircraft with an engine. Theo Croneiß , fighter pilot in World War I and the older brother of Carl Croneiß , Messerschmitt's test pilot, was the boss of Sportflug GmbH Ober- und Mittelfranken, a front company of the Reichswehr . In an inn, Croneiß noticed how Messerschmitt was negotiating with an interested financier. Messerschmitt went so far that he was prepared to renounce all of his patent rights. During a break in conversation, Theo Croneiß presented him with a check for 4000 Reichsmarks and thus saved him from giving up his entrepreneurial independence. Croneiß was to remain Messerschmitt's first and only friend. He later became director of the Messerschmitt works in Regensburg. Messerschmitt won a prize of 10,000 Reichsmarks in 1925 with the M 17 motorized aircraft.

In 1925 Theodor Croneiß commissioned the young Willy Messerschmitt to develop a small airliner especially suitable for feeder traffic . Croneiß had meanwhile founded the Nordbayerische Verkehrsflug GmbH in Fürth . A total of nineteen M 18s were built for this company. In 1927 he moved the company he founded in Bamberg in 1923 to Augsburg . The Gersthofen-Gablingen airfield was the starting point for numerous flight attempts. All important types of aircraft were built in the Fuggerstadt or in the nearby Haunstetten .

From 1926, Messerschmitt worked with Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG , which had been taken over by a financial group around Richard Freiherr von Michel-Raulino . In the course of this cooperation Messerschmitt was appointed to the board in 1926 and was given the position of chief designer. The twelve-seater M 20 was built in 1928, making it the fastest airliner of those years at 220 kilometers per hour. However, the Luft-Hansa under Erhard Milch withdrew the order that had already been placed after the crash of three M 20s and also refused to pay for the seven machines that had already been delivered. As a result of this event and as a result of the global economic crisis , Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG went bankrupt. During this time he met Lilly Stromeyer, a born baroness of Michel-Raulino and daughter of the financier Michel-Raulino from the Bamberg tobacco dynasty, who was universally known as "The Baroness". She herself later helped him out of financial emergencies several times with guarantees in the millions. So he converted the Bayrische Flugzeugwerke and his Messerschmitt Flugzeugbau GmbH into Messerschmitt AG . What remained was an enmity between Messerschmitt, his friend Theo Croneiß and Erhard Milch, who was meanwhile responsible for the air armament.

Nazi dictatorship and World War II

In 1934 Messerschmitt designed the Bf 108 (M 37), which set new standards in lightweight construction and is considered a model for modern aircraft construction. He was initially not included in the 1934 tender for a new standard fighter for the Luftwaffe. Only reluctantly, Milch later agreed to allow the prototype of the Bf 109 to take part in the comparison flights. However, the Bf 109 was superior to the competitive models and became the most built fighter aircraft used by the German Air Force during World War II . At the IV International Flight Meeting in July 1937 at the Dübendorf military airfield near Zurich, six Bf 109s competed against planes and pilots from other countries and won all the competitions. This and the world speed record for land aircraft that Wurster set at 610.95 km / h on November 11, 1937, cemented Messerschmitt's reputation as an excellent fighter aircraft designer . Among other things, he developed the record aircraft Me 209 and the Bf 109 was followed in 1936 by the twin-engine Bf 110 which was supposed to take over the function of a long-range escort fighter. At the RLM this solidified the idea "Messerschmitt builds the fighters - Heinkel builds the bombers".

This resulted e.g. B. to not pursue outstanding prototypes such as the Hs 127 and the Fw 187 and instead to place series orders for the Me 210 and the He 177 before they have been sufficiently tested. This decision by Udet and the demand for the ability to fall both models ended in a debacle, because both machines were unsuitable and tied up large parts of the production and development capacity of the Third Reich.

During the time of National Socialism , Messerschmitt, who joined the NSDAP in 1933 , became a military economic leader . In 1938 Messerschmitt was awarded, alongside Ferdinand Porsche and Fritz Todt , the German National Prize for Art and Science , newly founded by Adolf Hitler in 1937, half of which he shared with Ernst Heinkel (50,000 Reichsmarks). In 1939 his company was named a "National Socialist Model Company". In 1941 he received the title “Pioneer of Labor” and was appointed Vice President of the German Academy for Aviation Research.

In order to increase production capacities, the subsidiary "Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Regensburg GmbH" was founded in Regensburg on July 24, 1936. This company name was changed on November 13, 1940 to "Messerschmitt GmbH Regensburg" . In 1937 Messerschmitt was appointed professor.

During the National Socialist rule he was entrusted with the development and production of single and twin-engine fighter planes. Special emphasis was placed on the constant adaptation and standardization of the Bf 109 in order to keep it up to date with the development of air warfare. Nevertheless, Messerschmitt produced numerous prototypes such as Bf 161 , Bf 162 , Bf 163 , Me 209 V5 , Me 309 , Me 261 , Me 264 and Me 328 that never reached series production. Although the Me321 / 323 was manufactured in smaller quantities, only the Me 410 and the Me 262 , the first series-produced aircraft with a turbine jet engine, went into large-scale production again.

After differences with the Luftwaffe leadership, Messerschmitt resigned as chairman of the board in 1942 and was transferred back to the development office. The cause was serious defects in the Me 210 , for which Messerschmitt was responsible for reducing the size of the chassis and shortening the fuselage. General Luftzeugmeister Udet asked him to change these deficiencies, as this resulted in a series of crashes of this type of aircraft. However, Udet could no longer withstand the pressure from Göring and shot himself in November 1941. He was succeeded by Erhard Milch , who had previously arranged for the Luft-Hansa orders to be canceled by Messerschmittwerke. Although the Me 410 succeeded in developing it to series production, in part by withdrawing the design changes made by Messerschmitt himself to the Me 210, he won the enthusiasm of Hitler through the development of the Me 262, which in turn saved Messerschmitt from further attacks by Milch. Yet his reputation, like the Heinkels , remained damaged and both lost the management of their companies.

On April 30, 1942, under pressure from Milch, Messerschmitt was released from the management of Messerschmitt AG and from then on was officially only responsible for development and construction. Nevertheless, he himself called for the use of forced labor to maintain production and expressly welcomed the partial relocation of production to the Flossenbürg , Gusen and Dachau concentration camps . The concentration camp was not directly under the management of the company, but under the SS . The forced laborers locked up in concentration camps by the SS were "rented" to the companies for payment. During the ruthless exploitation by the SS, tens of thousands died from exhaustion, malnutrition and bad treatment or were murdered in the concentration camps when their labor was exhausted. Towards the end of the war, the German war economy employed more than two million forced laborers. Fritz Sauckel, who was politically responsible for the forced labor program, was sentenced to death in the Nuremberg Trial after the war. To what extent Messerschmitt was also involved in the injustice system of forced labor is unclear. In any case, he showed no critical distance from the National Socialist injustice regime, but continued to actively seek to return to management positions even after his release from management on April 30, 1942.

To the end

With the war situation worsening more and more, Milch and Galland demanded the introduction of the Me 262 as soon as possible. However, due to the difficulties with the engines, this could not be achieved so quickly. Since the Bf 109 was not that easy to replace and was manufactured by many licensees, it had to remain in production. However, the production of the individual manufacturers was not compatible, so that the supply of spare parts was very difficult. Messerschmitt received the order to standardize the series production of the Bf 109 for a final model before the Me 262 was introduced. However, he was not particularly interested in this task and transferred the work to his colleague Ludwig Bölkow . This was followed by the Bf 109 K. Messerschmitt's last partially realized project was the Messerschmitt P.1101 .

post war period

Portrait of Messerschmitt by Günter Rittner 1978

After the end of the war in 1945 and a temporary internment , he was classified as a "fellow traveler" in the denazification process in 1948 and had to refrain from his most important goal in life, aircraft construction, for political reasons. During this time he had prefabricated houses , sewing machines, irons and the well-known Messerschmitt cabin roller manufactured in his Bamberg factory .

From 1951 he went to Spain as a consultant , where he advised CASA on modifications of the Hispano Aviación HA-1112 (license construction of the Bf 109) manufactured there . The development and construction of the single-engine training aircraft Hispano Aviación HA-100 and the jet-powered Hispano Aviación HA-200 followed . He also began building a particularly light, supersonic fighter, the Hispano Aviación HA-300 . Another professional station was Egypt, where he worked for the state aviation company EGAO . In addition to series production of the HA-200, prototypes of the HA 300, now the Helwan HA-300 , were also built here.

From 1955 he built aircraft again for the German Air Force ( Fiat G.91 built under license ). Later he also took on orders for NATO . In 1968, under massive political pressure, Messerschmitt AG merged with the Bölkow Group and a little later with the aviation department of the Hamburg group Blohm ( Hamburger Flugzeugbau ). These three companies formed the Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Group, or MBB for short, of which Messerschmitt became a partner. Here the designer was planning, among other things, a whiz , the EWR VJ 101 , which did not go into production.

The death of his wife Lilly († 1972) represented the last serious turning point in his life. Messerschmitt died on September 15, 1978 in Munich and was born in Bamberg in the family crypt of his wife Lilly, nee. Baroness of Michel-Raulino buried.

Awards

Messerschmitt was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit (January 13, 1964).

References

Movie

literature

  • Hans J. Ebert, Johann B. Kaiser, Klaus Peters: Willy Messerschmitt, pioneer of aviation and lightweight construction . A biography. Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-7637-6103-9 .
  • Frank Vann: Willy Messerschmitt. First full biography of an aeronautical genius. Stephens, Sparkford 1993, ISBN 1-85260-439-5 .
  • Gero Madelung:  Messerschmitt, Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , pp. 221-223 ( digitized version ).
  • Karl-Heinz Artmann, Rainer Pippig: In the footsteps of the Messerschmitt family in the world cultural heritage of Bamberg. Self-published, Bamberg 2003, OCLC 163290853 .
  • Martin Pabst: Willy Messerschmitt. Twelve years of aircraft construction in the Führer state. Aviatic-Verlag, Oberhaching 2007, ISBN 978-3-925505-87-4 .

Web links

Commons : Willy Messerschmitt  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ^ Tobacco factory Joh. Pet. Raulino & Comp.
  2. ↑ Bernd Kastner: Controversial honor for Hitler's aircraft manufacturer . süddeutsche.de, Munich April 10, 2006. (online)
  3. ↑ a b c Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. 2nd, updated edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-596-16048-0 , p. 405.
  4. ↑ Controversial honor for aircraft manufacturers; Memorial plaques are supposed to remember scientists. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. April 11, 2006, p. 34.
  5. ↑ Willy Messerschmitt - pioneer of aviation and lightweight construction. Festschrift for the 100th birthday of Prof. Willy Messerschmitt and the inauguration of the "Willy Messerschmitt Flying Museum" in Manching on June 26, 1998, OCLC 632818690 , p. 20.
personal data
SURNAME Messerschmitt, Willy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Messerschmitt, Wilhelm Emil (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German aircraft designer and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH September 15, 1978
Place of death Munich