Wilhelm Hoff (engineer)

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Carl Theodor Wilhelm Hoff (born May 7, 1883 in Strasbourg ; † April 1945 in Berlin ) was a German aviation pioneer , engineer and university professor . He became known as the head of the German Research Institute for Aviation (DVL) and editor of magazines and reference works.

Life

Wilhelm Hoff came to Strasbourg ( Alsace ) on May 7, 1883 as the son of the businessman Carl Ernst Friedrich (1847 – n. 1921) and his wife Sophie Wilhelmine, née. Becker, to the world. He had an older sister Luise (1882–1966).

He attended the Protestant grammar school from 1890 to 1899 and then until 1902 the upper secondary school in Strasbourg. In the same year he started studying at the Kaiser Wilhelm University of Strasbourg and later volunteered as a one-year volunteer with the Upper Alsatian Field Artillery Regiment 51 in Strasbourg. He completed a mechanical engineering degree from 1904 at the Royal Technical University of Charlottenburg in March 1909 with a diploma .

From April 1909, Hoff worked as an engineer at Motorluftschiff-Studiengesellschaft mbH (MStG) in the Berlin suburb of Reinickendorf . He constructed impact airships and airplanes, received on December 13, 1910 the "Flugmaschinenführer-Certificate" No. 41 of the German Aviation Association after training on a Wright biplane in Johannisthal and the following year the free balloon driver's license. He supported Professor von Parseval in building his seaplane .

In 1911 he became Professor Reissner's assistant at the Technical University of Aachen and carried out measurements on flying aircraft. After the doctorate to Dr.-Ing. With the subject of "Tests on biplanes to determine their own speed and flight angle", he headed the aircraft department of the newly founded DVL at the Johannisthal airfield near Berlin from January 1, 1913 .

On August 29, 1913 he married Erna Wegener, with whom he had daughters Marie-Luise and Brigitte and sons Carl and Hans.

During the First World War he was deployed on the Western Front with the air force. Later he headed the aircraft maintenance department of the Air Force Inspection (IdFlieg) in Adlershof, which was involved with the type testing of all aircraft and the development of building regulations. After returning to the DVL in 1919, he took over its management from January 1, 1920 to 1936.

At Whitsun 1920, in preparation for the first gliding and gliding competition planned for August, he and the other organizers visited the area around the Wasserkuppe , which Darmstadt students around Hans Gutermuth had already used for gliding attempts from 1912. The first years after the revival of " motorless flight " he was chairman of the Technical Commission (TeKo) of the annual Rhön competitions . For his services in founding and supporting an aeronautical science association at the TH Berlin, Hoff was made an honorary member of the Academic Aviation Group Berlin in 1927 and made an extraordinary member.

From 1923 he held the chair of aviation engineering at the TH Berlin as a permanent adjunct professor and in 1925 became a full professor. Since 1927 he has given lectures on aircraft design and in 1936 began preparations for the creation of an institute for aviation instruction at the TH Berlin.

He was a member of the Prussian Academy of Civil Engineering and the German Academy of Aviation Research. In 2002, Wilhelm-Hoff-Strasse in Berlin-Adlershof was named in his honor.

Fonts (selection)

  • W. Hoff: Experiments on biplanes to determine their own speed and flight angle . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 1913, OCLC 863922633 .
  • W. Hoff: The development of German army aircraft during the war . In: Journal d. Association of German Engineers . Publishing house d. Association of German Engineers, Berlin 1920 (12 pages).
  • W. Hoff: The strength of German aircraft . In: 36th report d. German research institute f. Aviation . R. Oldenbourg, Munich / Berlin 1922, p. 139-182 .
  • W. Hoff: The aeronautical engineer . Akad. Information Office Berlin in connection. with d. Office f. Vocational education u. Management in d. German Arbeitsfront, 1939 (16 pages).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Hoff, Wilhelm in der Deutschen Biographie , accessed on June 21, 2016.
  2. ^ A b c Klaus Knothe: Wilhelm Hoff. In: tu-berlin.de. February 9, 2009, archived from the original on August 31, 2010 ; accessed on June 23, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Aviation Technical Review . In: Oskar Ursinus (Hrsg.): Flugsport - Illustrated technical magazine and indicator for the entire "aviation" . No. 8 , 1911, OCLC 183323980 , ZDB -ID 212889-5 , p. 267 .
  4. ↑ a b c Peter Supf : The book of German flight history . Pre-war period - wartime period - post-war period until 1932. Ed .: Association for the promotion of air sports. tape 2 . Drei Brunnen Verlag, Stuttgart, p. 143 f .
  5. ↑ Peter Riedel: Start in the Wind. Experienced Rhön history 1911–1926 . Ed .: Jochen von Kalckreuth . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-539-1 , p. 70, 242 .
  6. ↑ Academic Fliegergruppe Berlin (Ed.): 100 Years of Akaflieg Berlin . Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86732-095-5 , pp. 13, 172 .
personal data
SURNAME Hoff, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hoff, Carl Theodor Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German aviation researcher
DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH April 1945
Place of death Berlin