Reliability flight on the Upper Rhine

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Route sketch for the Prinz Heinrich Flug 1914 in issue 2/1914 of the magazine Flugsport

The reliability flight on the Upper Rhine , also known as the Prinz-Heinrich flight after Prince Heinrich of Prussia took over the patronage from 1913 , was a reliability competition for German aircraft that was held from 1911 to 1914.

General

The competition served to test the latest German flight models under practical conditions and was predominantly military in nature. The program consisted of a multi-stage flight and aerial reconnaissance exercises . Officers of the German Army and the Imperial Navy as well as German civilians were eligible to participate , provided they were proposed by an association organized within the German Aviation Association . The aircraft had to have been built in Germany and meet the requirements of a military aircraft. While civilians were in the majority among the participants in 1911, the ratio was reversed in the following years.

Well-endowed prizes in several categories were announced for the most successful pilots. Anyone who covered the entire distance in the shortest possible time received the Kaiser Prize as the main prize.

On the fringes of the event, flight days with a folk festival character took place at the stage locations, which were well attended due to the general enthusiasm for aviation .

The competitions in detail

1911

  • Period: May 19-27
  • Route: Baden-Baden - Freiburg - Mulhouse - Strasbourg - Karlsruhe - Heidelberg - Mannheim - Mainz - Frankfurt / Main - Darmstadt

Due to adverse weather conditions at the starting point in Baden-Baden, the reliability flight did not begin until May 21st, one day late. The competition was later overshadowed by a tragic accident. Charles Laemmlin (1879–1911), holder of the No. 82 pilot's license since April 29, 1911, died on May 23 when his aviation two-decker crashed .

1912

  • Period: May 12-23
  • Route: Strasbourg - Metz - Saarbrücken - Mainz - Frankfurt / Main - Karlsruhe - Freiburg - Constance

In 1912, three Zeppelin airships also took part in the event, the LZ 10 “Schwaben”, the LZ 11 “Viktoria Luise” (with Hugo Eckener on board) and the LZ 12 (Z III), personally run by Graf Zeppelin has been. They took part in reconnaissance flights and took passengers. The program included the first West-East crossing of the Black Forest . The competition was again characterized by numerous breakdowns and accidents. However, there were no fatalities. In the end, only four participants reached the goal in Constance: Hellmuth Hirth , Lieutenant Alfred Mahncke (1888–1979), First Lieutenant Luitpold Graf Wolffskeel von Reichenberg and First Lieutenant Erwin Barends (1880–1952).

1913

For the first time, the competition was called "Prinz-Heinrich-Flug". In addition to the multi-stage flight, the program also included a reconnaissance flight from Strasbourg to Freiburg, in which the airship LZ 17 "Saxony" led by Hugo Eckener was also involved. Lieutenant Ferdinand von Hiddessen won the reliability test with a Mars monoplane from Deutsche Flugzeug-Werke . Second in the reliability test and best in the reconnaissance exercise, Lieutenant Ernst Canter, who later achieved fame as the “Flieger von Tannenberg”, was declared the overall winner of the competition.

1914

  • Period: May 17th to 25th
  • Route: Darmstadt - Mannheim - Pforzheim - Strasbourg - Speyer - Worms - Wiesbaden - Koblenz - Frankfurt / Main - Marburg - Kassel - Braunschweig - Hamburg - Hanover - Minden - Herford - Münster - Osnabrück - Bremen - Cologne
  • Kaiser Price: Lieutenant Rudolf von Thüna (1887-1936), LVG biplane with 100-horsepower 6-cylinder Mercedes-Benz Bz I - Aircraft Engine

The second Prinz Heinrich flight was held over five stages of a total of 2600 km. The first stage led from Darmstadt via Mannheim, Pforzheim and Strasbourg over 400 km to Frankfurt. This was followed by a sightseeing flight from Frankfurt via Koblenz and Cologne back to Frankfurt. The third stage was held on the Frankfurt - Kassel - Braunschweig - Hamburg route. The fourth stage was again a sightseeing flight: Hamburg - Hanover - Münster - Bremen - Hamburg. The last stage led from Hamburg to Cologne and included a reconnaissance exercise. In the first twelve places there were nine military pilots and exclusively aircraft with Mercedes engines. Four officer pilots were killed at this event , on May 17th Ltn. Müller and Ltn. Rohde, on May 23rd Ltn. Boeder and Ltn. Bernhardt.

“The Prince Heinrich flight is over. The officer aviators have shown what they can do. Unfortunately, four hopeful, capable officers lost their lives. There was no lack of guts. "

- Aviation No. 11/1914 of May 27, 1914, p. 438

literature

  • Christian Kehre: "Flying is still a dangerous game". Aviation technology risk and control from 1908 to 1914 . In: Gunter Gebauer (Ed.): Calculated risk. Technology, games and sports at the limit. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-593-38006-4 , pp. 199-224.
  • Hans von Lüneberg: history of aviation. Volume 1: History, Airplanes. Welz - Vermittlerverlag Mannheim eK, Mannheim 2003, ISBN 3-937081-62-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ versa, p 207
  2. ^ Heribert Suntrop: The Chronicle of Cologne Aviation. 1910-1919 , accessed October 21, 2009
  3. ↑ Flugsport 12/1911, p. 394
  4. ^ A b Walter Vetter: Freiburg city airfield. The story . Airfield history: The beginnings up to World War I , website of Freiburg / Breisgau airfield, accessed on October 21, 2009
  5. ↑ Paul Béjeuhr: Technical review of the Prinz Heinrich flight in 1913. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 328, 1913, pp. 401-403.
  6. ↑ von Lüneberg, p. 118
  7. ↑ Aviation No. 11/1914 of May 27, 1914, pp. 441ff