-
21 Focke, E.H.Heinrich
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. October 1890 Bremen, Germanyd. February 1979 Bremen, Germany[br]German aircraft designer who was responsible for the first practical helicopter, in 1936.[br]Between 1911 and 1914 Heinrich Focke and Georg Wulf built a monoplane and some years later, in 1924, they founded the Focke-Wulf company. They designed and built a variety of civil and military aircraft including the F 19Ente, a tail-first design of 1927. This canard layout was thought to be safer than conventional designs but, unfortunately, it crashed, killing Wulf. Around 1930 Focke became interested in rotary-wing aircraft, and in 1931 he set up a company with Gerd Achgelis to conduct research in this field. The Focke-Wulf company took out a licence to build Cierva autogiros. Focke designed an improved autogiro, the Fw 186, which flew in 1938; it was entered for a military competition, but it was beaten by a fixed-wing aircraft, the Fieseler Storch. In May 1935 Focke resigned from Focke-Wulf to concentrate on helicopter development with the Focke-Achgelis company. His first design was the Fa 61 helicopter, which utilized the fuselage and engine of a conventional aeroplane but instead of wings had two out-riggers, each carrying a rotor. The engine drove these rotors in opposite directions to counteract the adverse torque effect (with a single rotor the fuselage tends to rotate in the opposite direction to the rotor). Following its first flight on 26 June 1936, the Fa 61 went on to break several world records. However, it attracted more public attention when it was flown inside the huge Deutschlandhalle in Berlin by the famous female test pilot Hanna Reitsch in February 1938. Focke continued to develop his helicopter projects for the Focke-Achgelis company and produced the Fa 223 Drache in 1940. This used twin contra-rotating rotors, like the Fa 61, but could carry six people. Its production was hampered by allied bombing of the factory. During the Second World War Focke- Achgelis also produced a rotor kite which could be towed behind a U-boat to provide a flying "crow's nest", as well as designs for an advanced convertiplane (part aeroplane, part helicopter). After the war, Focke worked in France, the Netherlands and Brazil, then in 1954 he became Professor of Aeroplane and Helicopter Design at the University of Stuttgart.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsWissenschaftliche, Gesellschaft für Luftfahrt Lilienthal Medal, Prandtl-Ring.Bibliography1965, "German thinking on rotary-wing development", Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, (May).Further ReadingW.Gunston and J.Batchelor, 1977, Helicopters 1900–1960, London.J.R.Smith, 1973, Focke-Wulf: An Aircraft Album, London (primarily a picture book). R.N.Liptrot, 1948, Rotating Wing Activities in Germany during the Period 1939–45, London.K.von Gersdorff and K.Knobling, 1982, Hubschrauber und Tragschrauber, Munich (a more recent publication, in German).JDS -
22 Messerschmitt, Willi E.
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. 26 June 1898 Frankfurt-am-Main, Germanyd. 17 September 1978 Munich, Germany[br]German aircraft designer noted for successful fighters such as the Bf 109, one of the world's most widely produced aircraft.[br]Messerschmitt studied engineering at the Munich Institute of Tchnology and obtained his degree in 1923. By 1926 he was Chief Designer at the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in Augsburg. Due to the ban on military aircraft in Germany following the First World War, his early designs included gliders, light aircraft, and a series of high-wing airliners. He began to make a major impact on German aircraft design once Hitler came to power and threw off the shackles of the Treaty of Versailles, which so restricted Germany's armed forces. In 1932 he bought out the now-bankrupt Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, but initially, because of enmity between himself and the German aviation minister, was not invited to compete for an air force contract for a single-engined fighter. However, in 1934 Messerschmitt designed the Bf 108 Taifun, a small civil aircraft with a fighter-like appearance. This displayed the quality of his design and the German air ministry was forced to recognize him. As a result, he unveiled the famous Bf 109 fighter which first flew in August 1935; it was used during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–9, and was to become one of the foremost combat aircraft of the Second World War. In 1938, after several name changes, the company became Messerschmitt Aktien-Gesellschaft (and hence a change of prefix from Bf to Me). During April 1939 a Messerschmitt aircraft broke the world air-speed record at 755.14 km/h (469.32 mph): it was entered in the FAI records as a Bf 109R, but was more accurately a new design designated Me 209V-1.During the Second World War, the 5/70P was progressively improved, and eventually almost 35,000 were built. Other successful fighters followed, such as the twin-engined Me 110 which also served as a bomber and night fighter. The Messerschmitt Me 262 twin-engined jet fighter, the first jet aircraft in the world to enter service, flew during the early years of the war, but it was never given a high priority by the High Command and only a small number were in service when the war ended. Another revolutionary Messerschmitt AG design was the Me 163 Komet, the concept of Professor Alexander Lippisch who had joined Messerschmitt's company in 1939; this was the first rocket-propelled fighter to enter service. It was a small tailless design capable of 880 km/hr (550 mph), but its duration under power was only about 10 minutes and it was very dangerous to fly. From late 1944 onwards it was used to intercept the United States Air Force bombers during their daylight raids. At the other end of the scale, Messerschmitt produced the Me 321 Gigant, a huge transport glider which was towed behind a flight of three Me 110s. Later it was equipped with six engines, but it was an easy target for allied fighters. This was a costly white elephant, as was his high-speed twin-engined Me 210 fighter-bomber project which nearly made his company bankrupt. Nevertheless, he was certainly an innovator and was much admired by Hitler, who declared that he had "the skull of a genius", because of the Me 163 Komet rocket-powered fighter and the Me 262.At the end of the war Messerschmitt was detained by the Americans for two years. In 1952 Messerschmitt became an aviation adviser to the Spanish government, and his Bf109 was produced in Spain as the Hispano Buchon for a number of years and was powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. A factory was also constructed in Egypt to produce aircraft to Messerschmitt's designs. His German company, banned from building aircraft, produced prefabricated houses, sewing machines and, from 1953 to 1962, a series of bubble-cars: the KR 175 (1953–55) and the KR 200 (1955–62) were single-cylinder three-wheeled bubble-cars, and the Tiger (1958–62) was a twin-cylinder, 500cc four-wheeler. In 1958 Messerschmitt resumed aircraft construction in Germany and later became the Honorary Chairman of the merged Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm company (now part of the Franco-German Eurocopter company).[br]Further Readingvan Ishoven, 1975, Messerschmitt. Aircraft Designer, London. J.Richard Smith, 1971, Messerschmitt. An Air-craft Album, London.Anthony Pritchard, 1975, Messerschmitt, London (describes Messerschmitt aircraft).JDS / CMBiographical history of technology > Messerschmitt, Willi E.
- 1
- 2
См. также в других словарях:
Flight Cadet — A Flight Cadet is a military or civilian title that is held by someone who is in training to operate an airplane. The trainee does not need to become a pilot, as Flight Cadets may also learn to serve as a co pilot, navigator, or flight engineer.… … Wikipedia
Flight Dynamics Flightsail VII — NOTOC Infobox Aircraft name=Flightsail VII caption= type=Recreational amphibian manufacturer=Homebuilt designer=Tom Purcell first flight=October avyear|1970 introduced= retired= status= primary user= more users= produced= number built= variants… … Wikipedia
Adam Air Flight 574 — Flight Route Accident summary Date 1 January 2007 … Wikipedia
Comparison of armoured to unarmoured flight deck designs — The Comparison of armoured to unarmoured flight deck designs is often made between some of the aircraft carrier designs of the Royal Navy and the United States Navy. The two navies followed differing philosophies in the use of armour on the… … Wikipedia
X-15 Flight 90 — CrewNumber in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission. *Joseph A. Walker (1)Mission parameters*Mass: 15,195 kg fueled; 6,577 kg burnout; 6,260 kg landed *Maximum Altitude: 106.01 km… … Wikipedia
Air France Flight 447 — F GZCP, the aircraft involved in the accident Accident summary Date 1 June 2009 … Wikipedia
US Airways Flight 1549 — The downed US Airways Flight 1549 floating on the Hudson River Accident summary Date … Wikipedia
Armoured flight deck — An armoured flight deck is an aircraft carrier flight deck that incorporates substantial armour in its design. Comparison is often made between some of designs of the Royal Navy (RN) and the United States Navy (USN). The two navies followed… … Wikipedia
Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 — Infobox Airliner accident|name=Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 caption = Southwest Airlines Flight 1248, at an intersection just outside Midway International Airport Date=December 8 2005 Type=Runway overrun in snowstorm Site=Chicago Midway… … Wikipedia
JetBlue Airways Flight 292 — Infobox Airliner accident|name=JetBlue Airways Flight 292 Crash 420px|Image caption=As the front wheels touched the runway, sparks shot along the runway and the tires tore off, leaving the metal gear scraping the runway for the final few yards.… … Wikipedia
ALE-50 Towed Decoy System — The AN/ALE 50 Towed Decoy System is an anti missile countermeasures decoy system used on multiple U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft, and by certain foreign air forces, too. (Such as Israeli F 16s.) The system is manufactured by… … Wikipedia
