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Friedrich Harth (Born 1880 in Zentbechhofen, - died 1936) was a German glider pioneer. Between 1908 and 1923, Harth built twelve different types of gliders and laid the foundations for the development of gliding.
Harth was the son of a head forester and attended elementary school in Bamberg, high school in Landshut, and graduated from high school in Munich. In addition to his subsequent architecture studies, he dealt with the knowledge of the first German glider pilot Otto Lilienthal and began to build a glider after his return to Bamberg. He built wings, buckled them around his body with a belt, and tested them. In 1909 while working as a government builder, he began building gliders.
In 1910, Harth's first attempt to fly started on the Ludwager Kulm, near Bamberg. The summit's plateau and steep western slope favored gliding. His gliders consisted of an open or closed hull with a fixed fin. The angle of attack of the wings could be changed in the same direction or in opposite directions in order to serve as an elevator or aileron. In November, this first aircraft was severely damaged in a crash on frozen ground. Unwaveringly, Harth used knowledge from the failed attempts to build improve his gliders. The rotary wing control remained an essential feature of his gliders.
Serving as a senior construction city council member, Harth spent his free time designing and testing his flying machines. Enlisting helper Willy Messerschmitt, the 15-year-old son of a Bamberg wine merchant, who later became Harth's student. After the outbreak of the First World War, Harth was drafted into military service interrupting his flight attempts. During this time, Messerschmitt built the S5 glider according to Harth's plans. During Harth's home leave, he flew to an altitude of 20m and traveled 300m from the Heidelstein starting point. In 1916 he was transferred to Schleißheim, where he taught aircraft construction. Harth built the S6 glider and flew it to a landing site 15m higher than his starting point on an almost three-minute flight. His post war glider, the S7, was built in the early summer of 1919 while working at the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW – Bavarian Aircraft Works).
On September 13, 1921, Harth accomplished a record 21 minute and 27 second glider flight [1] from the Heidelstein in the Rhön Mountains with his monoplane glider, the Harth-Messerschmitt S8. This record flight ended abruptly with a crash, and Harth was severely injured with a severe concussion and a fractured skull and pelvis, from which he never recovered fully. [2] In 1924 impoverished by his job loss, he lived on welfare. Harth was a supporter of the National Socialists and a party member of the NSDAP (Nazi party) until his death in 1936.
(from 1922–1925)
Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. In 1934, in collaboration with Walter Rethel, he designed the Messerschmitt Bf 109, which became the most important fighter aircraft in the Luftwaffe as Germany rearmed prior to World War II. It remains the second most-produced warplane in history, with some 34,000 built, behind the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2. Another Messerschmitt aircraft, first called "Bf 109R", purpose-built for record setting, but later redesignated Messerschmitt Me 209, broke the absolute world airspeed record and held the world speed record for propeller-driven aircraft until 1969. Messerschmitt's firm also produced the first jet-powered fighter to enter service – the Messerschmitt Me 262.
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Wolfram Kurt Erhard Hirth was a German gliding pioneer and sailplane designer. He was a co-founder of Schempp-Hirth, still a renowned glider manufacturer.
The Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft (RRG) or Rhön-Rossitten Society was a German gliding organization, the first one in the world that was officially recognised. The Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft was mainly responsible for establishing gliding as a sport, not only in Germany but eventually throughout the world.
Hang gliding is an air sport employing a foot-launchable aircraft. Typically, a modern hang glider is constructed of an aluminium alloy or composite-framed fabric wing. The pilot is ensconced in a harness suspended from the airframe, and exercises control by shifting body weight in opposition to a control frame.
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The F.V.D. Doris or Dresden Doris, later known as the Akaflieg Dresden D-B2 Doris, was a monoplane glider built in Germany in 1922. It was unusual in having wings which could independently adjust their angles of attack, a feature intended to increase the energy acquired from gusts of wind.
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