Alfred Comte (4 June 1895 – 1 November 1965) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

pioneer. He was active as a pilot, photographer, instructor, also as one of the first aviation

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

s and was successful in the construction of civilian and military aircraft. Alfred Comte AC-2

Life

At the age of 15, Alfred Comte built a motorized bicycle. Comte obtained his private pilot's license in 1913 from the '' Aéro-Club of France''. At the start of World War I, he served as a pilot in the Swiss military, then as an instruction officer for military aviation. In 1916, he carried out night flights from

Delémont Delémont (; fc, D'lémont; german: Delsberg, ) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura. The city has approximately 12,000 inhabitants . History The area of the municipality was already settled in the middle Bronze Age. Fifteen urn buria ...

to prevent airspace violations; Porrentruy had been bombed by aircraft of unknown origin. Germany and France consented to a Swiss proposal to mount light-beacons along the Swiss-German-France borders to prevent further mistakes. On 5 November 1919, he co-founded an airline providing aerial photography and passenger flights, '' Comte, Mittelholzer, and Co.'' In 1920, this company merged with the financially stronger

Ad Astra Aero Ad Astra Aero (Latin for "to the stars air") was a Swiss airline based at Zürichhorn in Zürich. Early years Initiated by Oskar Bider and Fritz Rihner, in July 1919 the "Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Lufttourismus" (literally: Swiss ...

. Alfred Comte was a frequent participant in exhibition events for acrobatic flying and pioneered the route from Zürich to London. In December 1920, he established a school of aviation of his own using

flying boats A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

; six Austrian ''Lohner TL-1917/R'' aircraft (CH-61 to CH-65) from a base in

Oberrieden Oberrieden is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It is one of the towns along the south shore of Lake Zurich. History Oberrieden is first mentioned between 1133 and 1167 as ''Obrendrieden''. Geog ...

on the shores of

Lake Zürich __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich ( Swiss German/Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used to ...

. During World War II, Comte returned to military aviation duties and was promoted to captain. From 1946 to 1950, he once again managed a school of aviation in the

Limmat Valley The Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal'') is a river valley and a region in the cantons of Zürich and Aargau in Switzerland. Geography The Limmat () is a long river located in the cantons of Zürich (ZH) and Aargau (AG). It is the c ...

, and was also involved in establishing the private airfield Wangen-Lachen on the southern shore of lake Obersee. He finally retired from flying and died in 1965 in Zürich.

Alfred Comte Schweizerische Flugzeugfabrik

Between 1923 and 1935, Alfred Comte concentrated on airplane design and construction in his own company, ''Alfred Comte Schweizerische Flugzeugfabrik''. In all, around 40 aircraft were built, with an additional eight

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qu ...

under license for the

Swiss Air Force The Swiss Air Force (german: Schweizer Luftwaffe; french: Forces aériennes suisses; it, Forze aeree svizzere; rm, Aviatica militara svizra) is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914 as a part of the army and ...

. The company had a good reputation, but financially it was not successful, and a fire destroyed some of Comte's designs. The Great Depression hit the small business hard; it could not be saved even by switching to the production of tubular steel furniture, and in 1935 filed for bankruptcy. From 1923 to 1935, Alfred Comte designed and built several aircraft: ; Wild 43:(1923–26), training purpose, 6 built and exported to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

;

Wild X Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 Am ...

:(1927/28), fighting and observing purpose, 8 built and exported to Colombia ; AC-1:(1926), fighter, 1 built,

preferred in an evaluation to buy

Dewoitine D.27 The Dewoitine D.27 was a parasol monoplane fighter aircraft designed by Émile Dewoitine in 1928. Design and development After the end of World War I, the slump in demand for aircraft forced Dewoitine to close his company and move to Switzerland ...

;

AC-2 Yellow / AC-2 (Atlantic Crossing 2) is a submarine telecommunications cable system linking the United States and the United Kingdom. The cable is wholly owned by CenturyLink (formerly Level 3 Communications) in the US following its acquisition ...

: 2-seat sport biplane with a 60 hp engine, not built Aeroplane Monthly, 8/2013 ; AC-3:(1929/30), transport and bombing purpose, 1 built ; AC-4 ''Gentleman'':(1928–30), two-seat sport/training aircraft, 11 built, used by

and others ; AC-5: 6-seater with a 200 hp Wright engine, not built ; AC-6: 2-seat biplane with a 200 hp

Wright Whirlwind The Wright Whirlwind was a family of air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical (originally an independent company, later a division of Curtiss-Wright). The family began with nine-cylinder engines, and later expanded to incl ...

engine for training or a 400 hp Gnome-Rhone Jupiter for military use, not built ; AC-7: 2-seat high-wing trainer with a 500 hp Gnome-Rhone Jupiter engine, not built ; AC-8:(1929/30), passenger aircraft, 3 built, probably one (or AC-4) used by

; AC-9: tri-motor airliner, not built ; AC-10: development of the AC-1 with a 480 hp Gnome-Rhone Jupiter engine, not built ; AC-11-V:(1931), liaison and survey aircraft, 1 built, rejected by Swiss Air Force ; AC-12 ''Moskito'':(1931/35?), airliner, 8 built

Literature

* Roland Eichenberger: ''Die Flugzeuge von Alfred Comte'', Liebefeld 1968. * Roland Eichenberger. ''Alfred Comte (1895–1965)'', in: ''Schweizer Pioniere der Wirtschaft und Technik'', Vol. 46. Glarus Verlag, Zürich 1987.

References

External links

* * Walter Dürig: ''Zur Geschichte der schweizerischen Eigenentwicklung von Flugzeugen''
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69 KB) {{DEFAULTSORT:Comte, Alfred 1895 births 1965 deaths Swiss aviators 20th-century Swiss photographers Aerial photographers Aircraft manufacturers of Switzerland Aviation pioneers Swiss military officers People from Delémont Swiss Air Force personnel