::''Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at :de:Edmund Schneider (Konstrukteur)'' Grunau Baby II

Edmund Schneider (26 July 1901 - 5 July 1968 was a German aircraft designer and owner of a glider factory.

Career

Early life

Schnieder was born in

Ravensburg Ravensburg ( Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an impo ...

on 26 July 1902. After completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter in

Memmingen Memmingen (; Swabian: ''Memmenge'') is a town in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is the economic, educational and administrative centre of the Danube-Iller region. To the west the town is flanked by the Iller, the river that marks the Baden-Wü ...

, he applied to the air force towards the end of the First World War he was found unfit to fly, but found employment as a carpenter in the Schleissheim aircraft hangar, where military aircraft were repaired and he was able to study the

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

designs of

Pfalz Pfalz, Pfälzer, or Pfälzisch are German words referring to Palatinate. They may refer to: Places *Pfalz, the Palatinate (region) of Germany **Nordpfalz, the North Palatinate **Vorderpfalz, the Anterior Palatinate **Südpfalz, the South P ...

Albatros Flugzeugwerke Albatros Flugzeugwerke GmbH was a German aircraft manufacturer best known for supplying the German airforces during World War I. The company was based in Johannisthal, Berlin, where it was founded by Walter Huth and Otto Wiener on December 20, 1 ...

LFG LFG may refer to: * Landfill gas, a waste gas containing methane and other gases emitted by landfills * Lexical functional grammar, a theory of syntax * Lagged Fibonacci generator, an example of a pseudorandom number generator * "Looking for grou ...

Fokker Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...

and

Junkers Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM, earlier JCO or JKO in World War I, English: Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works) more commonly Junkers , was a major German aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturer. It was founded there in Dessau, Germ ...

Bavaria

At end of the war he to the Wasserkuppe mountain gliding site in the spring of 1923.. He met

Gottlob Espenlaub Gottlob Espenlaub (25 October 1900 – 9 January 1972), nicknamed Espe, was an inventor who specialized in early types of aircraft, specifically gliders and rocket propulsion systems designed for them. He invented a number of different aircra ...

and helped him with the completion of gliders he designed with

Alexander Lippisch Alexander Martin Lippisch (November 2, 1894 – February 11, 1976) was a German aeronautical engineer, a pioneer of aerodynamics who made important contributions to the understanding of tailless aircraft, delta wings and the ground effect, and a ...

a for the Rhön competition in the summer of 1923.

Grunau

In autumn 1923 he went together with Espenlaub at the invitation of a local group of the German Flying club to Grunau near Hirschberg Silesia (now Poland). In the winter in Grunau, the construction of an easy-to-build and easy-to-fly, stable training glider was developed, which after a few modifications finally led to the Espenlaub-Schneider ESG-9 - a basic training glider. While Espenlaub later went to Kassel, Schneider settled down in Grunau and started his own business in 1928 with the Segelflugzeugbau Edmund Schneider. His most famous construction, the

Schneider Grunau Baby The Schneider Grunau Baby was a single-seat sailplane first built in Germany in 1931, with some 6,000 examples constructed in some 20 countries. It was relatively easy to build from plans, it flew well, and the aircraft was strong enough to han ...

. By about1931 some 3000 examples had been produced by his company in Grunau. In addition to the company's own aircraft, the gliders Wiesenbaude 1 and Wiesenbaude 2 were also commissioned for

Eugen Bönsch Feldwebel Eugen Bönsch (1 May 1897-24 July 1951) was a World War I flying ace credited with 16 aerial victories. Early life and service Bönsch studied mechanics at the State Trade School. He originally joined the army in 1915, but after comple ...

, and the fuselage of the Moazagotl by Schneider ESG 31 Schlesierland for

who during 1931 – 2 was principal of the Grunau gliding school.

World War II

Due to the increasing demand from the

National Socialist Flyers Corps The National Socialist Flyers Corps (german: Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps; NSFK) was a paramilitary aviation organization of the Nazi Party. History NSFK was founded 15 April 1937 as a successor to the German Air Sports Association; the ...

, Schneider employed more than 350 people in two plants when war broke out in 1939. At the end of World War II, Schneider left his business and fled with his family to Mühlhofen on

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

Australia

The result was the draft ES-49, design, of which a copy has been preserved on the Wasserkuppe. The Schneider family emigrated to Australia in 1951 at the invitation of the Adelaide Aero Club in which city he established the

Edmund Schneider Pty Ltd Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings an ...

.Edmund Schneider Pty Ltd
/ref> Other well-known gliders such as the

Schneider ES-52 The Schneider ES-52 ''Kookaburra'' is an Australian two-seat training sailplane of the 1950s and 1960s. It was designed by Edmund Schneider, the designer of the Grunau Baby, who had emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia following the end of th ...

Kookaburra and the

Schneider ES-60 __NOTOC__ The Schneider ES-60 ''Boomerang'' is a single-seat glider that was designed and manufactured in Australia in the 1960s. It is constructed of wood and fabric. It was designed and manufactured by Edmund Schneider Pty of Adelaide, South ...

Boomerang were built in Australia at Schneider's new factory in Adelaide. A licensed version of the

Schleicher Ka 6 The Schleicher Ka 6 is a single-seat glider designed by Rudolf Kaiser, built by Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co, Germany and is constructed of spruce and plywood with fabric covering. The design initially featured a conventional tailplane and e ...

was also built in Australia.

Death

Schneider died on 5 July 1968 in

Rottach-Egern Rottach-Egern () is a municipality (''Gemeinde Rottach-Egern am Tegernsee'') and town located at Lake Tegernsee in the district of Miesbach in Upper Bavaria, Germany, about 55 km (35 miles) south of central Munich. Late Austrian actor Walter Slez ...

in Germany aged 67.

References

{{Edmund Schneider aircraft 1901 births 1968 deaths German aerospace engineers