Hans Georg Friedrich Groß, (4 May 1860 – 27 February 1924), was a German

balloonist In aeronautics, a balloon is an unpowered aerostat, which remains aloft or floats due to its buoyancy. A balloon may be free, moving with the wind, or tethered to a fixed point. It is distinct from an airship, which is a powered aerostat that ...

and

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

constructor. Luisenstadt 2008

Balloons

In the 1890s, the ''Verein zur Förderung der Luftschifffahrt'' (an association promoting airflight founded in 1881) conducted scientific balloon ascents to study the upper atmosphere on the initiative of

Richard Assmann Richard Assmann (Anglicized spelling of the German name Richard Aßmann) (13 April 1845 in Magdeburg – 28 May 1918 in Gießen) was a German meteorologist and physician who was a native of Magdeburg. He made numerous contributions in high altitud ...

. Hans Groß was ''Premiereleutnant'' of the ''Berliner Luftschifferabteilung'' (Berlin airship department), and as balloon pilot took part in 28 of these studies. Hydrogen balloon plans by Groß led to the construction of the ''Humboldt''. This performed six ascents, two ending in non-fatal crashes; during deflation after its final landing on 26 April 1893, it exploded due to electrostatic charging and burnt. For his next balloon, the ''Phönix'', Groß developed a variant of the ''Reißbahn'' invented by John Wise in 1844. This allowed the pilot to rapidly deflate a gas balloon upon landing. The ''Phönix'' performed 23 manned ascents from 1893 to 1896, a total 180 hours in the air and reached a maximum altitude of 9155 metres on 1894-12-04 with Arthur Berson.

Airships

In 1895 and 1896 Groß supported David Schwarz in the development of his

metal-clad airship Metal-clad airships are airships which have a very thin airtight metal envelope, rather than the usual fabric envelope. This shell may be either internally braced as with the designs of David Schwarz, Dooley A.193 (1893 airship never flew, but th ...

. In 1906 Groß rose in rank to Major and became commander of the Royal Prussian Airship Battalion Number 2. With Nikolaus Basenach in 1906 he started construction of the first German military airship, an experimental keeled

semi-rigid airship A semi-rigid airship is an airship which has a stiff keel or truss supporting the main envelope along its length. The keel may be partially flexible or articulated and may be located inside or outside the main envelope. The outer shape of the ai ...

. This became designated the Groß-Basenach-type and resulted in a ''Versuchsluftschiff'' (first flight 5 July 1907) pilotundluftschiff.de followed by the airships ''M I'' (first flight 1908-06-30) Amtsblatt Löcknitz-Penkum. 05/2007 to ''M IV''. ''M I'' achieved a distance record of 300 kilometres over thirteen hours in 11 and 12 September 1908. In 1910 he was honoured by having the street ''Großstraße'' in Berlin-Köpenick named after him. At the end of 1913 he was appointed Inspector of the Telegraph Troops at Karlsruhe in the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He continued to hold this position after the outbreak of the First World War. Groß retired from active service in 1918 with the rank of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

References

* Amtsblatt Löcknitz-Penkum. 05/2007
''M-1 landet im Stettiner Haff'', pages 15-16 (German) Retrieved 2008-07-08 * * pilotundluftschiff.d

(German) Retrieved 2008-07-08

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Hans 1860 births 1924 deaths People from Szamotuły People from the Province of Posen Aviation pioneers Knights of the Order of Franz Joseph Major generals of Prussia German balloonists German airship aviators 19th-century German aviation

Balloons

Airships

See also

References

External links