Hermann Oestrich (30 December 1903 – 2 April 1973) was a German-French engineer. He was involved in the development of jet engines as an employee of BMW and later of Snecma.

Life

Born in Duisburg-

Beeckerwerth Beeckerwerth is a part of the German city of Duisburg and located right of the Rhine. It has a population of 3,807 and an area of 7.62 km2. History Until the Middle Ages, Beeckerwerth was surrounded by water on all sides: on the west and no ...

, Oestrich studied at the

Technische Hochschule Hannover Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational ...

and in Berlin. After completing his studies, he first went to the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt in 1926, where he remained until he moved to

Brandenburgische Motorenwerke Siemens-Schuckert (or Siemens-Schuckertwerke) was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966. Siemens Schuckert was founded in 1903 when Siemens & Ha ...

in 1935. He became chief engineer of BMW after earning a doctorate at the TH Berlin-Charlottenburg in Berlin in 1937. As part of the new development of jet engines, Oestrich began research in this field. In 1939 he was appointed head of the development of jet engines in the BMW plant in Berlin- Spandau. His developments eventually led to the BMW 003 engine, which was bought in 1946 by the French Air Ministry. In 1943, Oestrich was appointed department director and took over managing gas turbine development. After the Second World War, Oestrich was captured and interrogated for a long time on technical issues. Finally, he was offered a job in the US, which he declined. Together with other former BMW employees, such as Hans-Georg Münzberg, August Wilhelm Quick and Otto David, he accepted a five-year contract with the French Ministry of Aviation. He founded Atar (Atelier technique aéronautique de Rickenbach) in 1946 and headed this development group of 120 employees. He went to Decize in 1946, where he worked for Snecma subsidiary Aeroplanes Voisin. Oestrich and his team worked on the further development of the

Atar 101 The SNECMA ATAR 101 is a French axial-flow turbojet engine built by SNECMA. It was derived from engines and design work carried out at BMW in Germany during World War II, and extensively developed though a progression of more powerful models. T ...

. In 1948 he acquired French citizenship and in 1950 he rose to technical director of Snecma in

Villaroche Melun Villaroche Aerodrome (french: Aérodrome de Melun Villaroche) is an aerodrome located north of Melun, a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. The airport is located east-southeas ...

, where the developments of the BMW 003 engine were being monitored. He retired from Snecma in 1960. For his services at Snecma overseeing the development of Snecma Atar turbojet engines, he was awarded

Knight of the Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

in 1962.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oestrich, Hermann 1903 births 1973 deaths 20th-century German engineers German aerospace engineers German emigrants to France People from Duisburg Recipients of the Legion of Honour Engineers from North Rhine-Westphalia