Heinrich Hertel (13 November 1901 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

– 5 December 1982) "Heinrich Hertel", in ''“The shoulders on which we stand”-Wegbereiter der Wissenschaft: 125 Jahre Technische Universität Berlin'', Eberhard Knobloch, ed. (Springer-Verlag, 2013) pp70-72 was a German

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

. After graduating as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

from Munich Technical College, he joined the Junkers company in 1926. In 1932, he was recruited by

Ernst Heinkel Dr. Ernst Heinkel (24 January 1888 – 30 January 1958) was a German aircraft designer, manufacturer, '' Wehrwirtschaftsführer'' in Nazi Germany, and member of the Nazi party. His company Heinkel Flugzeugwerke produced the Heinkel He 178, th ...

and two years later was made the Technical Director of the

Heinkel Heinkel Flugzeugwerke () was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, with ...

company — within which

Siegfried and Walter Günter Siegfried Günter (8 December 1899 – 20 June 1969) and Walter Günter (8 December 1899 – 21 September 1937) were German twin brothers and pioneering aircraft designers. Walter was responsible for the world's first rocket-powered and tu ...

were already well-established as top engineers — where he oversaw many projects including the

Heinkel He 100 The Heinkel He 100 was a German pre-World War II fighter aircraft design from Heinkel. Although it proved to be one of the fastest fighter aircraft in the world at the time of its development, the design was not ordered into series production. ...

and

He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...

. In May 1939 he returned to the board of directors at Junkers where he was closely connected with the development of the

Junkers Ju 288 The Junkers Ju 288, originally known within the Junkers firm as the EF 074, was a Nazi Germany, German bomber project designed during World War II, which only ever flew in prototype form. The first aircraft flew on 29 November 1940; 22 develo ...

and Ju 248. In February 1945, he also worked on a project of the

Dornier Do 635 The Dornier Do 335 ''Pfeil'' ("Arrow") was a heavy fighter built by Dornier Flugzeugwerke, Dornier for Germany during World War II. The two-seater trainer version was called ''Ameisenbär'' ("anteater"). The ''Pfeil''s performance was predicted t ...

, one of the twin boom fighter aircraft developed from

Dornier Do 335 The Dornier Do 335 ''Pfeil'' ("Arrow") was a heavy fighter built by Dornier for Germany during World War II. The two-seater trainer version was called ''Ameisenbär'' ("anteater"). The ''Pfeil''s performance was predicted to be better than other ...

but the project was cancelled in 1945. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Hertel worked in France before returning to Germany in 1950 to teach

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies ...

in Berlin. From 1959 until his retirement in 1977 he worked as a technical consultant for

Focke-Wulf Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hertel, Heinrich 1901 births 1982 deaths Aircraft designers German aerospace engineers Technical University of Munich alumni Engineering educators Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Scientists from Düsseldorf Engineers from North Rhine-Westphalia