Martin Schempp (23 March 1905 - 9 July 1984) was a
glider pilot
Glider may refer to:
Aircraft and transport Aircraft
* Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight
** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...
and founder of
Schempp-Hirth
Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH is a glider manufacturer based in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany.
History
Martin Schempp founded his own company in Göppingen in 1935, with the assistance of Wolf Hirth.
The company was initially called "Sportfl ...
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
. After completing his commercial education, he helped out in his father's craftsman's business. In 1926, at the age of 21, he emigrated to the USA in the hope of finding better working conditions there. After working at various odd jobs, he finally found employment as a chemical laboratory technician at a steel mill. A talk by
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
about his Atlantic crossing so inspired Martin about aviation that he returned to Germany in 1928 to learn how to fly. After completing his basic soaring training, he acquired his pilot's license for powered aircraft at the
Klemm
The Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau GmbH ("Klemm Light Aircraft Company") was a German aircraft manufacturer noteworthy for sports and touring planes of the 1930s.
The company was founded in Böblingen in 1926 by Dr. Hanns Klemm, who had previously work ...
company in
Böblingen
Böblingen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Beblenga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen (district), Böblingen District. Sindelfingen and Böblingen are Geographic contiguity, contiguous.
History
Böblingen was found ...
. It was during this time that he met
Wolf Hirth
Wolfram Kurt Erhard Hirth (28 February 1900 – 25 July 1959) was a German gliding pioneer and sailplane designer. He was a co-founder of Schempp-Hirth, still a renowned glider manufacturer.Segelflugbildkalendar 2011
Hirth was born in Stuttgart, ...
, with whom he was to establish a close, lifelong friendship.
Martin Schempp returned 1929 to the USA to build German sailplane designs under license there at "Haller-Hirth Sailplanes" and to act as a soaring instructor at "Haller School Of Soaring Flight" in Pittsburgh (Greensburg Airport). Spectacular flights with a number of unintentional ditchings made him and soaring known in the USA. After his successes in the 2nd National Soaring Championships in
Elmira, New York
Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...
(which is America's equivalent to the
Wasserkuppe
The is a mountain within the German state of Hesse. It is a large plateau formation at an elevation of and is the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains. Great advances in sailplane development took place on the mountain during the interwar peri ...
, Germany's soaring Mecca) in 1931, he flew a distance of 63.7 miles and reached an altitude of 5,370 feet in this competition the following year. He won second place in the distance competition and first place in the altitude competition. Based on these successes, he earned silver C badge No. 8 (worldwide). He moved to California at the end of 1932, where he worked with
Hawley Bowlus William Hawley Bowlus (May 8, 1896 – August 27, 1967) was an American designer, engineer and builder of aircraft (especially gliders) and recreational vehicles in the 1930s and 1940s. Today he is most widely known for his creation of the worl ...
on his high-performance sailplane "Albatros".
In 1934, feeling that his professional prospects in the USA were too uncertain, Martin Schempp accepted an offer from Wolf Hirth, who was the head of the soaring school on the Hornberg at the time, to hire him as a soaring instructor there. With the assistance of Wolf Hirth, Martin Schempp opened in
Göppingen
Göppingen ( Swabian: ''Geppenge'' or ''Gebbenga'') is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the district Göppingen. Göppingen is home to the toy company Märklin, and it is the b ...
his own company in 1935: "Sportflugzeugbau Göppingen Martin Schempp". Martin Schempp proved to be an adept and circumspect head of production, who would succeed over decades in working with his employees to build high-quality sailplanes inexpensively. The Gö 1 "Wolf" and Gö 3 "Minimoa" became world-renowned sailplanes. In 1938, Wolf Hirth, mainly responsible for the design work, officially became a partner in the company, which then took on the new name “Sportflugzeugbau
Schempp-Hirth
Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH is a glider manufacturer based in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany.
History
Martin Schempp founded his own company in Göppingen in 1935, with the assistance of Wolf Hirth.
The company was initially called "Sportfl ...
”. The company relocated to
Kirchheim-Teck
Kirchheim unter Teck (Swabian German, Swabian: ''Kircha'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the Esslingen (district), district of Esslingen. It is located on the small river Lauter (Neckar), Lauter, a tributary of the Neckar. It is 10 ...
the same year. By 1939, the list of customers included clients from all continents except Australia. The Minimoa, 110 of which were built, is still regarded as one of the most beautiful sailplanes from the wood era.
In 1939, Wolf Hirth opened his own company in Nabern, which collaborated closely with Schempp-Hirth during the war. In addition to sailplanes for pilot training, the two companies supplied the two-seater Gö IV (designed by
Wolfgang Hütter
Wolfgang is a German male given name traditionally popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The name is a combination of the Old High German words ''wolf'', meaning "wolf", and ''gang'', meaning "path", "journey", "travel". Besides the regula ...
); the
Habicht (plane)
The Habicht is a mountain in the Stubai Alps of Austria. For a long time, the locals believed it to be the highest mountain in Tyrol, due to its prominence above the surrounding mountains. Despite what they thought, the highest peak in the Stubai ...
, an aerobatic glider, and wooden subassemblies for
Messerschmitt
Messerschmitt AG () was a German share-ownership limited, aircraft manufacturing corporation named after its chief designer Willy Messerschmitt from mid-July 1938 onwards, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, in partic ...
, the Me-321/323 "Gigant" and the Me-109 fighter.
After the war
In the eyes of the Americans, Martin Schempp had such great human integrity and recognition that they appointed him the interim mayor of Kirchheim unter Teck after the war – despite the formal "burden" of him being the head of a production facility for military products. He was relieved by an elected mayor in 1945 and once again devoted all of his time to the factory, now to manufacture urgently needed furniture and household goods using aircraft materials saved through the end of war.
When gliders were allowed to fly again in Germany in 1951, he ceded the sailplane market to Wolf Hirth. Only after Wolf Hirths' death in 1959 did Schempp-Hirth increasingly become involved in sailplane construction in addition to the construction of powered aircraft undertaken with Wolf Hirths' consultation and assistance. Martin Schempp acquired the license to build the best standard-class sailplane of its time, the "
Standard Austria
The Standard Austria was a single-seat aerobatic glider that was originally designed and built in Austria from 1959 but production was moved in 1962 to Schempp-Hirth in Germany.
Development
Commissioned by the ''Österreichischer Aeroclub'' ...
," and put it into mass production. Martin Schempp soon realized that the future would belong to composite sailplanes, and he therefore secured the assistance of
Klaus Holighaus __NOTOC__
Klaus Holighaus (14 July 1940 – 9 August 1994) was a glider designer, glider pilot and entrepreneur.SHK with 17-m wings. Upon arriving in Kirchheim, Klaus Holighaus implemented his ideas in the form of the composite sailplane for the Open Class – the Cirrus. Martin Schempp gave him free rein in this matter, which Klaus Holighaus used to produce the (wildly) successful Cirrus, Nimbus, Standard Cirrus and Janus.
After handing over management of the factory in 1969 and control of the company in 1972, Martin Schempp fully transferred the Schempp-Hirth company to Klaus Holighaus in 1977 and withdrew after 42 years of actively shaping, directing and accompanying its fortunes – still following its growth and successes with great interest and involvement.
Martin Schempp died after a long illness on July 9, 1984.