Friedrich Hermann Wölfert (17 November 1850 in Riethnordhausen, Kreis

Sangerhausen Sangerhausen () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany, capital of the district of Mansfeld-Südharz. It is situated southeast of the Harz, approx. east of Nordhausen, and west of Halle (Saale). About 26,000 people live in Sangerhausen ( ...

– 12 June 1897 in

Tempelhof Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park call ...

(in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

and

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

pioneer.

Schulz Schulz is a common German language, German family name from Germany, particularly Northern Germany. The word ''Schulz'' originates from the local official title of Schultheiß or ''Schulze'', meaning head of town/village (akin to today's office of ...

Early life

From 1870 he studied theology and philosophy at

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, and he founded his own publishing company in 1873. He published over 50 books and newspapers, some of which he wrote himself. In the same year he married Christiane Trautmann, with whom he had two daughters.

Human-powered airships

After meeting the forester Georg Baumgarten in 1879, he became fascinated with airship flight and offered not only financial support but helped him further develop airships. Baumgarten had patented and experimented with his own airship designs, but his royal employer soon forbade him from airship work. Therefore, they both continued work using Wölfert's name. Their first cooperative work, the (three gondola airship) flew on 31 January 1880, and crashed. In 1881 further models were built, all of them, non-rigid designs. Due to their activities the was founded on 8 September 1881. Wölfert neglected his publishing business, which was sold in 1881. After Baumgarten's death in 1884 he continued the work and built a series of seven airships, including the human-powered ''Deutschland'' which flew in Berlin.

Gottlieb Daimler's petrol engine

Stuttgart-cannstatt-daimler-luftschiff-1888

After flying another airship in Dresden in 1887, a Leipzig illustrated newspaper printed a detailed account, describing it as a muscle-powered airship and hinting at a military project.

Gottlieb Daimler Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (; 17 March 1834 – 6 March 1900) was a German engineer, industrial designer and industrialist. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development. He invented the high-speed liquid petroleum-fue ...

noticed this article and, after patenting his new petrol engine for airflight, invited Wölfert to

Cannstatt Bad Cannstatt (), also called Cannstatt (until July 23, 1933) or Kannstadt (until 1900), is one of the outer Stadtbezirke, or city boroughs, of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Bad Cannstatt is the oldest and most populous of Stuttgart' ...

. On 10 August 1888 Wölfert's airship, driven by Daimler's so-called (Grandfather Clock) petrol engine,George Whale, George 1995, Chapter II / Early airships and their development to the present day / Germany. "8 horse-power benzine Daimler motor drove a twin-bladed aluminium propeller" flew 10 kilometres from

to Aldingen (part of

Remseck am Neckar Remseck am Neckar () is a swabian town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Rems and Neckar, about 12 km northeast of Stuttgart, and 7 km southeast of Ludwigsburg. ...

) and back. Other flights were made in Cannstatt, Ulm, Augsburg, Munich, and Vienna. He also offered the use of one for military purposes to the Berlin airship department.

1896 to 1897

Wölfert wished to present his airship at the 1896 (a large commercial exposition). A sponsor provided 50,000

Marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...

to build a hangar at the expo. At least three flights were made; one on 20 May 1896 reached the then record height for an airship of . Later flights included the delivery of

post Post, POST, or posting may refer to: Postal services * Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal s ...

, from which some envelopes still exist. These successes led to support from the military and at the last, and fatal, flight at Tempelhof. Guests from Greece, China and Japan were present. Wölfert again named the airship ''

Deutschland Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 m ...

''. It had a gas volume of 800 cubic metres and an eight-horsepower Daimler motor. earlyaviator On 12 June 1897 it climbed to about 200 m (670 ft) but caught fire and crashed, killing Wölfert and his mechanic. , a street not far from the accident site, was named after him on 4 August 1930.

Mirko Mirko (Cyrillic script: Мирко) is a masculine given name of South Slavic origin. By Slavic etymology, the name is composed of the root ''mir'' (meaning peace) and hypocoristic suffix ''-ko'' usual in South Slavic languages, which together mea ...

Citations

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Whale, George. 1995. ''British Airships, Past / Present / Future'', , BiblioBazaar (October 26, 2007) (als
1996 Gutenberg version
* Editors of German Wikipedi

( :w:de:Friedrich Hermann Wölfert, current version) * Schulz, Günter O
Luftschiffseiten - Geschichte von Baumgarten & Wölfert
(German) (biography and photographs of Wölfert, Baumgarten and the airship) Retrieved 2008-08-10 * Mirko

. (German) (Berlin street index) Retrieved 2009-05-21 * earlyaviator
1897.06.12.Wolfert.airship.Deutschland_jpl.jpg
(2 photographs, painting and brief history) Retrieved 2009-05-21 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfert, Friedrich Hermann 1850 births 1897 deaths People from Mansfeld-Südharz People from the Province of Saxony German publishers (people) Airship aviators Aviation inventors German aviation pioneers Airship designers German airship aviators 19th-century German inventors 19th-century German aviation