The lifework of August Euler
Arrangement:
August Euler was the first person who built up a plane factory in Germany. This factory was located near to Darmstadt in a little village called Griesheim. There August Euler constructed, rebuilt and invented new planes. He taught German military persons (and some members of the Prussian royal family) how to fly and fight with an airplane. In the year 1908 August Euler bought a license from the French airplane company Voisin-double-decker to rebuild and improve his planes and factory. Now almost all of Euler's planes were based on that French plane.
August Euler was the first man who got the first German fly license. He received his license one day after the German government passed the law that allowed flying an airplane. It was a license only for planes. On the 10th of June 1912 August Euler started to get support: He flew the first post fly between Frankfurt and Darmstadt!!!
- Production during The First World War
Note: We will now trace his work during and shortly after WWI. As with other technical inventions and improvements of people and companies, much of his work was used for and with the military. We do not want to give the impression that we are in favour of such developments!
During the First World War which lasted from the year 1914 to 1918 August Euler built up a second factory and airport near to Frankfurt, in the small town of Niederrad. There he repaired planes which got damaged on the battlefields of WW1. In his two factories August Euler built and invented new planes for the Prussian royal family and the German military . These planes where used to help the artillery to better aim their missiles and to fly some reconaissance missions. That means they flew over the enemy lines and looked what the enemy’s were doing. That helped the German military to react to attacks of the enemies. The best plane that was constructed by August Euler was the Euler C.1. This is an armed reconaissance plane, which was the first plane with a machinegun that was used by the pilot. This was a big improvement to older planes. They used to need a second man in the back with a machinegun in his hand. This guy has not had the best hit rate because is gun was tough to aim and his space was limited.
The Euler C.1 was also used as an Air-Ground support. That means the planes attacked some enemies on the ground to help their own troops. That was a huge improvement for the military warfare and also helped the planes to accomplish themselves as a war instrument all over the world. During their missions in the Euler C1 pilots were also used as bombers. They threw hand grenades out of the open pilot cancel. This was not very effective but it showed that there are different possibilities how to construct a military plane. This helped to invent a big arsenal of military airplanes, which are used today.
August Euler also constructed or improved parts of that plane. One of those parts was a machinegun that was mounted behind the screw. To protect the screw August Euler constructed a system that interrupted the machinegun fire when one of the fans of the screw was in front of the machinegun. This system allowed the pilot to shoot and fly in the same direction. It increased the hit rate of the airplanes; it provided a smooth way for the modern fighter airplanes. August Euler constructed a fan that was cut in a special way to increase the power of the fan by the same speed than any other fan before that.
- 1. Work After the First World War Until his Death
Aafter the First World War August Euler decided not to build any other airplanes, instead he was active in political matters in the Weimar Republic. He was the Secretary of State and the leader of the new Federal Office of Aviation of the Weimar Republic. There he started to pass out the first allowance for some companies to use the planes for transportation of persons or cargos in Germany .He also declared the first “German Laws of Aviation”. 1922 he retired and died on the first of July in the year 1957. His grave is located at the Master graveyard of Frankfurt.
In the year 1952 August Euler got decorated with the “Bundesverdienstkreuz”, a medal for persons who had a huge influence (in a good way) for the German society or history.
The German army has called a plane August Euler to honour him.
In Griesheim - close to Darmstadt) you can still find the airport that was founded by August Euler, it is called after him. There is a museum of August Euler that shows some of his planes and informs about the life and the work of August Euler.
The Technical University of Darmstadt awards an August-Euler-Aviation-Award to persons who make some big inventions in the civil or military aviation.
The pioneer of German aviation go back to the Top
