The Airplanes of Claude Dornier

The Airplanes of Claude Dornier.

On May 14 1884 German airplane builder and entrepreneur Claudius Dornier was born. His legacy remains in the few aircraft named after him, including the Dornier Do 18 and the 12-engine Dornier Do X flying boat for decades the world's largest and most powerful airplane. Dornier studied engineering at the Technical University of Munich and began his career in Karlsruhe in 1907 Unfortunately, his father fell very ill and could not take care of his wine shop anymore. Dornier now had to finance his entire family and take care of his father's business. In 1910 he was hired by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and he attracted attention through his brilliance in engineering his innovative mind and economic success. He invented the rotatable zeppelin hangar and made significant contributions to the construction process of zeppelins With the significant advancements of French engineers building aircraft heavier than air, Dornier's interest in the topic increased as well. Count Ferdinand Zeppelin decided to go in two different directions. On the one hand he wanted to build very large aircraft and on the other hand he told Dornier to construct a flying boat. Along with his team of engineers Dornier moved into a newly built hangar outside Friedrichshafen where they built the flying boats Rs I - IV. In 1917 the engineer managed to transform his department into an independent company of the Zeppelin group. After the war Dornier began building a six-passenger aircraft as well and performed the very successful maiden-flights in June, 1919 Dornier's problems came up, when the general construction of military aircraft was prohibited in Germany Fortunately, three of Dornier's passenger aircraft remained and were built, but in 1920 any aircraft construction was banned. Dornier got creative and rented a small shed in Rohrschach, Switzerland where he continued making more aircraft parts. Working from home with his team, they managed to improve his Gs I plane model, which was the foundation for the famous Do X flying boat that was developed in the later 1920s. However, with the starting economic crisis in fall 1929 the aircraft industry decreased dramatically. The economy of the aircraft industry started with the nomination of Hermann Göring as the German aeronautics commissioner. When Hitler came into power, the German Air Force was immediately expanded and Dornier had just finished the development of the Do F, an airplane that was described as a cargo plane but was really a bomber. After several changes, the bomber Do 13 was produced starting in 1933 &the following years, Dornier also made profit from international deals with the Do 24, another flying-boat for maritime patrol search and rescue. But next to military projects, the engineer also devoted much of his life time to improving his flying-boat models in order to cross the Atlantic Ocean and designed the Do 214. However, Germany got ready for war and projects like these were no longer allowed. The parts of the plane that were already built had to be destroyed and the development was completely put on ice. Dornier was now appointed to build only the military planes that were ordered by the government. The engineer faced difficult times after the war as well. Even though he was not seen as a threat by the Allied Forces his company's hangars and offices were destroyed or confiscated. In Switzerland and Spain he began to rebuild his business until he managed to return to Germany in the 1950s. At yovisto, you may be interested in a video documentation on the Do X, at the time the largest aircraft. It took off for its first Atlantic crossing on 5 November, 1930.

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