Kurt Tank and his planes

Kurt Tank - German aircraft designer and test pilot, who stood at the origins of aircraft construction. He developed a number of world-known aircraft, such as the Condor and Marut.

Kurt Tank: Biography

Born Kurt Waldemar Tank on February 24, 1898 in East Prussia (the city of Bromberg-Schwedenhohe). When the First World War began, he voluntarily went to war. Soon he was already in the rank of lieutenant and commanded a company that fought on the Western Front, where he was wounded. Tank ended the war in the rank of captain and had several awards for bravery.

From 1918 to 1922 he studied at the Higher Technical School of Berlin, which he graduated with success, acquiring the specialty of an electrical engineer. However, in his student years, he was already very keen on creating gliders, so he constantly went to Professor Everling's lectures on aerodynamics. In addition, Kurt Tank also on his own initiative attended classes in aircraft construction. They were led at that time by Professor Reisner.

The first glider Tank was unsuccessful. Soon he designed a new pattern and called it "The Devil". He was so carried away by his work, disappearing all day in the workshops, which he realized too late: he did not have time to prepare all the drawings for the defense of his thesis work. Then the young man decides on a desperate step: he puts on his desk in front of the professors Hoff and Percival their working drawings of the "Devil" and, to his surprise, gets a good evaluation.

First experience

After graduating from university, Kurt Tank works in one of the small aircraft building companies. In 1924, he received his degree of engineer and immediately went to the Rohrbach plant, Metallflugzeugbau, located in Berlin. Before entering the enterprise, he receives a pilot's certificate. However, he had absolutely no experience, since in the flight school he passed only the initial training program, flying several times on the simplest biplane.

At the Rohrbach plant, he takes part in the development of not only flying boats, but also one of the first passenger airplanes "Roland". But first these were only theoretical studies on the controllability and reliability of aircraft. As soon as he had the slightest opportunity, he got into the car and honed his ability to steer the seaplane.

During tests of the boat Ro-III it turned out that when landing it strikes too hard on the water, and this creates additional inconvenience to the pilots. Tank proposed to equip the boat with a special damping keel, and the idea was accepted. Perhaps, this first independent work, which showed that Kurt Tank as an aircraft designer can take place.

Confession

Since the time he began work on improving the seaplane, the main concern was the problem of its strength. Making flights to Ro-III, he comparatively quickly gained recognition as a test pilot. Becoming much more experienced, he in 1936 will receive the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences and the rank of Flugkapitan, and also received several awards. However, Kurt Tank, whose years of life were entirely devoted to the aircraft, really treasured only by the fact that he was a test pilot.

I must say that the Ro-III is well-known because it has set many records. The aircraft designer flew on it bravely and a lot. In addition, he also carried out research related to the installation of pushing screws and the height of the location of the motors. The famous at that time pilot Erns Udet on the plane Tank was going to set another record - to cross from the west to the east the entire Atlantic Ocean. However, it never happened: for technical reasons the car had to be planted directly on the open sea.

Cooperation

For a while he worked with another well-known German aircraft designer Willie Messerschmitt. As a test pilot, Tank could not agree with his ideas aimed at maximum ease of the machine for the sake of increasing its speed. As is known, Messerschmitt believed that the strength of aircraft is not as important as the professionalism of the pilot himself.

However, Kurt Tank did not share such views of his colleague and was confident that with increasing speeds, the standards of strength and safety of aircraft should only increase. Therefore, a thirty-year aircraft designer leaves the Messerschmitt plant, while the relationship of two talented engineers and in the future remained warm and friendly.

Work at Focke-Wulf

In 1927, the tank moved to the firm Albatros Flugzeugwerke. Four years later, she will be absorbed by another company, Focke-Wulf, based in Bremen. Here, since November 1931, he holds the post of chief designer and at the same time directs the flight test department.

Kurt Tank and his aircraft Fw-58 Weihe, Fw-56 Stosser and Fw-200 Condor ("Condor") deserve a truly international recognition. The first of them was ready by the end of 1933, and the aircraft designer himself became the technical director of this largest company.

Development of a new aircraft

In 1936, work began on a new Fw-200 "Condor". At first this aircraft was positioned as an air transatlantic liner, therefore, in the summer of 1937, he carried out his first flight in this capacity. However, during the war, Kurt Tank decided to use him as a long-range scout to search for enemy convoys in the waters of the North Atlantic. After their discovery, the plane independently attacked the transports or sent a whole army of German submarines to them.

According to some reports, in total since September 1939, 259 Fw-200 "Condor" were produced, which were used by the Luftwaffe. Some of these machines were used even as transport aircraft for flights of top leaders of the country. However, most of them, seven variants, were either bombers or distant scouts. Various modifications of the Condor differed from each other in the design of missile containers or bomb holders, the presence of a radar or homing system, and most importantly - weapons.

Development of the Fw-190 aircraft

This man's talent manifested itself during the design of the new fighter Fw-187, which first flew into the air in 1937. And next year the tactical reconnaissance aircraft Fw-189 was also ready. Work on the new Fw-190 machine started with the fact that Fokke-Wulf undertook the creation of a new fighter on the instructions of the German Reichsministerism of Aviation. With the onset of the fall of 1937, the design team led by Tank himself began to prepare two projects at once, differing only in the power plant.

The first aircraft was equipped with a 12-cylinder Daimler-Benz DB 601 engine, made in the form of an inverted V, with liquid cooling. The second machine was equipped with a star-shaped air-cooled engine BMW-139. At the same time, the aircraft designer was able to convince the customer that the in-line engine often used in German aircraft this time will be ineffective.

At departure the first experimental car showed a speed of 595 km / h. On it test pilot Kurt Tank made several trial flights. However, the testing of these high-speed planes became more and more difficult each time, so the aircraft designer had to abandon all subsequent flights. The Fw-190B-9 was already developing a speed of 730 km / h, as it was equipped with a water-methane accelerator, which allowed it to become the fastest fighter, having overtaken all the planes of the allies.

Activities during the war

In the autumn of 1942, information appeared that the American army intended to assemble on the territory of Italy and Britain a large aviation force consisting of a large number of bombers that were to fight against Hitler's Germany. The question of the urgent need for a high-altitude fighter aircraft was raised. Messerschmitt and Tank were asked to think about this idea. In record time, by the end of the same year, a new Ta-152 fighter appeared.

For this work and for all his previous achievements, Tank received the title of professor at the Technical University of Braunschweig. In addition, Herman Goering himself signed a special order that all types of newly created aircraft, developed under the personal guidance of this talented aircraft designer, will henceforth be designated as "Ta" - in the first two letters of his surname.

Even when it was already clear to everyone that the Third Reich lost the war, Tank worked tirelessly. He became the first developer of a disk-shaped helicopter, which never had time to experience. This machine was supposed to fly like an ordinary plane and at the same time move in any direction and, if necessary, hang in the air.

After the war

Only a few days remained until the collapse of the Third Reich. Tank was well aware that the German aviation industry no longer exists. Soon Berlin was captured by allied forces and divided into sectors. Military criminals began to be caught all over Germany, and subsequently they suffered a well-deserved punishment. Among them were such big figures as Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, the leader of the Nazi party Rudolf Hess, the head of the largest concern Friedrich Krupp Gustav Krupp, the Reich Minister of the military industry Albert Speer and the tank general SS Mayer. Kurt Tank was not implicated in any of the crimes, so he was not arrested.

Despite the fact that former Germany did not exist, life continued and it was necessary to look for work somewhere not only for oneself, but for its employees. The closest employers at that time were the winners. The fact is that all the Focke-Wulf factories, fleeing from American and English bombing, moved from east to east to Posen, Marienburg and Cottbus for a long time. So they ended up in a territory controlled by Soviet troops.

A large number of employees with families were left without work and no means of subsistence. But here rumors spread that the Russians want to create some kind of bureau from German scientists, designers and production workers in order to build new models of aircraft, relying on their unique experience. So Tank got into negotiations with Soviet representatives, which, incidentally, did not lead to anything. He tried to establish contacts with the British and even with the Chinese ruler Chai Kanshi. However, his invitation from Argentina saved him. As you know, this country at one time worked closely with the Nazis, providing them with their bases for submarines.

Work in Argentina

Kurt Tank and his family moved to a new place of residence. Here he is engaged in his favorite work and designs a new fighter for the Argentine Air Force with a turbojet engine. The basis was taken by the development of engineer Hans Multholp. It was a project of the fighter Ta-183, in which a number of changes were introduced. The first tests of the new FMA Pulqui II took place in late June 1950. It was piloted by Captain E. Weiss. His reviews of the car were pretty critical.

In total, six such aircraft were built, after which, four years later, the project was closed. In 1955, President Perron, who invited Tank to work, was deprived of his authority by a coup d'état. The aircraft factory in Cordoba is closed. Kurt Tank and his planes are no longer needed here. German engineers and aircraft designers had no choice but to leave Argentina. The tank comes to Germany and tries to continue the work begun, but without success.

Development of the aircraft for the Indian Air Force

In 1955, the aircraft designer is again forced to leave his homeland. He moved to India. In one of the airlines in Bangalore, he, together with a group of specialists, is engaged in a project to create a multipurpose fighter, which was named HF-24 Marut. However, the first takeoff of this aircraft was unsuccessful - he crashed. Despite this, the work continued.

In November 1967, there were already industrial copies of this machine. The Marut fighter was the first military aircraft designed and built in India. Four years later he took part in military operations on the border with Pakistan.

Return

In 1970 the aircraft designer came to his homeland. For several years he was a consultant to the Berlin firm Messerschmitt-Belkov-Blom.

Kurt Tank (photo can be seen in the article) died in Munich in early June 1983. His whole life was a reflection of the era that thousands of German intellectuals lived through. By the will of fate it happened that all of them were forced to work for the benefit of their own, albeit Nazi, government aimed at winning peace. But, despite this, he nevertheless managed to make a truly invaluable contribution to the history of aircraft construction.