VGC News/Newsletters - Lakes Gliding Club

This picture was sent by Fronds Humblet ftVI11 France of
what looks like a Darmstadf Margarete in Egypt. Call
allyone confirm tlWf?
GERMAN NEWS
During the beginning of March, th~ lOath anniversary of the
birth of Wolf Hirth was celebrated in the German Gliding
Museulll on the Wasserkuppe. Wolf Hirth's son Helmuth was
there but there were almost none of his prewar and wart,illle
employees present. Helmuth presented Theo Rack of the
German GI,iding Museum on the Wasserkuppe, with his
Father's Silver C, which was Silver C No.l. (He shares the
Silver C No.l with Robert Kronfeld, who completed the
requirements 3 years before the 'Silver C was in,vented in
1930.) (Helmuth was also the name of Wolf Hirth's, brother,
woo was Germany's most famous power pilot before WWI).
His brother Helmuth was also responsible for the firm which
built the very good Hirth aero engines, which powered the
Klemms 25 and 35 etc etc. Before all to admire was Klaus
Heyn's Musterle replica, which was even more beautiful than
the photographs were able to indicate in VGC News No 99.
There was also a display of photographs which were a celebration
of Wolf Hirlh's life.
News of the replica of the Reiher 3 which is being built by
the OSC Wasserkuppe is that, 011 the 22nd March, it was
having its wings proof loaded. During the next weekend, it
was to have been taken to the firm of Eichelsdorfer for painting.
From this, one realizes .thal all woodwork, including its
canopy, must be complete. An fabric must be on the ralher few
non plywood covered parts. We have been told that it will fly
this year and that its LBA C ofA (Zulassung) should be helped
as the LBA already knows Seff Kurz for his DFS Habicht
replica, which impressed them. I,t is not known whether ib w,ill
lake part in the 28th International VGC Rally at Tibenham
Roland Pohlmann writes that on April 7th this year, he
visited the Alte Flugwerft-HaHe at Oberschleissheim, Mllflich
and saw the Horten 4a, restored by Peter Hanickel and Chrislian
Biepenburg suspended next to the Mu 10 Milan, CASA 2­
II1 (He I11 ) and Douglas CA7 (DC-3). In tile workshop,
restorations of the Kranich 28-2 D-6171, as well as that ef the
RW3P Mulloplan D-EJYW are going on well. The Hutter
H. 17A, D-8129, is suspended in the new exhibitiol1 hall, after
having been rebllilt in the museum's workshops some years
ago. The VGC thanks Roland Poh'lmann for the news. C.Wills
adds that as the Weihe 0-0700 is riot mentioned as being on
exhibition, it adds credibil1ity to the possibility that it is the one
being advertised for sale ,ill the USA in the current "Bungee
Cord". So far as we know, 3 Kranich 2b-2 b-2 s are in
Museums and collections in Germany (Ftugwerft Oberschleissheim,
Wasserkuppe and the Fritz Ulmer Collection at
Goppingen Betzgenriet), but 3 more Kranich 2b-2 s may well
be airworthy in Germany by the time ~hal this is in print.
News of the Reiher 3 on the Wasserkuppe is that it should ,fly
this year!
Progess on Gunther BrOdersell's Hi.itter H.28-2 has been
more rapid as its fuselage is 'finished, and so are the parts,
including main spar. for the wings. There is Cl problem concerning
the assembly of the wings, as the rooms in his house
are too small even for the less than 6m. spans!
We have heard that a replica Minimoa is being built at
Landsberg
Concerning the Kranich 2 at Achmer, all tlie woodwork
was finished by March. It is expected that it will Ry sometime
during this year.
OUo-Ernst Hatje. Otto was bom on the J2th May 1925
and died, tJhrough cancer, on the 8th April 2000. He leamed to
fly gliders at the age of 14 in 1939 at Uetersen near Hamburg.
He found that he preferred working ,in the workshop 10 flying
the gliders, and so he became a young workshop foreman
(Werkstattleiter). At the age of 17 in 1942, he joined the Parachute
troops. Although an earlier report said that he had survived
the Battle of Crete, he was mainly in action on the
Italian Front and had helped to free Mussolini on the Gran
Sasso Mountain ffying in a DFS 230 9 seat troop carrying
glider. In the 1980s, he decided to build a replica DFS230
using small drawings from a book, as the plans could not be
found. He built its 20.87 m. span wooden wings by himself
but its welded stee:] tube fuselage was built by groups around
Frankfurt am Maine.The replica DFS 230 was first exhibited
in the Flugwerft at Oberschleissheim (Munich), where VGC
members saw it during the International VGC Rally there. It
has recently been transferred to the Luftwaffenmuseum at
Berlin-Gatow
OUo then took over the building of the replica of the 1921
Hannover Vampyr from the late Bjarne Reier, our sadly
missed Norwegian member.
The German Museum in Munich has the original Vampyr
but the German Gliding Museum on the Wasserkuppe also
wanted an example of this famous aircraft which led the way
forwards for glider development Such famous names as Professors
Madelung, Prall, and Blume were involved and the
pilots Martens, Hentzen and Ferdinand Schulz flew world
records with it and its successors in Germany and in other
countries such as the Crimea and North Italy. Otto could not
finish it because of his oncoming illness. He worked on it less
and less and finally retired to his home. It is a pity that all his
ability has gone. He was so skillful that he never did a job
twice. It was always right first time. The VGC sends all its
condolences to his wife and to all his friends. Such skillful
glider woodworkers are becoming fewer and fewer in
Germany.
Someone else will have to be found to finish his work. The
Vampyr is not easy to build. The wing is in a jig and still
requires its torsion D-box leading edge. It was the first glider
ever to have one of these. It will be hard to move the wing in
its present state.
Update on Hortons
During Chris Wills's visit to the n.T.M. (German Technical
Museum) in Berlin on 10th October 1999, he found that the
rest0ration of the Horten 6 v2 had not started, but was .to be
initiated very soon. It will be displayed when finished,
together with the Hortons 2, 3f and 3h, in the DTM before
being returned to America to be exhibited statically in the
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