Blume-Hentzen Modell E V

Rare photo of the only Blume-Hentzen Modell E V Habicht [goshhawk] ever completed, at Berlin-Adlershof in 1924. The E V was a single-seat, parasol-wing light plane with fixed landing gear, powered by a Siemes & Halske Superior engine. The aircraft's span measured 12 m, its length amounted to 5.19 m, it's empty weight was 227 kg, and its top speed reached 105 km/h. The E V was built using a number of salvageable components (such as engine and wing) of its vaguely similar predecessor, Modell E II, the sole example of which had crashed during a test flight in 1923. The Modell E V first flew on 6 May 1924.

Blume-Hentzen consisted of Fritz Heinrich Hentzen (1897-1978), a well-known, pioneering glider pilot, and Walter Blume (1896-1964), a former fighter pilot who had been awarded the Pour le Mérite during the First World War. Blume and Hentzen established themselves at Berlin-Adlershof in 1923/24, with the intention to construct light aircraft.

Prominently displaying the entry number "55", the Habicht was flown by Blume during the 1924 light plane competition in the Rhön mountains in Germany. After successfully completing the contest flight to Kissingen, however, Blume had to execute an emergency landing due to engine failure during his return flight. This mishap also was to signify the end of the Blume-Hentzen aircraft construction collaboration. Hentzen would subsequently work for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW) and later became a Betriebsdirektor [manager] at Messerschmitt, while Blume pursued aircraft design at Albatros and later at Arado.

The Habicht eventually was integrated into the inventory of the Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung [German Aviation Collection] in Berlin. (German Aviation 1919-1945 collection)

Dornier Do X

Volker A. Behr, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany, 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03329-0. Illustrated, hardcover, published in German.

Cover image © by Motorbuch Verlag, 2011.

It's apparent both in content and design that the completion of this book was a labour of love. The author, Volker A. Behr, has spent decades compiling an extensive archive on the Do X, and his clearly very personal approach to the type is evident in the book's distinctive atmosphere. Moreover, Dornier Do X is not only an extensive technical and historical documentation but also a collection of related memorabilia. The result is exquisitely nice and very informative.

Dornier Do X opens with a description of Claude Dornier's visionary ideas at a time when civil aviation was still in its infancy. Concurrently, Behr sheds light on the economic and financial realities which provided the contemporary background to Dornier's projects. The text is accompanied by facsimile documents, photos, colour drawings, and the first of many useful tables, this one listing the costs for the construction and operation of the Do X.

Somewhat oddly, the chapter detailing the aircraft's first flight and trials precedes the substantial and very intriguing section on the Do X's technical background. Extensive text and numerous images depict the minutiae of the pioneering design and construction of the flying boat at Dornier's Altenrhein facility on the Swiss side of Lake Constance. This includes not only the famous first Do X (D-1929) but also the subsequent and lesser known Do X 2 and Do X 3. Included is a description of the challenges faced when selecting the aircraft's powerplants. Once again, scans of period documents complete the content.

A further section investigates the Do X's paint scheme, followed by a meticulous study of the flying boat's interior. The inclusion of colour images substantially enhances the appeal of this section, which even includes an in-depth look at the custom-designed porcelain tableware carried in the passenger cabin.

The second half of the book sees Behr chronicling the flight operations and promotional travel campaigns of the Do X, comprising radio broadcasts from the aircraft, Deutschlandflug and Swiss visit, European flight, Atlantic crossing, and much more. Portraits of significant individuals involved with the history of the Do X follow. Dornier Do X concludes with a look at the two Italian Do X flying boats, the Do X 1a's ill-fated landing on the Danube, and the display and subsequent destruction during the war of the Do X 1a at the Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung [German Aviation Collection] in Berlin. The final three pages provide a list of primary and secondary sources.

Volker A. Behr's Dornier Do X is an example of how a monograph should be made. It is an extremely comprehensive and engaging book, the illustrations are plentiful and diverse, and its layout is immaculate and utterly attractive.

Phoenix aus der Asche - Die Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung In Berlin

Michael Hundertmark & Holger Steinle, Silberstreif Verlag GmbH, Berlin, Germany, 1985, ISBN 3-924091-02-1. Illustrated, hardcover, published in German.

Cover image © by Silberstreif Verlag GmbH, 1985.

The Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung [German Aviation Collection] in Berlin has attained a near-mythical status within the field of German aviation history, not least due to the fact that this exceptionally unique and utterly irreplaceable collection of aircraft and aviation artifacts was scattered and/or destroyed during ravages of World War II. Only fragments of the formerly vast collection remain today, most of them stored in Poland. An equally important contributor to the myth is that not only the hardware has largely vanished but that relatively little information about the Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung has been published post-war.

While significant efforts have been made in Berlin in recent decades to at long last establish something akin to a successor collection (i.e., the outstanding permanent aviation exhibit of the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin-Kreuzberg) to preserve and display Germany's aviation heritage, the loss of the original Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung has irretrievably deprived Germany of some of its most precious and significant exponents of the country's aviation history.

Phoenix aus der Asche [Phoenix Arisen From The Ashes] grants us an at least fleeting look at the abundance of remarkable exhibits once hosted by the Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung. Moreover, the book provides an exhaustive history of the institution itself as well as of the site in Berlin where the museum once stood. The authors, Michael Hundertmark (an aviation historian) and Holger Steinle (who would be crucially instrumental in establishing the new aviation exhibit of the Deutsches Technikmuseum) spent years researching the former Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung. The resulting book is thus still the definitive (if inevitably vastly incomplete) landmark study on this topic, even 25 years after its publication.

Phoenix aus der Asche begins with a look at the so-called Pulvermühle-site in Berlin's Tiergarten district in the 19th century. The detailed text, along with numerous photos and drawings, depicts the construction of the building that would much later become the main exhibition hall of the Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung. Hundertmark and Steinle subsequently describe the establishment of an official German aviation collection as well as the formal opening of the associated new museum on June 20, 1936. The gloomy end of the narrative depicts the destruction of the building and some of its exhibits during the war as well as the scattering of those exhibits that had already been removed from the museum in anticipation of the impending obliteration.

The second half of Phoenix aus der Asche is dedicated to a closer portrayal of some of the noteworthy German and foreign exhibits of the Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung, such as Ernst Udet's Curtiss Hawk, Horten Ho II, Levavasseur Antoinette, Heinkel He 5 e, an engine nacelle of the Zeppelin-Staaken R IV, the Messerschmitt Me 209 V1, and many more. The book concludes with an attempt to provide what was probably the most comprehensive - but openly tentative - list of the exhibits at the time of the publication of this book.

Since this book saw the light of the day in 1985, a small number of complementary articles on the Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung have been published, such as

- Auf der Spur der Veteranen (Die frühere Deutsche Luftfahrtsammlung Berlin - viele Fragen und noch wenige Antworten), by Marian Krzyzan & Holger Steinle, in Flugzeug 5/1988,

- Wie die Do X ins Museum kam, by Prof. Dr. Dr. Holger Steinle, in Jet & Prop 3/1997,

- Die untergegangene Luftfahrtsammlung (Teil 1), by Heiko Müller, in Klassiker der Luftfahrt 1/2007, and

- Juwelen in Berlin (Teil 2), by Heiko Müller, in Klassiker der Luftfahrt 2/2007.

Phoenix aus der Asche, however, easily remains the definitive work on this fascinating and long-perished German collection of aircraft, in spite of what must be a wealth of additional information that has since been uncovered.

[Article updated November 15, 2011.]