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JimAttrill

OT What did Richard Wagner do in 1927?

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Once someone has answered this rather good 'Trivial pursuits' question (good, because it is more-or-less unGooglable) I have a question to ask the aviation fundis out there, especially the Germans as Richard Wagner was German, of course.

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There was a pilot of that name, I saw in Wiki German.

The composer died 1883 in Venice.

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Richard Wagner (* 22. Juni 1893 in Kiel; † 28. März 1935 Fliegertod auf dem Sims-See/Bayern) war ein deutscher Pilot.

 

 

Er war Chefeinflieger bei der Dornier Metallbauten GmbH.

 

 

 

 

Leben

Richard Wagner kam am 7. August 1914 mit Beginn des ErstenWeltkriegs nach einer vierjährigen Lehre im Maschinen- und

Explosionsmotorenbau als Freiwilliger zur 1. Seefliegerabteilung in <a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel-Holtenau" title="Kiel-Holtenau">Kiel-Holtenau. Dort wurde er Fluglehrer und war während

der Kriegsjahre 1917 und 1918 am Ägäischen Meer stationiert. Ab 1923 wurde Wagner als Einflieger der Dornier Metallbauten GmbH

am Standort Marina di Pisa/Italien beschäftigt und wechselte 1925 zum Dornier Stammwerk nach Friedrichshafen.

 

In den Jahren 1924 bis 1928 stellte Richard Wagner auf den Flugbooten der Baureihe Dornier-Waleinige fliegerische Weltrekorde auf,

die die Fachwelt auf ihnaufmerksam machten, unter anderem flog er die 1700 Kilometer langeStrecke von Marina di Pisa nach Melilla

ohne Zwischenlandung in zehn Stunden und brach damit den damals bestehenden Entfernungsrekord für Wasserflugzeuge.

 

Bei einer Notlandung eines Wal-Flugbootes auf dem Simssee bei Rosenheimverunglückt Richard Wagner aufgrund der von Seefliegern

so gefürchtetenGlattwassersituation am 28. März 1935 tödlich, weil er sich beimLandeanflug in der Höhe verschätzt hatte.

 

 

 

 

Sorry, WIKI in English didn't have him. Short: he flew for DORNIER ; from 1924 to 1928 he flew some records on the DORNIER "Wal"

seaplane. He died in an emergency landing on the Sims lake, through a "waveless water situation", which is feared by pilots, as you

can hardly estimate your distance to the water.

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I never knew when he died, thanks for that.

 

 

But he was the pilot of the Dornier DO-X which was the biggest aeroplane to fly for quite a few years.

 

 

The question I want to ask of you all is whether the DO-X with 12 engines still holds the record for the most engines in one aircraft? I can't think of any other which gets to more than 8 - the B52 for example.

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I never knew when he died, thanks for that.

 

 

But he was the pilot of the Dornier DO-X which was the biggest aeroplane to fly for quite a few years.

 

 

The question I want to ask of you all is whether the DO-X with 12 engines still holds the record for the most engines in one aircraft? I can't think of any other which gets to more than 8 - the B52 for example.

 

Spruce Goose only had 8...and that thing was/is massive.

Ekranoplan likewise...8 and BIG

Saunders-Roe Princess has 10 engines

Hindenberg...even bigger, yet only 4 engines

Personally, I see no need for that many engines. The more moving parts, the more that can go wrong, higher maintenance costs etc.

Edited by Check Six

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Well, engines in 1929 didn't have a lot of poke, so to get a gigantic thing like the DO-X off the water it needed a lot of engines. Also the engineer could get to the engines in flight to do maintenance of a sort. It originally had Siemens-built Bristol Jupiter radials of 524hp and was politically re-engined with Curtiss Conqueror 610hp water-cooled engines before its trip to the US. The water cooled engines being heavier, what with radiators and coolant, it didn't make much difference to the performance or lack of it.

 

The DO-X flew across to Brazil, up the coast of the US to New York and back across the Atlantic, all at about 30 feet off the water in order to use the ground effect, or water effect in this case. I don't fancy the pilot's job flying that thing for hours at such a height. It was unfortunately destroyed in Berlin in WWII, along with most of the rest of Berlin.

 

Sorry I got the date wrong, it first flew on 12th July 1929.

 

But it does seem to have had more engines than any other aircraft ever built.

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Interesting find, cause linked to the Seeflieger Norderney thread:

 

The Do X has visited the island Norderney.

 

 

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The question I want to ask of you all is whether the DO-X with 12 engines still holds the record for the most engines in one aircraft?

I was going to vote for the Caproni Ca.60, but it turned out to only have eight. [No wonder it couldn't lift off the water (LOL) ]

 

I'll try to attach a slide show with some of the finest DO-X pics I ever seen. [Nope. Won't take a Power Point format] E-mail me at kelley02790@charter.net and I'll get it to you.

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