Enrico Forlanini

Enrico Forlanini ( born December 13, 1848 in Milan, † October 9, 1930 ) was an Italian engineer, inventor and aviation pioneer.

Life

His father Federico was chief physician of a Milan hospital. Enrico's older brother Carlo Forlanini (1847-1918) was also a physician and suggested to his work in the field of respiratory and lung diseases twice for the Nobel Prize. Enrico Forlanini graduated from the Military Academy in Turin and in 1868 pioneered officer. In 1870, he began in a barracks in Casale Monferrato with experiments on propellers. In 1874 he settled on leave from the army and enrolled in the Milan Polytechnic, where he studied engineering. In 1876 he had to return to the military, however, continued his experiments.

In 1877 he built an unmanned helicopter with steam propulsion. In the summer of that year he tested this aircraft in a public park in Milan. The model helicopter with his two coaxial counter-rotating rotors (see Kamov ) flew for about 20 seconds, reaching heights of up to 13 meters. There were other unmanned helicopters, including a model that had the steam nozzle on the rotors ends. Forlanini developed this particularly light steam engines.

After Forlanini had definitely abandoned his military career, he worked as an engineer at a company in Forli, whose owner he was in 1895 and its seat, he moved to Milan. Here he also built a wind tunnel for his experiments with flying machines.

From 1901 to 1909 Forlanini built his first airship (first flight July 2, 1909 ), which he named after Leonardo da Vinci. This was followed by the end of the First World War, five other airships for military purposes.

Shortly after the turn of the century Forlanini also dealt with the development of flying boats. The result was a first hydrofoil, as its inventor, he is.

Until his death in 1930 he remained active as a researcher and design engineer in the aerospace industry and in the mechanical industry. 1937, the Milan Linate airport was named after Enrico Forlanini.