Hermann Lattemann

Hermann Lattemann ( born September 14, 1852 in Gebhardshagen ( now part of Salzgitter), † June 17, 1894 in Krefeld ) was a German professional aeronaut and parachutists.

Life and work

Hermann Lattemann - his full name was Carl Christoph Hermann Lattemann - was born on September 14, 1852 in Gebhardshagen the son of Kothsassen and Drechsler Master Conrad Heinrich Christoph Lattemann. Early on, he was enthusiastic about the balloon flying, so he trained to become aeronaut and then stepped on as a balloon pilot.

In parallel, he worked at the construction of a parachute. When its construction was mature, Lattemann dared one of the first to jump with the help of the parachute from the basket of a balloon into the depths. His first public performance took place in 1886 in Charlottenburg ( Berlin). At that time, such events with balloon ascents a lucrative business, and bar man had with his daredevil crashes from the balloon great success.

Lattemann developed on the parachute and brought out a collapsible umbrella weight, which he called tourist parachute. He also constructed a parachute balloon. For this purpose, the balloon was wrapped with a metal tire having divided it in half. When flowing the gas, the lower half of the envelope around the tire should turn inwards and create close to the upper half. Thus, the balloon turned into a parachute, at its lower edge hung the tire attached to the metal basket.

On June 17, 1894 Lattemann dared his third jump attempt with the new parachute balloon. At the event in Krefeld, the disaster took place, the balloon is not folded up as planned and acted as a parachute. Lattemann crashed and was fatally injured. Three days later he was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Krefeld.

His partner Käthe Paulus had Lattemann met in 1889. On March 7, 1891, their son Willy Hermann Paul was born. First Kätha Paul Lattemann helped in the production and repair of balloons. Only since 1893 they also took part in the demonstrations of Lattemann. Also on the flight in Krefeld, at the bar man was killed, she had risen with him in the balloon, but was previously jumped with a parachute and remained so intact.