Jacob Ellehammer

Jacob Christian Hansen Ellehammer ( born June 14, 1871 in Bakkebolle, Denmark, † May 20, 1946 ) was a Danish aviation pioneer.

He dealt first with the construction of combustion engines and has developed an aircraft engine in 1896. Already at that time he was of the opinion that not balloons and airships, but aircraft were heavier than air a future. In 1905 he built a monoplane with engine and thus led by flight tests, however, the 9 -horsepower engine was too weak, then he constructed a 18 hp. Both engines were the first air-cooled radial engines of the world.

With his flying machine Ellehammer No. 1 and the above-mentioned 18 -horsepower engine he succeeded to the Danish island of Lindholm on 12 September 1906 flight with 42 m length and 0.75 m in height. He has not been recognized because it was not controlled by the FAI as the first flight of Alberto Santos -Dumont on 23 October 1906.

Ellehammer built in the years 1907 - 1916 the other flying machines. On February 13, 1908 his new flying machine flew about 300 m. In June 1908 he received a prize of 5,000 marks of Prince Henry of Prussia for a flight of 11 seconds' duration. In October 1908, the German aviation pioneer Hans Grade flew a Ellehammer IV

On September 28, 1912, he briefly raised off with a self-made helicopter.

After an airplane accident in 1916, he retired from the aerospace industry. Thereafter he devoted himself to engineering, for example, the motor and pump. From 1930 he was again interest in the aircraft, but did not develop a complete aircraft more.