Walter Mittelholzer

Walter Mittelholzerstrasse ( born April 2, 1894 in St. Gallen, † May 9, 1937 in Styria) was a Swiss aviation pioneer. He was a pilot, photographer, travel writer and one of the first aviation entrepreneurs.

Life and work

Walter Mittelholzerstrasse was the son of a family of bakers. After secondary school he did an apprenticeship as a photographer and then moved in Dübendorf in the recruit a. He was assigned to the 18 Mountain Brigade in the new Air Force.

His first flight took him in a Farman biplane from Dübendorf to Kloten. Means Holzer's mission is to photograph battery positions on Holberg at Kloten from 1000 m height was. A year later he became a corporal head of the photographic department. Several flights in the vicinity of Zurich gave rise to the desire for longer flights within him. A first flight over the Alps, which he undertook on behalf of his commanders failed due to an engine failure. A second attempt succeeded and Mittelholzerstrasse returned with successful recordings. This flight was followed by many more and so, an extensive collection of aerial photographs from almost all regions of Switzerland.

1917 acquired Mittelholzerstrasse civilian pilot's license and a year later he completed his formal training from a military pilot.

On November 5, 1919, he founded with his military colleagues Alfred Comte Mittelholzerstrasse and Co., Luftbildverlag Institute and passenger flights. 1920 joined this company with the financial muscle Ad Astra Aero. Mittelholzerstrasse became director and chief pilot of Ad Astra Aero, which later became the Swissair was formed.

On behalf of the Junkers works he flew from Berlin to the new lines to Gdansk and Riga. Planned Proviantierungsflüge of Spitsbergen from the North Pole expedition of Roald Amundsen had to be abandoned because of a breakdown of Amundsen's plane. Instead, first photo flight north of the 80th degree of latitude was performed. Due to technical problems with the aircraft but no other flights were performed. In the winter of 1924/25, Mittelholzerstrasse flew on behalf of the Persian government to Tehran, which it reached one month after its launch on Zurich horn.

1927 flew Mittelholzerstrasse first to South Africa: On 17 December 1926 he started, together with the Swiss geologist Arnold Heim, writer René Gouzy and the mechanic Hartmann, with his machine of the type Mercury the Dornier works in Zurich, flew over Alexandria and Lake Victoria and landed, 65 days later, on 21 February 1927 in Cape Town. He put in two and a half months with the plane set to float 20,000 air miles back. February 17 bis March 6, 1928 Mittelholzerstrasse orbited in a Junkers F 13 (CH 94) for the western Mediterranean, and made over 100 aerial images. The main flight stages were Zurich - Rome -Tunis - Algiers- Madrid -Marseille- Zurich. The flight times were of 47 hours and 20 minutes at a distance traveled total distance of 6370 kilometers.

On 8 January 1930 he flew the first Kilimanjaro. He made, among others, from about 6200 meters altitude aerial photographs of the crater of Kibo, which were published in magazines and excited a great stir.

In winter 1930/31 Walter Mittelholzerstrasse took another flight to Africa via Morocco and Algeria to Lake Chad. On the way back he met in the desert at Cape Juby, the German pilot Elly Beinhorn on their first Africa flight.

1931 Walter Mittelholzerstrasse technical director of the newly founded airline Swissair. In 1933 he flew to Addis Ababa to bring Emperor Haile Selassie ordered his Fokker machine itself. This was his last flight on long, unknown routes. However, Walter Mittelholzerstrasse has continued to make in Europe and in Switzerland aerial images. Its more than 100,000 photographs from around 9000 flights have today a great historical value: The images, including glass plates 13 x 18 cm are now in the Archives ETH library. The images and stories of his long international flights have both been published in books, which reached high volumes Walter Mittelholzerstrasse. Walter Mittelholzerstrasse died in 1937 by an avalanche on a mountain hike in Styria.

Publications

  • On the plane to the North Pole contrary. Junkers'sche relief expedition for Amundsen to Spitsbergen in 1923. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich, 1924.
  • Switzerland in the bird's eye view: 274 pictures from the collection of Walter Mittelholzerstrasse. Eugen Rentsch, Erlenbach - Zurich, 1926.
  • Persie flight. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich, 1926.
  • Africa flight. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich, 1927.
  • Alpenflug. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich, 1928.
  • Mediterranean air. With 120 air photographs by Walter Mittelholzerstrasse. Fast & Cie. A-G. , Zurich, 1930.
  • Kilimanjaro flight. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich, 1930.
  • Tschadseeflug - With the three -engined Fokker Swissair through the Sahara to Lake Chad. Swiss Aero Revue, Zurich, 1932.
  • Abessinienflug. With the three -engined Fokker to the court of Negus Negesti. With a foreword by President ( Marcel ) Pilet Golaz, Aero -Revue, Zurich, 1934.

Gallery

Alpenquai in Zurich, 1929

Causeway of Rapperswil, 1929

Fokker F.VIIb -3 m ( CH -192 ) Swissair, flown by Mittelholzerstrasse in Kassala (Sudan), February 1934

Suez Canal

Niamey (Niger ), 1930

Emperor Haile Selassie, February 1934

Farman Aviation Works Ethiopian Empire Seedamm Integrated Authority File
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