Alfred Comte (4 June 1895 – 1 November 1965) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

pioneer. He was active as a pilot, photographer, instructor, also as one of the first aviation

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

s and was successful in the construction of civilian and military aircraft.

Early life and education

Comte was born 4 June 1895 in Delémont, Switzerland, to Paul Comte, a district manager for the

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

, and Elisa Comte (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Bourquard). His paternal family originally hailed from

Courtételle Courtételle is a municipality in the district of Delémont in the canton of Jura in Switzerland. History Courtételle is first mentioned in 1178 as ''Curtetele''. Geography Courtételle has an area of . Of this area, or 55.6% is used for a ...

Life

At the age of 15, Alfred Comte built a motorized bicycle. Comte obtained his private pilot's license in 1913 from the '' Aéro-Club of France''. At the start of World War I, he served as a pilot in the Swiss military, then as an instruction officer for military aviation. In 1916, he carried out night flights from

Delémont Delémont (; ; , ) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura. The city has approximately 12,000 inhabitants . History The area of the municipality was already settled in the middle Bronze Age. Fifteen urn burials have been discovered in the ...

to prevent airspace violations; Porrentruy had been bombed by aircraft of unknown origin. Germany and France consented to a Swiss proposal to mount light-beacons along the Swiss-German-France borders to prevent further mistakes. On 5 November 1919, he co-founded an airline providing aerial photography and passenger flights, '' Comte, Mittelholzer, and Co.'' In 1920, this company merged with the financially stronger

Ad Astra Aero (Latin for "to the stars air") was a Swiss airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnersh ...

. Alfred Comte was a frequent participant in exhibition events for acrobatic flying and pioneered the route from Zürich to London. In December 1920, he established a school of aviation of his own using

flying boats A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull (watercraft), hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for b ...

; six Austrian ''Lohner TL-1917/R'' aircraft (CH-61 to CH-65) from a base in

Oberrieden Oberrieden is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Horgen (district), Horgen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zurich in Switzerland. It is one of the towns along the south shore of Lake Zurich ...

on the shores of

Lake Zürich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

. During World War II, Comte returned to military aviation duties and was promoted to captain. From 1946 to 1950, he once again managed a school of aviation in the

Limmat Valley The Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal'') is a river valley and a region in the Canton (Switzerland), cantons of Canton of Zürich, Zürich and Canton of Aargau, Aargau in Switzerland. Geography The Limmat () is a long river located in ...

, and was also involved in establishing the private airfield Wangen-Lachen on the southern shore of lake Obersee. He finally retired from flying and died in 1965 in Zürich.

Alfred Comte Schweizerische Flugzeugfabrik

Between 1923 and 1935, Alfred Comte concentrated on airplane design and construction in his own company, ''Alfred Comte Schweizerische Flugzeugfabrik''. In all, around 40 aircraft were built, with an additional eight

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII is a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the '' Fokker-Flugzeugwerke''. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII ...

under license for the

Swiss Air Force The Swiss Air Force (; ; ; ) is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914, three days after the outbreak of World War I, as a part of the Swiss Army, army and in October 1936 as an independent service. In peaceti ...

. The company had a good reputation, but financially it was not successful, and a fire destroyed some of Comte's designs. The Great Depression hit the small business hard; it could not be saved even by switching to the production of tubular steel furniture, and in 1935 filed for bankruptcy. From 1923 to 1935, Alfred Comte designed and built several aircraft: ; Wild 43:(1923–26), training purpose, 6 built and exported to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

;

Wild X Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildlife, an undomesticated organism * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild ...

:(1927/28), fighting and observing purpose, 8 built and exported to Colombia ; AC-1:(1926), fighter, 1 built,

preferred in an evaluation to buy

Dewoitine D.27 The Dewoitine D.27 was a Parasol wing, parasol monoplane fighter aircraft designed by Émile Dewoitine in 1928. Design and development After the end of World War I, the slump in demand for aircraft forced Dewoitine to close his company and move ...

;

AC-2 Yellow / AC-2 (Atlantic Crossing 2) is a submarine telecommunications cable system linking the United States and the United Kingdom. The cable is wholly owned by Lumen (formerly Level 3 Communications) in the US following its acquisition of Gl ...

: 2-seat sport biplane with a 60 hp engine, not built Aeroplane Monthly, 8/2013 ; AC-3:(1929/30), transport and bombing purpose, 1 built ; AC-4 ''Gentleman'':(1928–30), two-seat sport/training aircraft, 11 built, used by

and others ; AC-5: 6-seater with a 200 hp Wright engine, not built ; AC-6: 2-seat biplane with a 200 hp

Wright Whirlwind The Wright Whirlwind was a family of air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical (originally an independent company, later a division of Curtiss-Wright). The family began with nine-cylinder engines, and later expanded to in ...

engine for training or a 400 hp Gnome-Rhone Jupiter for military use, not built ; AC-7: 2-seat high-wing trainer with a 500 hp Gnome-Rhone Jupiter engine, not built ; AC-8:(1929/30), passenger aircraft, 3 built, probably one (or AC-4) used by

; AC-9: tri-motor airliner, not built ; AC-10: development of the AC-1 with a 480 hp Gnome-Rhone Jupiter engine, not built ; AC-11-V:(1931), liaison and survey aircraft, 1 built, rejected by Swiss Air Force ; AC-12 ''Moskito'':(1931/35?), airliner, 8 built

Personal life

Comte was married to Erika Zeller, a language instructor, with whom he had three children; * Ellen Comte, married to Eric Boxall, with issue * Lottie Comte, married to Nuri Yüksel, with issue * Alfred Heinrich Comte (1926-2022), married to Sylvia Maria Boetschi (1928-2015), one son

Michel Comte Michel Alfred Comte (born 19 February 1954) is a Swiss artist, filmmaker, fashion and portrait photographer. His most recent art projectLight, focuses on the impact of environmental decline through his large-scale installations, paintings, sculpt ...

(born 1954), who became a prominent photographer. He died 1 November 1965 in

Zürich, Switzerland Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

aged 70. He was buried in

Witikon Witikon is a quarter in the district 7 in Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Z ...

Literature

* Roland Eichenberger: ''Die Flugzeuge von Alfred Comte'', Liebefeld 1968. * Roland Eichenberger. ''Alfred Comte (1895–1965)'', in: ''Schweizer Pioniere der Wirtschaft und Technik'', Vol. 46. Glarus Verlag, Zürich 1987.

References

External links

* * Walter Dürig: ''Zur Geschichte der schweizerischen Eigenentwicklung von Flugzeugen''
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