Felix Kracht (born 13 May 1912 in

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

; died 3 October 2002 in

Weyhe Weyhe is a municipality in the district of Diepholz, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 15 km south of Bremen. History First mentioned in 860, when a sick girl from "Wege" travelled to the grave of Saint Willehad in Breme ...

) was a German engineer. After graduating from the Technical University of Aachen, he put his theoretical knowledge into practice at the aeronautical association

Flugwissenschaftliche Vereinigung Aachen Flugwissenschaftliche Vereinigung Aachen (abbreviation: FVA, ) is a non-profit organization, founded in 1920, which is closely associated to RWTH Aachen University (''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule – Aachen''), with members consi ...

(FVA) by building the performance glider FVA-10 "Rheinland". Kracht made a name for himself when in 1937 he crossed the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

in this aircraft. He was sent to

Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug The , or DFS , was formed in 1933 to centralise all gliding activity in Germany, under the directorship of Professor Walter Georgii. It was formed by the nationalisation of the Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft (RRG) at Darmstadt.Reitsch, H., 1955, ...

where he developed the DFS 228 glider and the experimental DFS 346 rocket-powered airplane. After the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he went on to work in France with

Nord Aviation Nord-Aviation () was a state-owned French aircraft manufacturer. The bulk of its facilities were based on the site of Bourges airport, in the département of Cher, in central France. On 1 October 1954, Nord Aviation was created as a result of ...

before moving back to Germany to head Deutsche Airbus GmbH. Before joining Airbus he was especially known for co-ordinating French and German work on the

Transall C-160 The Transall C-160 is a military transport aircraft, produced as a joint venture between France and Germany. "Transall" is a German abbreviation of the manufacturing consortium ''Transporter Allianz'', comprising the companies of Messerschmitt- ...

military transport aircraft. Felix Kracht joined the Airbus organisation in 1968 and was

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

' first production director on the A300 programme. He focused on harnessing a broad selection of skills, eliminating redundancies, promoting trans-national collaboration and optimising a unique industrial organisation. Later he became the Senior Vice President and was responsible for production at the Toulouse site until his retirement in 1981. After his retirement, he often acted as an advisor to Airbus. He died on Thursday 3 October 2002, at the age of 90 at Kirchweyhe near

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kracht, Felix 1912 births 2002 deaths German aviation pioneers German aerospace engineers German glider pilots Engineers from Krefeld Airbus people