Friedrich "Fritz" Wendel (21 February 1915 – 9 February 1975) was a German

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

during the 1930s and 1940s.

Achievements

On 26 April 1939 Fritz Wendel set the world air speed record of , flying the Messerschmitt Me 209 V1. He broke the record set on 30 March 1939 by Hans Dieterle flying the Heinkel He 100 V8. Wendel's record stood for 30 years, until broken by Darryl Greenamyer in 1969. Me 209 Krakau 2010-04-24 01

The relic fuselage of the Me 209 V1 still exists in the Polish Air Museum at

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. On 18 July 1942 in Leipheim near

Günzburg Günzburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Genzburg'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is a ''Große Kreisstadt'' and the capital of the Swabian Günzburg (district), district Günzburg. This district was constituted in 1972 by combining the city ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, Wendel test flew the "V3" third prototype of the

Messerschmitt Me 262 The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed (German for "Swallow") in fighter versions, or ("Storm Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, is a fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber that was designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messers ...

jet-powered combat aircraft design. This flight was significant as it was conducted with twin

Junkers Jumo 004 The Junkers Jumo 004 was the world's first production turbojet engine in operational use, and the first successful axial compressor turbojet engine. Some 8,000 units were manufactured by Junkers in Germany late in World War II, powering the Mess ...

jet engines for the first time. The earlier-built Me 262 V1 had flown first on 8 April 1941 with a nose-mounted

piston engine A reciprocating engine, more often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more Reciprocating motion, reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a Circular motion, rotating motion. This article ...

Emergencies

On 5 September 1940, ''Flugkapitän'' Wendel, while performing a series of diving trials on Me 210 V2, Werknummer 0002, ''WL-ABEO'', lost the starboard tailplane in the final dive and bailed out, the twin-engined fighter crashing in the Siebentíschwald, a section of municipal forest in

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, Germany. This was the first of many losses of the type.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, , , p. 611. On 25 March 1942, Wendel took the first prototype Me 262V1, ''PC+UA'', on its first jet-powered flight but the experimental

BMW 003 The BMW 003 (full RLM designation 109-003) is an early axial turbojet engine produced by BMW AG in Germany during World War II. The 003 and the Junkers Jumo 004 were the only German turbojet engines to reach production during World War II. W ...

gas turbojet engines it was fitted with both failed and he was forced to limp the prototype airframe back to

on the nose-mounted Jumo 210 inverted-V12 piston engine installed for initial airframe testing. Wendel worked for Messerschmitt until the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945.

Later life

After the war Wendel became director of a local brewery but continued flying sports planes until a circulatory ailment forced him out of the cockpit. A few days before his death he was released from hospital where he underwent treatment for the circulatory condition. Wendel was found dead at his home in

, Germany, on Sunday 9 February 1975 with a hunting rifle at his side. Police said that relatives found his body but could not rule immediately whether his death was suicide or an accident. He was 59. Wendel was survived by his wife and a 21-year-old son.United Press International, "Jet Fighter Pioneer Pilot Dies in Germany", ''Playground Daily News'', Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Monday 10 February 1975, Volume 29, Number 407, page 2A.

References

*Feist, Uwe. ''The Fighting Me 109''. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1993, .

External links

- Fritz Wendel and the Me-209-V-1(AKA Me-109R)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wendel, Fritz 1915 births 1975 deaths German aviation record holders German test pilots German World War II pilots Luftwaffe pilots Messerschmitt Me 262