Klemm Aircraft
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau GmbH ("Klemm Light Aircraft Company") was a German
aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...
noteworthy for sports and touring planes of the 1930s. The company was founded in
Böblingen Böblingen (; ) is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen (district), Böblingen District. Sindelfingen and Böblingen are Geographic contiguity, contiguous. History Böblingen was founded by Count Wilhelm von Tübingen-Bö ...
in 1926 by Dr. Hanns Klemm, who had previously worked for both
Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155â ...
and the Daimler Aircraft Company.


History

While working at Daimler, Klemm had developed his ideas for a light aircraft, to be made of wood for strength and lightness. It should be easy to manufacture, aerodynamically efficient with low mass and
wing loading In aerodynamics, wing loading is the total weight of an aircraft or flying animal divided by the area of its wing. The stalling speed, takeoff speed and landing speed of an aircraft are partly determined by its wing loading. The faster an airc ...
, for which a low-powered engine would be sufficient. Klemm's first design, the Daimler L.15, was a light aircraft with a single 7.5 hp (5.5 kW)
Indian motorcycle Indian Motorcycle (or ''Indian'') is an American brand of motorcycles owned and produced by automotive manufacturer Polaris Inc.
engine. This aircraft flew in early 1919, although a 12 hp (8.8 kW)
Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression along with i ...
engine was used instead of the originally-envisioned engine. Klemm then designed a squared-off version of the cylindrical
fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...
of the L.15, which could be more easily built, which he designated the L.20, and he founded his own company to produce it. This aircraft, of which more than 100 were built, was powered by a 20 hp (15 kW) Daimler engine designed by
Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 â€“ 30 January 1951) was a German automotive engineering, automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche, Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first Petrol engine, gasoline–Electric motor, el ...
. In 1928 Friedrich Karl von Koenig-Warthausen made a solo flight to
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
in a Klemm L.20, then decided to keep on going, circumnavigating the world and earning himself the
Hindenburg Cup The Hindenburg Cup () was a German aviation prize, founded in 1928 and awarded annually by President of Germany (1919–1945), President and Field Marshal (Germany), Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg to recognize achievements in powered flight. Fro ...
, the highest German honour for aeronautical achievement. From the L.20 was developed the Klemm L.25, later redesignated the Kl 25. Capable of being fitted with fourteen different engine types, over 600 were sold, and licenses to manufacture them were issued in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
and the United States. In January 1930 Mohamed Sidki flew from
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
to
Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
in a Klemm L25a. He landed in Cairo on 26 January, becoming a political hero by defying the British authorities who had denied him permission to land (he became known as ''The First Egyptian Eagle''). Sidki wrote a letter to Klemm, who had helped outfit the plane for the long journey, stating "your beautiful little machine, the L25a has carried me through wind, snow and torrential rain without any damage to myself, the plane and the engine." In 1931 Elly Beinhorn became the second woman to fly from Europe to Australia flying a Klemm Kl 26 equipped with an Argus engine, and winning the Hindenburg Cup. Klemm suffered a setback in 1935 when the prototype Kl 35 crashed during testing at Rechlin. This was explained as a material defect, but was more likely due to overstressing of the wings. Klemm revised and brought the Kl 35 up to the required specifications and manufacturing began. Around 2,000 of the aircraft were built, both at Klemm's plant, and by
Fieseler The Gerhard Fieseler Werke (GFW) in Kassel was a German aircraft manufacturer of the 1930s and 1940s. The company is remembered mostly for its military aircraft built for the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. History Gerhard Fieseler, the ...
, and later by the Czech company Moravan Otrokovice, for the
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
as a trainer. During
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 ...
Klemm produced and designed a range of aircraft, such as the Klemm Kl 105, Kl 106 and Kl 107, as well as the Klemm Kl 151 and Kl 152. The Klemm Aircraft Company was refounded in 1952 after the post-war ban on aircraft construction was lifted. Klemm himself by this time was semi-retired, and the company was run by his son Hanns-Jürgen Klemm. This company's first model, Kl 107-A, made its maiden flight in mid-1956. In April 1959,
Bölkow Bölkow was a West German aircraft manufacturer based in Stuttgart, Germany, and later Ottobrunn. History The company was founded in 1948 by Ludwig Bölkow, who since 1955 with Emil Weiland had developed helicopters for Bölkow Entwicklungen KG. ...
took over Klemm, and with the successor of the Kl 107-C named the Bölkow 207, the name of Klemm disappeared from the list of aircraft manufacturers.


Aircraft

Klemm aircraft included: * Klemm (Daimler) L.20, light leisure and training aircraft, 1924 * Klemm Kl 25, light leisure and training aircraft, 1928 * Klemm Kl 26, light leisure and training aircraft, 1929 * Klemm Kl 31, single-engine transport, 1931 * Klemm Kl 32, single-engine transport, 1931 * Klemm Kl 33, (Klemm L33), single-seat ultra-light sportplane (prototype), 1933 *
Klemm Kl 35 The Klemm Kl 35 is a German sporting and training aeroplane developed as a successor to the Kl 25. A product of Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau Gmbh it shared the same single-engine, cantilever low-wing configuration as the earlier machine, the major ...
, sportplane and trainer, 1935 * Klemm Kl 36, single-engine transport, 1934 *
Klemm Kl 105 __NOTOC__ The Klemm Kl 105 was a two-seat sport aircraft developed in Germany in 1938. It was a low-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional design with fixed, tailskid undercarriage, and side-by-side seating for two within an enclosed cockpit. ...
, touring plane, development of Kl 35 (prototypes) * Klemm Kl 106, sportsplane, development of Kl 35 (prototypes) *
Klemm Kl 107 The Klemm Kl 107 was a two-seat light aircraft developed in Germany in 1940. It was a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane of wooden construction with fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Wartime production totalled only five prototypes and some ...
, light leisure and training aircraft * Klemm Kl 151, touring plane (project), 1942 * Klemm Kl 152, fighter (project)


See also

*
List of RLM aircraft designations This is a list of aircraft type numbers allocated by an institution under the direction of '' Heereswaffenamt'' (before May 1933) and the Reich Air Ministry The Ministry of Aviation (, abbreviated RLM) was a government department during the p ...
*
Volksflugzeug The ''Volksflugzeug'' (People's Aircraft) was a grand Nazi Germany, Nazi-era scheme for the mass-production of a small and simple airplane in the 1930s. It was one of the attempts of the Nazi regime to use consumer technologies as a propaganda t ...


References


External links

* {{Klemm aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Germany