Körting airship MIII

Rod_Filan · 5 June 2002, 09:41 PM

On 20 Jun 1914 an a/c at an altitude of 400 m collided with Körting airship MIII. The 3600 m³ airship was stationed at k.u.k. Military Aeronautical Institute at Fischamend. MIII caught fire and crashed killing all 7 crewmembers. Additionally the two aviators on the a/c were killed. This disaster effectively ended Austria's development of airships.

I know it's a long-shot; but does anyone have further information on this accident? Location, a/c type, pilot's names?

VBR
Rod

leo · 6 June 2002, 04:08 AM

Hey Rod!

I can't find anything on Korting airships. Do you have any info concerning the type? Thanks.

Rod_Filan · 6 June 2002, 05:46 AM

Hello Leo !

Non-rigid type very similar to a Parseval airship. Only one Körting airship was ever built.

Körting is mostly known for aero motors but in this case he designed an airship! (with help of Austrian engineers Cassione and Stratmann and further help from Nikolaus Basenach). Built during 1910.
First flight : 01.01.1911
Length: 68m

VBR
Rod

leo · 6 June 2002, 02:26 PM

Thanks Rod:

Airships might have been of some value to the Austrians in the East, but I can't see much value on the South Front. The Navy could have used them in the Adriatic.

7 June 2002, 02:34 AM

Quote:

On 20 Jun 1914 an a/c at an altitude of 400 m collided with Körting airship MIII. The 3600 m³ airship was stationed at k.u.k. Military Aeronautical Institute at Fischamend. MIII caught fire and crashed killing all 7 crewmembers. Additionally the two aviators on the a/c were killed. This disaster effectively ended Austria's development of airships.

I know it's a long-shot; but does anyone have further information on this accident? Location, a/c type, pilot's names?

VBR
Rod

First to the M III: It was build by the Ballonfabrik Wimpassing (which was a subsidary of the Vereinigte Gummiwarenfabriken Harburg-Wien, a company whose successor, the Phoenix Rubber company, still exists today and by a strange turn of fate has a plant not far from where I live on Penang, Malaysia...) and the Austrian Koerting Werke. Rod has already given the main characteristics of the airship, which was the most successful of the early Austrian airships. It was powered by two 75 hp Koerting 8SL116 engines (Koerting actually was a German company, based in Koertingsdorf near Hannover), where the engines were actually developed).

The accident on June 20 1914 happened over Fischamend airfield, when M III was engaged in a photo mission. The airship was manned by Hauptmann Hauswirth, the commander, and Olt. Hostaetter, Olt. Breuer, Lt. Haidinger, Korp. Chadima, Gefr. Weber and Zivilingenieur (civil - ie non-serving - engineer) Kammerer. An aircraft (whose type I also have somewhere but can´t find at this moment) piloted by Olt. Flatz and Fergattenlt. Puchta tried to pass closely above the airship in a kind of "aerobatic display", but came to close and collided with the airship. It seems the escaping gas (remember this was a non-rigid airship - effectively a motorized baloon - lacking all means of protection for it´s two gas cells) caught fire when mixing with the hot exhaust or exhaust gases. The ensuing explosion killed all NINEcrewmembers (the seven from the airship and the two from the aircraft).

However, this did NOT stop AH airship development. Beside the M IV and the Stagl-Mannsbarth airship, which were build after M III (but before it´s demise), the Austrians also build a new Mannsbarth design in 1917. this was a naval project, one of 4 ships ordered being completed. However, I´ve never seen a photo of that airship...

Volker

7 June 2002, 03:38 AM

Quote:

An aircraft (whose type I also have somewhere but can´t find at this moment) piloted by Olt. Flatz and Fergattenlt. Puchta tried to pass closely above the airship in a kind of "aerobatic display", but came to close and collided with the airship.

Ok, I knew I had the aircraft type somewhere. It was actually one of four Farman HF 20 that Austria bought in 1914 in an effort to test some "modern" foreign designs.

Volker

7 June 2002, 03:41 AM

Quote:

First to the M III: It was build by SNIP the Austrian Koerting Werke. Rod has already given the main characteristics of the airship, which was the most successful of the early Austrian airships. It was powered by two 75 hp Koerting 8SL116 engines (Koerting actually was a German company, based in Koertingsdorf near Hannover), where the engines were actually developed).

I think my statement was somewhat confusing: The Koerting Werke were originally a German company near Hannover, which build both airship and aircraft engines. However, they had an Austrian subsidary which build the M III...

Volker

jempie · 7 June 2002, 06:25 AM

hello!
Just a remark : the MIV was the Aurtian built BOEMCHES airship...( I have given up even "Boemches II" into one of my books, so wondering if he built indeed two airships now?)
Designed by Hauptman Friedrich Boemches and built by a firmconsortium (Not specified!) Donated to the Austrian Army 1912. 2.900 m³/2 x Körting 36HP.
Lenght: 57,5m./Diam.:9 m./ 42km/h.
The Stagl-Mannsbarth was never accepted by the Ausrian Army and made excursion flights only until 1914. To her behave it seems a second shed was erected alongside the military Fischamend shed!
I have no knowlegdes about later built ones and lectures says: as result of the accident with "MIII" and the Farman plane the Austrians decided to
quit with airships use...However : WWI it's indeed possible seen they had at the time their country (Austria + Hongary) stretched until the Adriatic Sea (They had their own battleships!) this decision was revisited...but nowhere I have records on Austrian built airships during WWI!
VBR
Jempie.

jempie · 7 June 2002, 06:33 AM

Hello!

I forgot something: Körting ? It's posible that I as wrong to mention to Rod (by direct mail) that it's the same Körting who designed the airships as from the motorfactory!
This was a guess...! But I am not for sure!
What goes on the factory in Austria :

Körting, Österreichische Maschinebau-A-G.Motoren, Wien XX, Dresdener Strasse 68/70.
VBR,
Jempie

7 June 2002, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Hello!

I forgot something: Körting ? It's posible that I as wrong to mention to Rod (by direct mail) that it's the same Körting who designed the airships as from the motorfactory!
This was a guess...! But I am not for sure!
What goes on the factory in Austria :

Körting, Österreichische Maschinebau-A-G.Motoren, Wien XX, Dresdener Strasse 68/70.
VBR,
Jempie

Jempie,

working from bits and pieces, here is my assessment of the strange "System Koerting" airship histrory:

Ernst Koerting was one of the true pioneers in the design of combustion engines, starting manufacturing these in the early 1880ies in a place appropriately enough called Koertingsdorf. He was then approached by the Luftschiffer-Abteilung (airship battalion) Berlin with the task to design a lightweight airship engine, which was build in 1887. Around 1905, the development of 8 cyl. airship engines started.

Now looking on the Berlin connection, the Luftschiffer-Abteilung had developed into the Preussisches Luftschiffer-Battalion 2 at Berlin Tegel (later a famous place during the Berlin blockade). At this Prussian airship battalion Nr. 2, Major Hans Gross and a certain Oberingenieur Nikolaus Basenach (now look into Rod´s second posting) were developing the Gross-Basenach series of moderatley successful non rigid airships, building at least 6 such ships between 1907 and 1913.

All these ships (except of the last one) used Koerting engines as a means for propulsion. On a lesser scale, the parallel parseval non rigid airships also used sometimes the Koerting engines (eg, it seems that the Parseval PL 13, build for export to Japan, used these engines - the P III German military airship definitely did).

Now the Oesterreichische Maschinenbau AG Koerting Motoren, whose "Generaldirektor" was a certain Alexander Cassinone, to the best of my knowledge a subsidary of the German Gebrueder Koerting AG, build the M III airship together with the Ballonfabrik Wimpassing.

Design is claimed to be done by Cassione (Austrian Koertings general manager) and Wilhelm Stratmann with "the assistance" of Nikolaus Basenach.

Alltogether: Koerting was indeed an engine manufacturer (later in the war, they designed and build amongst others the V 8 Koerting Kg IIIa engine, one of Germany´s answers to the Hispano Suiza). Basenach then was a quite experienced designer of non rigid airships. The Ballonfabrik Wimpassing obviously build the airship hull - in total I guess that Koerting actually had no more than oevrall responsibility. And I seriously doubt that Koerting himself was involved in the design of that airship...

As for the suggestion that the M III accident ended the AH airship program: M III was build in 1910, and the two later airshiops in 1912. No other airships followed before the accident in June 1914. So to all intents and purposes, the AH airship program was dead long before the M III accident. The reasons, as far as I can see, were a combination of lack of funding and lack of successful designs (neither the Parseval not the Gross-Basenach series of airships achieved any degree of success anywhere, and AH based their two best designs on thse two airships). But agfter the initial successes of the German Zeppelins, there was a revival of interest. AH considered buying two Zeppelins from Germany, and a number of AH officerrs (amongst them Mannsbarth) actually joined the German Marine Luftschiffer on a number of operational sorties. I guess the later Mannsbarth design (which clearly was a small non rigid design) was the outcome of all that experience. Now if someone could come up with a proof that that ship was really build...

As for the rest: You´re obviously absolutely correct with your assessment on teh M IV and Stagl-Mannsbarth designs...

Volker