Alter Adler
Alter Adler (plural Alte Adler; English: Old Eagle) is a honorary title for the elite of in Germany licensed pilots (817 men and women) before the begin of World War I on 1 August 1914. Female aviation pioneers were also called “Queens of the Skies” (Königinnen der Lüfte).
Contents
History
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On 1 February 1910, one year after the introduction of the driving license for motor vehicles, the German Aviation Association (Deutscher Luftschiffer-/Luftfahrer-Verband; DLV), since 1902 the national organization responsible for everything concerning airships, began awarding private pilot licenses for civilians in accordance with DLV regulations, August Heinrich Euler (de) and Johannes "Hans" Gustav Paul Grade (de) being the first two to accomplish this goal. Amelie "Melli" Hedwig Boutard-Beese (de), trained by flight pioneer Hellmuth Hirth, was Germany's first female pilot.
Flugsport
"Flugsport" was a fortnightly "illustrated aeronautical magazine for the entire aviation world", which was published by the Verlag für Flugsport, Frankfurt am Main, from December 1908. The last issue in the 36th year of publication was No. 9/1944. The successor title is "Weltluftfahrt", which was published from 1949 onwards. The initiator of the magazine, publisher and editor-in-chief was Oskar Ursinus, who was personally fascinated by aviation. The magazine soon became an important means of networking its international readers who were enthusiastic about aviation. Ursinus used his medium successfully to inspire readers to design and build aircraft. The Rhön gliding competitions were initiated by an appeal on 24 March 1920 in Flugsport (issue no. 6/7).
Traditional community
On 16 September 1927, nine years after WWI, 64 former pilots met in Berlin for a get-together, some of them living in abject poverty despite their great achievements. They decided to meet regularly, help each other, do appropriate press work, and agreed on the name "Old Eagles". The condition for membership was initially the acquisition of a pilot's license before the First World War (August 1, 1914) or an equivalent military license, but also special achievements in or for aviation. Further large joint meetings took place in 1930 and 1935 in Berlin, in 1936 in Munich, in 1937 in Braunschweig and, as the last meeting before the war, in 1939 in Frankfurt. Although the meeting received an astonishingly good response among the old pilots, in the early years there was not a single report about their activities in the highly respected magazine "Flugsport". It was only on the tenth anniversary of the "Alten Adler" on 12 and 13 June 1937 in Braunschweig, which was attended by 230 participants, that "Flugsport" reported in more detail. After WWII, Ernst Canter and Alfred Friedrich deserve credit for reviving the "Old Eagles" community. In 1951, 70 pilots gathered in Braunschweig in the hope that Germany would regain air supremacy. After that, the meetings took place regularly. At the October 1952 meeting in Stuttgart, Wolf Hirth, President of the German Aero Club e.V., announced that the "Old Eagles" would henceforth be corporate honorary members of the DAeC, which would take over the administrative work.
In order to fulfil the task they had set themselves and to be able to help comrades in need, the need for a separate legal form for the "Alten Adler" soon arose. The corresponding statutes were adopted on 6 May 1961. In 1979, the general meeting decided to use the name "Traditionsgemeinschaft Alte Adler" exclusively. In 1986, the new name "Traditionsgemeinschaft Alte Adler" was entered in the association register of the Darmstadt District Court and the association was recognized as a "non-profit organization." In 1997, Major (ret.) Heinrich Kratz, the last "real" Alte Adler of the founding period, died. Since then, the community has consisted of the so-called "tradition keepers," to whose membership the Alte Adler had already opened up from the very beginning in the 1950s. Members of the "Alten Adler" are and have been women and men from all areas of aviation and aerospace, from Elly Beinhorn to Ludwig Bölkow, from Elisabeth "Liesel" Bach to Adolf Galland, from Helma Sjuts to Ulf Merbold, from Hanna Reitsch to Hans Werner Grosse.
See also
External links
Old Eagles
- Die Alten Adler
- List of pilots ("Old Eagles") with German aircraft license
- Traditionsgemeinschaft "Alte Adler e.V."
- Sports Wreath of the Association of the National Motoring and Aeronautics Movement
