Walter Mittelholzer

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Walter Mittelholzer
Walter Mittelholzer (c. 1918)
Born
Walter Mittelholzer

(1894-04-02)2 April 1894
St. Gallen, Switzerland
Died9 May 1937(1937-05-09) (aged 43)
Hochschwab, Styria, Austria
NationalitySwiss

Walter Mittelholzer (2 April 1894 – 9 May 1937) was a Swiss

entrepreneurs
.

Life

Mittelholzer was born on 2 April 1894 in St. Gallen, the son of a baker, earned his private pilot's license in 1917. In 1918 he completed his instruction as a military pilot.

On 5 November 1919 he co-founded an air-photo and passenger flight business, Comte, Mittelholzer, and Co. In 1920 this firm merged with the financially stronger Ad Astra Aero. Mittelholzer was the director and head pilot of Ad Astra Aero, which later became Swissair.

He made the first north–south flight across

Balair.[4] Throughout his life he published many books of aerial photographs and marketed his expeditions through films and the media as well.[5] He died in 1937 in a climbing accident on an expedition in the Hochschwab massif in southwest face of Stangenwand in Styria, Austria.[6]

Among other Swiss air pioneers, he is commemorated in a Swiss postage stamp issued in January 1977. His legacy of some 18,500 photographs is kept at ETH Library's image archive in Zürich, Switzerland.

  • Mittelholzer memorial at Zürich Airport
    Mittelholzer memorial at
    Zürich Airport
  • Earliest aerial photography of Rapperswil, Switzerland, by Walter Mittelholzer in 1919
    Earliest aerial photography of Rapperswil, Switzerland, by Walter Mittelholzer in 1919
  • Ad Astra Aero Dornier Merkur (CH-171) piloted by Mittelholzer in Kigocna, Kenya (1927)
    Dornier Merkur
    (CH-171) piloted by Mittelholzer in Kigocna, Kenya (1927)
  • Swissair Fokker F.VIIb-3 m (CH-192) piloted by Walter Mittelholzer in Kassala, Sudan, February 1934
    Swissair Fokker F.VIIb-3 m (CH-192) piloted by Walter Mittelholzer in Kassala, Sudan, February 1934
  • Aerial view of Tehran in 1925 by Walter Mittelholzer
    Aerial view of Tehran in 1925 by Walter Mittelholzer

Select bibliography

  • Im Flugzeug dem Nordpol entgegen: Junkers'sche Hilfsexpedition für Amundsen nach Spitzbergen, 1923 (with Kurt Wegener, Adolf Miethe, Hans Boykow). Orell Füssli, 1924.
  • Die Schweiz aus der Vogelschau: 274 Abbildungen aus der Sammlung von Walter Mittelholzer (with Otto Flückiger. Eugen Rentsch, 1926.
  • Persienflug (with Otto Flückiger). Orell Füssli, 1926.
  • Kilimandjaro Flug. Orell Füssli, 1930.
  • Alpenflug (with F. Hass, Hans Kempf, Willi Fritz Burger). Orell Füssli, 1930.
  • Mittelmeerflug, mit 120 Fliegeraufnahmen und einer Einleitung (with Gustav Ehrhardt). Rascher & cie, 1930.
  • Tschadseeflug: Mit dem drei-motorigen Fokker der Swissair durch die Sahara zum Tschadsee (with Auguste Piccard). Schweizer aero-revue, 1932.
  • Abessinienflug: Mit dem dreimotorigen Fokker an den Hof des Negus Negesti. Schweizer aero-revue, 1934.
  • Fliegerabenteuer (with Willi Rickmer Rickmers, Werner von Langsdorff). Brockhaus, 1938.
  • Die Schweiz von damals, 1917-1937: 350 historische Flugaufnahmen (with Walter M. Borner). Weltbild-Verlag, 2005.
    ISBN 978-3-03812-104-6
    .

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-8135-2633-1
    .
  2. ^ "Eine Weltpremiere: die erste Überfliegung des Kilimanjaro durch Walter Mittelholzer (8. Januar 1930)". ETH Zurich. 2012-03-30.
  3. ^ "Swiss Finds Backers for Everest Flight; Mittelholzer Says His Attempt Awaits Building of Motors Efficient at 15,000 Feet". The New York Times. 1930-08-16.
  4. ISBN 978-0-87021-610-7
    .
  5. ISBN 978-3-85881-543-9
    .
  6. ^ World Airline Record. R.R. Roadcap. 1965. p. 233.

External links

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