Hermann Köhl

Hermann Köhl (April 15, 1888 – October 7 ,1938) was a German Aviation pioneer and pilot of the first trans-atlantic flight in East-West direction.

Köhl was born in Neu-Ulm, Bavaria as one out of eight children. In the age of 19 he joined the German Imperial Army to become an officer like his father. In the beginning of World War I he was a Lieutenant in the Württembergisches Pionier-Bataillon Nr.13 (Engineer Bataillon) and was wounded at his legs, which disqualified him to serve in the engineer troops any more. He volunteered to the German Army Air Service, became a pilot and later on commander of a Bomber Squadron, where he received the Pour le Mérite in 1918. He crashed down with his plane behind the frontlines and was captured as a POW in France, but managed to escape and returned to Germany.

After the end of World War I he worked for the German Police and for the Reichswehr, but in 1925 he joined the civil Aviation and became the head of the Lufthansa Nightflight Branch in 1926.

After Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic in West-East direction in May 1927, the idea of starting in Europe to cross in East-West direction, which is more difficult because of the dominating wind conditions, became more and more popular. In 1927 Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld bought two Junkers W33 planes of Junkers (Aircraft) in Dessau, naming them after the two North German Lloyd Flagship projects "Bremen" and "Europa". His plans were supported by Hugo Junkers and Hermann Köhl joined this project as an experienced and well-trained pilot.

After some test flights, breaking the record of flight duration, Hünefeld and Köhl started in April 1928 and flew to Baldonnel, Ireland, where they met James C. Fitzmaurice, the Irish Air Corps Commandant of the Baldonnel Airodrome. On April 12, 1928 these three men left Baldonnel with the Bremen and managed to cross the Atlantic Ocean, landing at Greenly Island at the Southcoast of Labrador, Canada. Even though they missed their initial aim, New York, they were the first to cross the Atlantic from Europe to America.

Köhl died in Munich in 1938 and was buried in Pfaffenhofen an der Roth.

A German Luftwaffe Airbus A310 MRTT Medevac and the Bundeswehr Barracks of the Transporthubschrauber-Regiment 30 in Niederstetten are named after Hermann Köhl.

Literature

*Hermann Kohl: "The Three Musketeers Of The Air." Putnam,1928
*Michael Hofbauer, Dieter Leder, Peter Schmelzle: "Die Welt der Überflieger – 75 Jahre Nordatllantikflug Ost-West". Deutsche Post AG, 2003
*Fred W. Hotson: "DIE BREMEN". NARA-Verlag, ISBN 3-925671-22-6
*Karl-August Blendermann: "Atlantikflug D 1167". Verlag Hauschild, ISBN 3-929902-71-0