Gustav Lachmann

Gustav Victor Lachmann (3 February 1896 - 30 May 1966) was a German aeronautical engineer who spent most of his professional life working for the British company of Handley Page.

Lachmann was born in Dresden, Germany, in 1896. He served as a lieutenant in the German Army during World War I, and was trained as a pilot. He was severely injured in the crash of his plane in 1917.

In 1918, he invented leading edge slats (Lachmann Flaps) to improve the resistance to spinning and reduce the stalling speed of an aircraft. The invention was initially rejected by the German Patent Office but eventually granted in 1922 as DE 347884.^[1]

After the war he studied engineering. After periods of work in Germany and Japan, in 1929 he took a job with the Handley Page company in the United Kingdom, becoming director of scientific research there.

He was regarded with suspicion as a possible spy.^[2] On the outbreak of World War II he was interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien, but after pressure from his employers was eventually permitted by the authorities to continue his work at Handley-Page.

He stayed with Handley-Page for the remainder of his career. He died in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, in 1966.

References

1. ^ Pride and Priority, Musker 2009[1]
2. ^ MI5, UK Security Service, Gustav Lachmann, http://www.securityservice.gov.uk/output/german-intelligence-agents-and-suspected-agents-6.html, retrieved 2010-03-21 

External links

• NACA translation of the Lachmann's German paper about the slat, year 1921
• History of the invention of the slotted or slatted wing

Persondata
Name	Lachmann, Gustav
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 February 1896
Place of birth
Date of death	1996
Place of death