Heini Dittmar

Heini Dittmar (March 30, 1912, Bad Kissingen, Unterfranken, Germany - April 28, 1960, near Mülheim an der Ruhr, West Germany) was a record German glider pilot.

Inspired by the example of his flying brother, the glider Edgar, Dittmar did an internship at the German Institute of Planar (DFS). In 1932, flying his Kondor glider, he won a first prize in the Rhön Glider Competition.

Dittmar became a research pilot. In 1934, he, Hanna Reitsch, Peter Riedel and Wolf Hirth were members of Professor Georgii's South American Glider Expedition, [1]: 65 where in Argentina he reached a new world glider altitude record (about 4,350 meters). [2] Later, in the same year, he achieved a new world long distance record using a Fafnir II and was awarded the Hindenburg Cup. In 1936, he made the first crossing of the Alps in a glider. He then crowned his career as a glider pilot, becoming the first glider world champion after his victory in Rhön's first international glider competition in 1937. [3]

During and after World War II, Dittmar worked as an aircraft designer and test pilot. On October 2, 1941, flying the Messerschmitt Me 163A V4 KE + SW, he became the first human to fly faster than 1,000 km / h. [1]: 175 This record was achieved in the 3 km specified by FAI. distance and was measured using an Askania theodolite. Later, on July 6, 1944, he reached a speed of 1,130 km / h (700 mph) on the Me 163B V18, with the VA + SP code Stammkennzeichen, almost losing the complete rudder surface in the process of floating. [4] [5] [6] It is not clear, however, whether sufficient altitude has been reached to make this a true supersonic flight.

Dittmar died in an accident in 1960 while flying a light aircraft of his own design, the HD-153 Motor-Möve, near Essen / Mülheim airport. [7]