August Euler
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Heinrich August Euler (1868 - 1957)

Heinrich August (August) Euler aka Reith
Born in Keitlinghausen, Oelde, Kreis Beckum, Westfalen, Preußen, Deutscher Bundmap
Ancestors ancestors
Son of and
Brother of and
Husband of — married 21 Jun 1900 in Frankfurt am Main, Hessen-Nassau, Preußen, Deutsches Reichmap
Father of
Died at age 88 in Feldberg (Schwarzwald), Landkreis Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschlandmap
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Profile last modified | Created 9 Oct 2022
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Contents

Biography

Notables Project
August Euler is Notable.
August was an Aviator

Family

August was born on 20 November 1868 at 5 a.m., the son of Clara Euler in Keitlinghausen in Oelde parish. He was baptized on 12 February 1869 in Oelde. His godparents were Heinrich Schürcat(?) and Erna Euler.[1] When his mother married August Reith in September 1869, their son was recognized as their legitimate child.[2]

On 21 Juni 1900 he married forester daughter Luise Ripperger in Frankfurt. In the following year, they changed their surname to Euler.[3] The couple had at least six children, one died early.[4] Among them were:

  • Bertha (1901-1901)[5]
  • Hans August (1902-1974)[6]
  • Lotte Luise (1904-)[7]
  • Klara Theodore (1906-), married Oberstleutnant von Osterroht in 1938[8]
  • Karl August (1908-)[8]

In 1940 his wife Luise passed away in the hospital in Stettin.[9] At that time Luise was living at Dohrnstraße 1, Stettin, while "Staatssekretär außer Dienst, Doktor ehrenhalber der Ingenieurwissenschaft August Heinrich Euler" lived in Feldberg/Schwarzwald.

Career

Until he was 14 he visited the Protestant elementary school in Aachen, where his father worked later. From age 14 until 17 he did an apprenticeship in graphical design. Since he wasn't fully absorbed by it, he started teaching himself math, philosophy and European trade law. After completing his apprenticeship he performed military service until age of 20 (1888).[4]

He went to study engineering at the Technical University of Aachen and became a technical salesman.[10] He traveled to inner and outer European countries and sold bikes.[11]

In 1898 he became director of "Peters Union Pneumatik Autogesellschaft"[12] (which either is a misspelling of some company of Frankfurt rubber producer Louis Peter (1841-1921) or a rather unknown subsidiary of his company Mitteldeutsche Gummiwarenfabrik AG Louis Peter) . In 1900 he was sole agent as engineering representative for Dresdner AG Seidel & Naumann for all European countries.[12] This company produced sewing machines and typewriters. By 1904 he was running his own car part company in Frankfurt.[12]

Euler participated in bike races and later switched to car racing, just like Henri and Maurice Farman and their student Emile Jeannin (1875-1957). In this environment Euler got in touch with french aviation pioneers like Louis Blériot and Gabriel Voisin.[13] In 1908 he obtained a license for building the Voisin Standard biplane[10] and requested to lease part of the military training ground "Griesheimer Sand" at Griesheim, near Darmstadt, in order "to build flight maschines of all kinds and for the purpose of performing flight experiments with these machines" ("zur Herstellung von Flugmaschinen aller Art und zum Zwecke der anzustellenden Flugversuche mit diesen Maschinen"). With the signing of the contract in 1909 this became de facto the first German airport at all and the home of "Euler-Flugmaschinen-Werke".[14][15] The first flying experiments where started from a dune named Chimborazo.[16]

Since he didn't manage to fly Voisin's biplane, he started constructing and experimenting on an own airplane. During Frankfurt International Airship Exhibition, on 20 August 1909, Euler managed to be the first German to perform an officially recognized motor flight. In 20 seconds he flew about 500 meters. In October he managed to fly four and a half kilometers already. In December 1909 he did his pilot license, which was the first ever for Germany,[11] when it was issued on 1 February 1910.[17]

With this license, Euler also became a pilot teacher, in order for his future customers to be able to also operate his flying machines. Among his students were Ellery von Gorrissen (1886-1973), Erich Thiele (1884-1929), Erich Lochner (1879-1947), Count Luitpold Wolffskeel von Reichenberg (1879-1964) and most notably Prince Heinrich von Preussen (1862-1929).[4][18] In total, Euler is responsible for 74 men receiving their flight license.[18]

In 1912 Euler's company was relocated to Frankfurt-Niederrad.[14] From there, his student Ferdinand von Hiddessen (1887-1971) on a biplane with yellow wings named Yellow Dog (Gelber Hund) performed the first legally approved mail flight as opening act of "Flugpost am Rhein und am Main" on 10 June 1912.[19] This was a charity event started by Grand Duchess Eleonore von Hessen-Darmstadt, apparently based on an idea by Euler himself.[20]

In 1910 his invention of a machine gun permanently installed in an airplane which could be operated by the pilot was granted patent #248601. Until 1912 Euler managed to increase his number of available airplane models from 21 (beginning of World War I) to 30. As a consequence of the war lost by the German Empire and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles, Eulers company had to be closed.[12]

Euler became subsecretary of the state (Unterstaatssekretär) and first head of Reichsluftamt, the first German civil aviation authority, which only had been founded in 1918. He was responsible of licensing the first German aviation companies and creation of the first air traffic regularities. He wanted to make air traffic more international. Euler objected military aircraft usage and emphasized civil use. This led to conflicts with other officials in his authority and ultimately to him going in pension in 1920.[4]

In 1922 he started spending his winter vacation on the mountain Feldberg in Black Forest. In 1932 he bought land there and built a house, referred to by him as his eagle's nest (Adlernest). He wrote a memorandum how to increase the development of the place as an area for winter sports and implied the creation a separate municipality Feldberg (which really happened on 1 April 1939). In 1938 he received approval to build a hotel with 200 beds, but the project wasn't completed due to resource shortages as a consequence of World War II. Aviation literature published in Nazi Germany attributed some of his achievements to other people, since Euler refused to support the Nazis, his grandson claims.[4]

In 1952, on his 85th birthday, Euler was awarded the Great Cross of Merit of Germany (Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz) by German president Theodor Heuss.[4]

August Euler passed away on 1 July 1957 in his house in Feldberg.[4] He is interred in grave IV 120 at the central cemetery in Frankfurt/Main.[21][22]

Research Notes

Munzinger biography claims that August Euler was a direct descendant of Mathematician Leonhard Euler (and related to the Nobel prize winners Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin (1873-1964)|Hans von Euler-Chelpin and Ulf von Euler).[23]

The common ancestory to Leonhard Euler, however, is that one's great-great grandfather Hans Georg Euler, who was born in 1573 in Lindau. He was the 7th great-grandfather of August Euler, which makes Leonhard and August third cousins five times removed.

Acknowledgements

Everybody who contributed on the previous version at Reith-418 before this profile was moved.

Sources

  1. ↑ Matricula online > Deutschland > Münster, rk. Bistum > Oelde, St. Johannes der Täufer > Taufen (1. Januar 1844 – 31. Dezember 1875, KB014) > picture T 235, #23
  2. ↑ "Germany Marriages, 1558-1929", citing FHL microfilm: 582637, FamilySearch Record: JHQ2-SQV (accessed 15 October 2022), Friedrich Wilhelm August Reith marriage to Clara Johanna Euler in 1869 in Münster, Münster, Westfalen, Preußen, Deutschland.
  3. ↑ Marriage (with side notes of name change and wife's death): Standesamt I (mit Bornheim): Heiratsregister (Einträge 1039-1385) 26.05.1900-12.07.1900, ISG Frankfurt am Main Best. STA 11 / 280 (Scan):
    Blatt 200
    Nr. 1236

    Frankfurt a/Main, am ein und zwanzigsten
    Juni tausend neunhundert

    Vor dem unterzeichneten Standesbeamten erschienen heute zum Zwecke der
    Eheschließung:

    1. der Kaufmann August Heinrich Reith,
    der Persönlichkeit nach bekannt
    evangelischer Religion, geboren am zwanzigsten
    November des Jahres tausend acht hundert
    acht und sechzig zu Kreilinghausen
    Kreis Beckum, wohnhaft in Frankfurt a M,
    .....straße No. 11
    Sohn des pensionierten Polizeibeamten August
    Reith und seiner Ehefrau Klara geborene
    Euler beide wohnhaft
    in Aachen.

    2. die gewerblose Regina Albertina Luise
    Rippberger
    der Persönlichkeit nach bekannt,
    katholischer Religion, geboren am zwölften
    November des Jahres tausend acht hundert
    sechs und siebenzig zu Frankfurt a M,
    wohnhaft in Frankfurt a M
    Tochter der verstorbenen Eheleute des Försters Johann
    Adam Rippberger und Luise Constantina ge=
    borene Miehaud?, beide zuletzt wohnhaft
    in Frankfurt a M

    Als Zeugen waren zugezogen und erschienen

    3. der Musiker? Ludwig Ganz
    der Persönlichkeit nach bekannt
    40 Jahre alt, wohnhaft in Frankfurt a Main
    Rhönstraße? No. 42

    4. der Kaufmann Franz Köpp
    der Persönlichkeit nach durch den ? Ganz
    anerkannt
    43 Jahre alt, wohnhaft in Stuttgart

    Der Standesbeamte richtete an die Verlobten einzeln und nach
    einander die Frage:
    ob sie die Ehe mit einander eingehen wollen.
    Die Verlobten bejahten diese Frage und der Standesbeamte
    sprach hierauf aus,
    daß sie kraft des Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuchs nunmehr rechtmäßig
    verbundene Eheleute seien.

    Vorgelesen, genehmigt und unterschrieben
    August Reith
    Louise Reith geborene Rippberger
    Ludwig Ganz
    Franz Köpp

    Der Standesbeamte
    .........

    Die Uebereinstimmung mit dem Hauptregister beglaubigt
    Frankfurt a/Main, am 21ten Juni 1900

    Der Standesbeamte
    .....

    Abschrift
    Frankfurt a M, am 5. August 190?
    vor dem unterzeichneten Standes-
    beamten erschien ...., der Per-
    sönlichkeit nach auf Grund
    ihrer Heirathsurkunde anerkannte
    Frau Regina Albertina Louise
    Reith, jetzt Euler, geborene
    Rippberger, wohnhaft in Frank-
    furt a M, ..........=Allee
    47 und überreichte Urkunde
    des Königlichen Regierungs=
    präsidenten in Wiesbaden
    vom 19 Juli 1901 Nr. ?? 6583
    Inhalts derer ihr und ihrem
    eben?bezeichneten Ehemann
    die Genehmigung ertheilt wor-
    den ist, am Stelle des Fami
    liennamens Reith, fortan
    en Namen Euler zu führen
    vorgelesen, genehmigt und un-
    terschrieben
    gez. Luise Euler geb. Rippberger
    der Standesbeamte
    in Vertretung
    gez. Berghoefer?

    Die Uebereinstimmung mit dem
    .......... beglaubigten
    ....... am 6 August 1901?
    der Standesbeamte
    In Vertretung
    gez. Sieberth
    Belaubiger
    Beutler 18/1901
    Justizanwärter

    zu 1) 1.7.57 Feldberg/Schwar. 1/57
    verwitwet?

    Beglaubigte Abschrift.
    Die Ehefrau
    ist am 28. Oktober 1940
    verstorben.
    Sterbebuch Nr. 1518/1940
    Standesamt Frankfurt am Main I
    in Stettin
    Frankfurt am Main, den 22. November 1940
    Der Standesbeamte
    In Vertretung:
    ....

    Beleg in 381 E_1._ 1660

    [stamp: Amtsgericht Frankfurt (Main)]

    Beglaubigt
    .......
    Justiz-Angestellter
    als Urkundsbeamter der
    Geschäftsstelle des Amtsgerichts Abt. I.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Hanns Peter Euler: August Euler – Leben und Werk. In: Fünfzehntes Kolloquium Luftverkehr an der Technischen Universität Darmstadt (WS 2007/2008). Arbeitskreis Luftverkehr an der Technischen Universität Darmstadt, 2008, ISBN 978-3-931385-17-0 (PDF)
  5. ↑ Death of Child: Standesamt I (mit Bornheim): Sterberegister (Einträge 2394-2991) 19.07.1901-09.09.1901. ISG Frankfurt am Main Best. STA 12 / 309. Sterbeeintrag 1901 Nr 2595. (Scan): Bertha Euler / Death on Aug. 4th, 1901 / Age: 6 months / Reported by the mother Regina Albertina Louisa Euler / Father Kaufmann August Heinrich Euler / Family lives at Günthersburg-Allee 47, Frankfurt/Main.
  6. ↑ Immigration Registration of Son: Rio de Janeiro, Brasilien, Einwanderungskarten, 1900-1965. FHL-Filmnr. 004920139. Record at Ancestry: Name: Hans August Euler. Birth: Frankfurt a/M. 28.1.1902. Parents: August Euler and Luise Ripperger. Beruf: Kaufmann. Residence: Schweinfurt a/M. Ernst Sachs-Str. 14. Date: 15. Februar 1954.
  7. ↑ Birth of Child: Birth Record, Standesamt Dresden, 1904 Nr. 293. Record at Ancestry: Reported by Kaufmann August Heinrich Euler on February 18th, 1904 / residence: Stallstrasse, Dresden / mother: Regine Albertine Luise Euler born Ripperger, his wife / born on February 8th, 1904 / name: Lotte Louise.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Euler, August Heinrich, Hessische Biografie, LAGIS Hessen (https://www.lagis-hessen.de/pnd/11661076X : accessed 16 October 2022)
  9. ↑ Death of Wife: Death Record, Standesamt Stettin, 1940 Nr. 1518. Record at Ancestry.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Fisch, Willy, "Euler, August" in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 4 (1959), S. 686 [Online-Version]; URL: https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd11661076X.html
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Irene Meichsner: Vor 150 Jahren geboren - Der risikofreudige Flugpionier August Euler, 20 November 2018 (https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/vor-150-jahren-geboren-der-risikofreudige-flugpionier-100.html : accessed 11 October 2022)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 DFG-VK Darmstadt "Von Adelung bis Zwangsarbeit - Stichworte zu Militär und Nationalsozialismus in Darmstadt", August Euler (https://dfg-vk-darmstadt.de/Lexikon_Auflage_2/EulerAugust.htm : accessed 12 October 2022)
  13. ↑ August Euler, der erste deutsche Pilot: Luftpostflieger im "Gelben Hund", 1 July 2020 (https://www.ardalpha.de/wissen/geschichte/historische-persoenlichkeiten/august-euler-erster-pilot-deutschland-1909-geschichte-fliegen-100.html : accessed 12 October 2022)
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Griesheimer Sand (https://www.august-euler-museum.de/geschichte/griesheimer+sand/ : accessed 14 October 2022)
  15. ↑ August Euler (https://www.august-euler-museum.de/geschichte/august+euler/ : accessed 14 October 2022)
  16. ↑ Johannes Breckner: Chimborazo im Griesheimer Sand. Darmstädter Luftfahrtgeschichte. In: Darmstädter Echo / Sonntagsecho, 1 June 2013, p. 5
  17. ↑ August Vetter: Der Feldberg - Die Geschichte des höchsten Schwarzwaldberges unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Gemeinde Feldberg und der einstigen Gemeinde Bärental (1968) , p. 471
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Ursula Eckstein: August-Euler-Flugplatz Darmstadt: der Griesheimer Sand : Experimentierfeld für viele Flugpioniere (2008), p. 53 (Google Books)
  19. ↑ Stadtlexikon Darmstadt, Gelber Hund (https://www.darmstadt-stadtlexikon.de/g/gelber-hund.html : accessed 15 October 2022)
  20. ↑ Flugpost am Rhein und Main 1912 (https://flugpost-rhein-main.de/vorgeschichte/ : accessed 15 October 2022)
  21. ↑ Verein für Computergenealogie, Grabstein-Projekt, database and images (https://grabsteine.genealogy.net/tomb.php?cem=6243&tomb=1922 : accessed 15 October 2022) gravestone, Hauptfriedhof -teilweise-, Frankfurt am Main, photographed in 2019
  22. ↑ Burial: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/191031075/august-euler: accessed 15 October 2022), memorial page for August Euler (20 Nov 1868–1 Jul 1957), Find A Grave: Memorial #191031075, citing Hauptfriedhof Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main, Stadtkreis Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany; Maintained by Thomas Haas (contributor 48162931) .
  23. ↑ "Euler, August" in Munzinger Online/Personen - Internationales Biographisches Archiv, (https://www.munzinger.de/search/portrait/August+Euler/0/2216.html : accessed 11 October 2022)
  • "Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558-1898", citing FHL microfilm: 860782; Record number: 52, FamilySearch Record: NZ8K-ZFP (accessed 9 October 2022), August Heinrich Reith baptism on 12 Feb 1869 (born 20 Nov 1868), son of August Reith & Clara Euler, in Ölde, Beckum, Westfalen, Preußen, Deutschland.




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Brown-8212 Abby (Brown) Glann
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We are featuring this profile in the Connection Finder this week. Between now and Wednesday is a good time to take a look at the sources and biography to see if there are updates and improvements that need made, especially those that will bring it up to WikiTree Style Guide standards. We know it's short notice, so don't fret too much. Just do what you can.

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