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Kurt Waldemar Tank | |
|---|---|
 Prof. Dr. Dipl.-Ing. Kurt Tank, March 1941 | |
| Born | (1898-02-24)24 February 1898 |
| Died | 5 June 1983(1983-06-05) (aged 85) |
| Nationality | German |
| Education | Technische Universität Berlin |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Engineering career | |
| Projects | |
| Awards | Honorary Professor with chair atTechnische Hochschule Braunschweig |
Kurt Waldemar Tank (24 February 1898 – 5 June 1983) was a Germanaeronauticalengineer andtest pilot who led the design department atFocke-Wulf from 1931 to 1945. He was responsible for the creation of several importantLuftwaffe aircraft ofWorld War II, including theFw 190fighter aircraft, theTa 152fighter-interceptor and theFw 200 Condorairliner.[1][2] After the war, Tank spent two decades designing aircraft abroad, working first in Argentina and then in India, before returning toWest Germany in the late 1960s to work as a consultant forMesserschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB).[3]
Tank was born inBromberg (Bydgoszcz),Province of Posen in present-day Poland. His grandfather was a cavalry sergeant in theUhlans and his father, Willi Tank, was agrenadier sergeant in the3rd Division.[4] WhenWorld War I broke out Tank wished to join theDeutsches Heer's then-namedFliegertruppe air service, but his father insisted he instead follow the family tradition and enlist in the cavalry or the infantry. He ended the war as a lieutenant, with decorations (Ehrenkreuz I. und II. Klasse von 1914, Ehrenkreuz Schwarzburg-Sondershausen und Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer).
After the war, Tank graduated from theTechnische Hochschule Berlin (now Technische Universität Berlin) in 1923. A mentor from the university secured him his first job, in the design department ofRohrbach Metallflugzeug GmbH, where he worked on flying boats, and helped design a passenger aircraft, theRo VIIIRoland.[citation needed]
Tank moved to the firmAlbatros Flugzeugwerke, where he worked as a test pilot. The Albatros company wentbankrupt in 1929 and in 1931, under government pressure, was merged withFocke-Wulf.[citation needed]
Tank then started work on the design of theFw 44Stieglitz (Goldfinch), a two-seat civilian biplane. It was Focke-Wulf's first commercially successful design,[5] launched in 1932.[6] In 1934 Tank'sFw 56 advanced trainer began production.[7] This led to burgeoning growth for the company as Hitler began to prepare the country for war.[citation needed]
Ludwig Roselius, chairman and 46% majority shareholder of Focke-Wulf via Kaffee HAG, andBarbara Goette - his closest confidante - met with Tank in the Marcus-Allee, Bremen on many occasions. Barbara declared Focke-Wulf to be a "war-determining" enterprise.[8]
In 1936 Tank designed theFocke-Wulf Fw 200Condor to aDeutsche Luft Hansa specification for air transport. The first flight, with Tank as pilot, occurred in July 1937, less than a year after work had begun. TheCondor made a famous non-stop flight fromBerlin toNew York City in 1938,[9] proving the concept of transatlantic air travel.[2] TheCondor would later be used as a maritimepatrol bomber aircraft of some repute during the war.[citation needed]
TheFw 190Würger (Shrike), first flying in 1939 and produced from 1941 to 1945, was a mainstayLuftwaffe single-seat fighter during World War II, and Tank's most-produced (over 20,000) and famous design. In January 1943, he was named honorary professor with a chair at theTechnische Hochschule Braunschweig, in recognition of his work developing aircraft.[5]
In 1944, theReichsluftfahrtministerium (German Air Ministry) decided that new fighter aircraft designations must include the chief designer's name. Kurt Tank's new designs were therefore given the prefix Ta.[5] His most notable late-war design was the high-speed/high-altitudeTa 152 single-engine fighter, a continuation of the Fw 190 design.[citation needed]
After the war, Tank negotiated for an employment position with the United Kingdom, with the Nationalist government of China, and with representatives of the Soviet Union. The British government decided not to offer him a contract on the grounds that they could not see how he could be integrated into a research project or design group.[10]
When those negotiations proved unsuccessful, he accepted an offer fromArgentina to work at its aerotechnical institute, theInstituto Aerotécnico inCórdoba under the name of Pedro Matthies.
Tank moved to Córdoba in central Argentina in late 1946, with many of his Focke-Wulf co-workers.[11] He also reportedly recommendedRonald Richter, who proposed to power airplanes with nuclear energy, to the Argentine officials.[12] Richter would later be involved in theHuemul Project, which was eventually proven to be a fraud.[13]
The Instituto Aerotécnico later became Argentina's military aeroplane factory, theFábrica Militar de Aviones. While there, Tank designed theIAe Pulqui II based on theFocke-Wulf Ta 183 design that had reached mock-up stage by the end ofWorld War II; it was a state-of-the-art design for its day, but the project was cancelled after the fall of Peron in 1955. When PresidentJuan Perón fell from power, the ex-Focke-Wulf team dispersed, with many, including Tank, moving toIndia.[11] First he worked as Director of theMadras Institute of Technology, where one of his students was futurePresident of IndiaAbdul Kalam, who went on to design the indigenousSatellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) and lead theIntegrated Guided Missile Development Programme. Tank later joinedHindustan Aeronautics, where he designed theHindustan Marut fighter-bomber, the first military aircraft constructed in India. The first prototype flew in 1961, and the Marut was retired from active service in 1985. Tank left Hindustan Aeronautics in 1967 and by the 1970s, he had returned to live inWest Berlin, basing himself in Germany for the rest of his life. He worked as a consultant forMBB.[14]
He died inMunich in 1983.[citation needed]
Tank would become one of the world's leading aircraft designers and engineers.
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