Death and Maiden Flight
Schwarz did not live to see the maiden flight of his airship. Between 1892 until 1896 he was often traveling, which had affected his health. On 13 January 1897 he collapsed in the street in Vienna by the restaurant "Zur Linde" and died minutes later in a hallway from heart failure. Historical sources speak of a "Blutsturz (a term meaning either hemoptysis or hematemesis). Shortly before, he had received news that his airship was ready to be filled with gas.
The city of Vienna honoured David Schwarz with an Ehrengrab (a memorial grave) and with a Grabmal (a kind of tomb) at the Zentralfriedhof.
Carl required confirmation of Schwarz's death, suspecting he had fled to sell his secrets. Nevertheless, Berg resumed the work with Melanie, Schwarz's widow and together with the Airship Battalion they completed the airship with the addition of a gas relief valve.
This second airship had these specifications:
- gas volume: 4610 cubic metres
- length 38.32 metres
- elliptical cross-sectional area: 132 square metre, 15.4 metre wide, 18.2 metre high,
- engine: 12 horsepower (8.9 kW) Daimler weighing 508 kg
- vertical airscrews: three 2.6 metre diameter, two on hull, one above gondola
- horizontal airscrew: one mounted under the gondola
- skin: 0.2 mm aluminium plates riveted to framework
Sean Dooley analysed the engineering structure from the drawings and considered it deficient such that the skin took most of the shear stresses, as could be seen in the photo in flight.
The second airship tested with partial success at Tempelhof near Berlin, Germany, on 3 November 1897. Battalion mechanic Ernst Jägels climbed into the gondola and lifted off at 15:00. The ship broke free of the ground crew, and because it rose too fast Jägels disengaged the horizontal propeller. At about 130 metre altitude the driving belt slipped off the left propeller, causing partial loss of steering, the ship "turned broadside to the wind, and the forward tether broke free." As the ship drifted up to 510 metres the belt slipped off the right propeller, thus losing all steering. Jägels then opened the newly fitted gas release valve and landed safely, but the ship turned over and collapsed.
Read more about this topic: David Schwarz (aviation Inventor)
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