Hungarian Heritage Review, 1988 (17. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1988-11-01 / 11. szám
Ernő Horvath won the Hungarian part of the competition with a flight of 112 yards. Theodore von Karman, born in Budapest in 1881, was the son of a well-to-do university professor and his wife, one of Hungary’s most cultured women. After receiving his Master of Engineering degree at the Royal Technical University in Budapest, von Karman spent a year in the army. After doing research.in internal combustion engines in Hungary, he resumed his studies at the University of Gottingen in Germany, receiving his Ph.D. in 1909. He later assumed the position of Professor of Kármán in Army Uniform Aeronautical Engineering and Director of the Aeronautical Institute of Achen, which position he held until 1930. With the onset of the war in 1914, Karman was called back to military duty. According to him, when the military learned of his scientific credentials, “They reassigned me to the job of determining the type of artillery needed for the defense of Budapest in the event of a Russian siege. I arrived at work every morning about 9 AM, and the first thing I did was to check to discover whether the Russians were any closer to Budapest. They usually weren’t, so for the rest of the day I could relax. ’ ’ In 1915 he joined the Austro- Hungarian air force headquarters in Vienna. He felt that the “air force of that period was a joke”, with only 50 ill-trained pilots and a few poorly maintained airplanes.’’ Shortly thereafter he established and was made chief of, an experimental aeronautical laboratory at Fischamend, near Vienna. Among the projects Karman led at Fischamend was an adaptation of the German mechanism (invented by Fokker) which enabled a machine gun to fire through an airplane’s rotating propeller. It was also at Fischamend that Lt. Louis Bencze developed a plastic cover with safety valve to keep fuel tanks from exploding when pierced by bullets. PKZ-2 Helicopter in Flight. Beginning in 1917 Karman concentrated on pioneer helicopter experiments, under the direction of Col. Stephen Petroczy. The best result of these experiments was the PKZ-2 (Petroczy-Karman-Zuravec) helicopter which weighed 4500 pounds and was powered by three 120 hp engines. These helicopters were designed to replace the captive balloons for artillery spotting. When World War One ended, Karman wanted to return to teaching in Germany. This, however, was not allowed by the Allies. Towards the end of 1918, Karman joined the Educational Council of Count Michael Karoly’s democratic government, with the task of reorganizing and modernizing the University of Budapest. And he stayed on, as Undersecretary of Universities, during the 100 day reign of Bela Kun’s government. During the 1920’s Karman established extensive international contacts, and in 1930 he accepted appointment as Director of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. He became a US citizen in 1936. During and after World War Two he was among the most important advisors to the US Air Force. In February 1963, President John F. Kennedy awarded Theodore von Karman the first National Medal of Science. And Karman died just three months later. In summarizing his career, Karman had written: ‘ 7 am an optimist. I believe in the goodness of the future. And if I have done a small bit to help bring it about, I am content. ’ ’ This great Hungarian- American pioneer of aviation, whose career spanned the gap from “pioneer period” to “jetage”, left a rich and memorable legacy to the world. And his autobiography, THE WIND AND BEYOND, provides an excellent review of his full and productive life. 18 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW NOVEMBER 1988
