Luftfahrt

Aviation: "Lighter than air" aviation started with the first hot-air balloon trip in the Vienna Prater in August 1784. The beginnings of "heavier than air" aviation in Austria can be traced back to 1877, when W. Kreß started to construct model aircraft in Vienna. His first powered flight in 1901 failed. From 1899 the Viennese engineer F. Wels also built model aircraft. The first successful powered flights in Austria were carried out by I. Etrich and his pilot K. Illner in 1909/10 in Wiener Neustadt. In 1911/12 first passenger flight with the Stagl-Mannsbarth airship. The theoretical basis was provided by men like R. Knoller, who built military aircraft in the first World War, and the chair of "Aerostatics and Motoring" which was established in 1909 at the University of Technology in Vienna (1945 Institute of Lightweight and Aircraft Construction). Aircraft Production experienced another climax in the second World War for military reasons. Air Transport.