Ferdinand Schulz (18 December 1892 – 16 June 1929) was a German aviator and glider pilot who broke a contemporary record by gliding and staying aloft for 14 hours and 7 minutes. He popularized hang-gliding in Germany. He was called the "Icarus of East Prussia".
Life and work
Schulz was born in Pissau, East Prussia, the eldest child of school teacher Ferdinand and Rosi née Scharnick. He studied at a Catholic school in Pissau where his father was the sole teacher. In 1904 he went to Braunsberg, staying with his aunt and attending the grammar school. In 1905 he went to Rössel and in 1911 went to the teacher training college in Thorn. He served in the Danzig Infantry Regiment No. 128 and then in the 3rd Battalion in Danzig-Langfuhr. He was wounded during World War I and received a medal for bravery on the front. He then transferred to the air force in 1917 and flew Halberstadt fighter planes. He began to teach in a Catholic elementary school in Jehlenz from 1919.
He identified the dunes on Rossiten as being ideal for gliding due to the updrafts from the sea and began a gliding school. In 1922 he set up a workshop for constructing glides in Königsberg. He trained several others in gliding including Günther Groenhoff. One of his glider's came to be called the "broomstick box" because the control handles were made from broomsticks. He competed in various events and received awards both for motorized gliders and for hang-gliders. On May 3, 1927, he glided at Rossiten for 14 hours and 7 minutes, breaking his own earlier records.[1] He was to inaugurate a war memorial over the Stuhm market square by dropping a wreath from the air on 16 June 1929 but a strut of the wing of the aircraft that he was flying broke bringing the plane crashing and killing him and his co-pilot Bruno Kaiser. His grave is in Lidzbark Warmiński (Heilsberg). A monument was also erected in Nida (Lithuania) in 1998.[2]
