Civil Aircraft designed by Erich Bachem

[hesham]

Hi,


the Bachem BP-18 Lerche was a little known aircraft,it was a single seat high wing
motor glider airplane,it seemed to be that designer had long establish "BP" series.


Flugzeug 2/1991

 

[Jemiba]

Erich Bachem was a well known glider pilot before the war, member and for some time leader of the
"Akademische Flugvereinigung" at the universtiy of Stuttgart (Students flying club, to be found at
several German universities), that not only flew gliders, but designed them, too. He founded his own
company for aviation supplies, mainly wooden parts and then, during the closing stages of WW II, his
company got an order for developing that rocket powered interceptor, based on his ideas.
Strange to me, that the RLM obviously put so much faith into that company, totally unproven for
building high performance aircraft !

 

[Stargazer]

Erich Bachem was a well known glider pilot before the war, member and for some time leader of the
"Akademische Flugvereinigung" at the universtiy of Stuttgart (Students flying club, to be found at
several German universities), that not only flew gliders, but designed them, too.

Since the terms of the 1918 armistice prevented Germany from building fixed-wing powered aircraft, most Germans with an interest for flying took to gliding during the 1920s, either as designers, pilots or both! I believe that the restriction imposed upon them forced them to be more creative and to develop some very efficient designs, and that experience was put to good use when Germany went back to building proper aircraft under the 3rd Reich. German designs before the war were much more capable on the whole than the French or American ones.

Strange to me, that the RLM obviously put so much faith into that company, totally unproven for
building high performance aircraft !

"Desperate times call for desperate measures". They may not have had "faith" in them but could hardly do otherwise... All the main manufacturers were busy building bombers and fighters, even the smaller ones subcontracted construction for them, and so there was little time left on their hands, and little manpower, to devote to the development of pure research or experimental types!

 

[Jemiba]

German sailplanes of that era often were superior, to most others in the world then, I agree, this was often proven
on international contests.

About those "desperate measures", I'm hardly convinced, that they were expedient in any way, but rather a result
of the complicated, if not to say confused, management structures. With regards to aviation, it wasn't just the RLM
anymore deciding, how much resources to spend for which project. The SS had secured more, than just small share
of that business, the "Reichsministerium für Bewaffnung und Munition", led by Albert Speer wasn't just distributing
resources and in many cases, just ambitioned military leaders got projects started, ignoring proper channels, often
authorised by a "Führerbefehl" (leaders order).
This led to even more overstretching of the already burdened institutions, that in the end had to participate in the
development of new types anyway, e.g. those establishments owning wind tunnels and other equipment necessary for proper
development.
I'm still searching for a source summing up those points in depth and accurately in English language. The only one, I still
know, is "Die Illusion der Wunderwaffen", the published dissertation by Ralph Schabel, mentzioned already several times
here, but AFAIK only available in German language.
Well, maybe we can say, that most of all those projects just did their share to actually shorten the war, by frittering away
Germanys energies ? The team around Wernher von Braun, developing the V2 could be regarded as probably the most
succesful resistance fighters then ! But that's another story, not really suited here, sorry for that !

 

[hesham]

Thank you my dears Jemiba and Skyblazer,


but as you see,I never heard about it before until from three days.

 

[Jemiba]

No wonder, that you haven't heard about other aircraft or designs by Erich Bachem, I think, apart
from being the designer the Ba 349 Natter, he was mainly known only in the glider scene of his
days, especially as none of his designs was built in greater numbers.
I've changed the title of this thread, as we maybe can find other designs made by him, apart from
the Natter, of course, which has a thread on its own, I think. The BP-18 was a one-off, actually
a kind of home-built and not necessarily intended as a "prototype" for a larger series, but if we'll find
unbuilt designs, we can move it to the projects section.

 

[hesham]

From Flugzeug 2/1994;


here is a drawing to BP-18,but not completed.

 

[Javier Planells]

Sorry to bring back this old thread.

Bachem was a well stablished name in German aeronautics, always working far and away from the limelight.

Given the topic, does anyone happen to know of or have a three-view plan of the "Thermikus" high performance sailplane?



Have a fantastic weekend, everyone.

Javier

 

[HoHun]

Hi Javier,

Bachem was a well stablished name in German aeronautics, always working far and away from the limelight.

After WW2, Erich Bachem established the "Eriba" brand ... for camping trailers

The brand still exists:

ERIBA Touring

Große Abenteuer brauchen nicht immer auch viel Platz. Mit kompakten Außenmaßen und geringem Gesamtgewicht ist der ERIBA Touring Ihr handlicher Wegbegleiter.

www.eriba.com

Note the airfield setting, which the advertising text completely ignores

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[riggerrob]

Hi Javier,



After WW2, Erich Bachem established the "Eriba" brand ... for camping trailers

The brand still exists:

ERIBA Touring

Große Abenteuer brauchen nicht immer auch viel Platz. Mit kompakten Außenmaßen und geringem Gesamtgewicht ist der ERIBA Touring Ihr handlicher Wegbegleiter.

www.eriba.com

Note the airfield setting, which the advertising text completely ignores

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

This reminds us of the first aluminum monocoque camper trailers designed by California glider pioneer Harley Bowlus.
Airstream later copied Bowlus’ concept and made it successful.
Just the other week I was looking at a Bowlus a motor-glider hanging from the ceiling of a museum in Langley, B.C., Canada.

 

[Arjen]

After WW2, Erich Bachem established the "Eriba" brand ... for camping trailers

From a few years ago, our car and camping trailer.

 

[hesham]

The Käfer III was a motor glider project of 1932.

Aircraft template

 

[richard B]

Der Adler ( Württemberg Luftfahrtverein) 1931 : Projekts only ...







Bachem LS 3-EB Leichtwindsegler (1931)