FYI February 28, 2019

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On This Day

 
 
202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.
Emperor Gaozu of Han (Chinese: 漢高祖; 256 BCE – 1 June 195 BCE), born Liu Bang (劉邦), was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning from 202 – 195 BCE. He was one of the few dynasty founders in Chinese history who was born in a peasant family.[6]

Before coming to power, Liu Bang initially served as a minor patrol officer for the Qin dynasty in his home town Pei County, within the conquered state of Chu. With the First Emperor’s death and the Qin Empire’s subsequent political chaos, Liu Bang renounced his government position and became an anti-Qin rebel leader. He won the race against fellow rebel leader Xiang Yu to invade the Qin heartland and forced the surrender of the last Qin ruler in 206 BCE.

After the fall of the Qin, Xiang Yu, as the de facto chief of the rebel forces, divided the former Qin Empire into the Eighteen Kingdoms, and Liu Bang was forced to accept the poor and remote Bashu region (parts of present-day Sichuan and Chongqing) with the title “King of Han” (Chinese: 漢王; pinyin: Hàn Wáng). Within the year, Liu Bang broke out with his army and conquered the Three Qins, starting a civil war known as the Chu–Han Contention as various forces battled for supremacy over China.

In 202 BCE, Liu Bang emerged victorious following the Battle of Gaixia, unified most of China under his control, and established the Han dynasty with himself as the founding emperor. During his reign, Liu Bang reduced taxes and corvée, promoted Confucianism, and suppressed revolts by the lords of non-Liu vassal states, among many other actions. He also initiated the policy of heqin to maintain a de jure peace between the Han Empire and the Xiongnu after losing the Battle of Baideng in 200 BCE. He died in 195 BCE and was succeeded by his son, Liu Ying.

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Born On This Day

 
 
1900 – Wolf Hirth, German pilot and engineer, co-founded Schempp-Hirth (d. 1959)
Wolfram Kurt Erhard Hirth (28 February 1900 – 25 July 1959) was a German gliding pioneer and sailplane designer. He was a co-founder of Schempp-Hirth, still a renowned glider manufacturer.[1]

Hirth was born in Stuttgart, the son of an engineer and tool-maker. He was the younger brother of Hellmuth, who founded the famous Hirth aircraft engine manufacturing company.

Early years
As a young man, Hirth took up gliding and was soon drawn to the Wasserkuppe, then the focus of the German gliding movement, earning his pilot’s licence in 1920. In 1924, Hirth lost a leg after a motorcycle accident. From then on, he would fly while wearing a wooden prosthesis.[2] He had the fibula from his amputated leg fashioned into a cigarette holder[3]

In 1928, he graduated from the Technical University of Stuttgart with a diploma in engineering and began to focus on aircraft construction.[1][2] Over the next decade, he would also tour the world, promoting gliding throughout Europe, the United States, Japan, South America, and South Africa.[2] On 10 March 1931 he gave a demonstration of glider aerobatics over New York City.[1] On one of these publicity trips, he suffered major injuries in a crash in Hungary, requiring a hospital stay of four months. He and Robert Kronfeld were the first pilots to gain the Silver C badge.[1] He was the chief flying instructor at the Grünau Gliding School in the Riesengebirge mountains, then in Germany.[1] In 1933, he became the Head of the new Gliding School in Hornberg.[4]:55

Later in the year, he became the first to correctly identify the phenomenon of wave lift, the highest form of lift source available to soaring pilots.[5]

In Jan. 1934, he joined Professor Georgii’s South America expedition, along with Peter Riedel, Hanna Reitsch, and Heini Dittmar, to study thermal conditions, with his sailplane “Moatzagotl”.[4]:65 While in Argentina, Wolf set a record of seventy-six successive loops.[4]:74

Wolf Hirth also took part in International Championships of Touring Aircraft Challenge 1929, Challenge 1932 (6th place) and Challenge 1934 (13th place). After some time in the USA he returned to Germany in 1934 because of US economic depression.[2]

Glider company
With the assistance of Wolf Hirth, Martin Schempp founded his own company in Göppingen in 1935: “Sportflugzeugbau Göppingen Martin Schempp”. In 1938, Wolf Hirth, mainly responsible for the design work, officially became a partner in the company, which then took on the new name “Sportflugzeugbau Schempp-Hirth”.[2] The company relocated to Kirchheim-Teck the same year.[1] The company first manufactured a small training glider, the Göppingen Gö 1, intended to rival the Grunau Baby. The company’s first real success, however, was the Gö 3 Minimoa, a distinctive aircraft with an elegant gull wing design that was used to break several world records and win championships around the world.

Hirth continued to direct the firm throughout World War II. In 1940 the company began manufacturing assembly parts for Messerschmitt Me 323 and Me 109 and other aircraft.[2] From 1945 the company made furniture and other wooden components for industry until glider production could begin again in 1951. He was elected President of the German Aero-Club in 1956.[1]

Death
He had a heart attack while flying his Vogt Lo-100 aerobatic glider in 1959 and died in the subsequent crash. Handbuch des Segelfliegens was published posthumously in 1963.[6]

Honours
In many municipalities of Baden-Württemberg roads were named after Wolf Hirth. In Bartholomä, Bettringen, Böblingen, Ditzingen, Leinzell, Leonberg, Kirchheim/Teck and Schramberg there is a Wolf-Hirth-Straße, outside of Baden-Württembergs in Gersfeld (Rhön). In Kiel-Holtenau is a Hirthstraße.[7]

Literature
Jörg Baldenhofer (Hrsg.): Schwäbische Tüftler und Erfinder. DRW-Verlag, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-87181-232-3.
Gert Behrsing (1972), “Hirth, Wolf”, Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 9, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 237–238; (full text online)
Stefan Blumenthal: Grüße aus der Luft. 100 Jahre Luftfahrt auf alten Postkarten. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-613-01336-3.
Stefan Blumenthal: Albert Hirth und seine Söhne Hellmuth und Wolf: eine schwäbische Erfinderfamilie. In: Jörg Baldenhofer (Hrsg.): Schwäbische Tüftler und Erfinder. DRW-Verlag, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-87181-232-3, S. 112-121.
Lisa Heiss: Erfinder, Rennfahrer, Flieger. Hirth. Vater. Hellmuth Wolf. Verlag Reinhold A. Müller, Stuttgart 1949.

See also
Hanna Reitsch

 
 

FYI

 
 

By Susan Stamberg: André Previn, Musical Polymath, Has Died At Age 89

André George Previn, KBE (/ˈprɛvɪn/; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019)[1][2] was a German-American pianist, conductor, and composer. Previn won four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings (and one more for his Lifetime Achievement).

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Ideas

 
 
Elena K, Hometalk Team Hometalker Ozone Park, NY: 3 Ingredient Green DIY Soap Scum Remover for Your Glass Shower Doors
 
 
By nml235l: Cardboard Bender
 
 
By eamonwalshdiy: Faux Window With Your Favourite View
 
 


 
 

 
 

Recipes

 
 
By AnthVale: Sour Patch Grapes – the Healthier Alternative

By ButterMyBiscuits: Swirled Marshmallow Lollipops

FOODS by Lyds: Crustless Custard Pie

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