Hans Jacobs
Aircraft designer
1907 –
Who is Hans Jacobs?
Hans Jacobs was a German sailplane designer and pioneer. He had been taught sailplane design by Alexander Lippisch, designer of many gliders during the 1920s and the 1930s. As the head of the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug at Darmstadt in the years before World War II, he was responsible for a number of highly successful designs, including the DFS Rhönsperber, DFS Rhönadler, DFS Habicht, DFS Weihe, DFS Kranich, and the DFS 230 assault glider. Hans also designed a glider-seaplane, the "Sea Eagle", test flown by Hanna Reitsch. In 1936, Hans developed self-operating dive brakes, on the upper and lower surface of each wing, for gliders. He designed the DFS 230 used in the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael.
The DFS Olympia Meise was selected in 1939 as the glider for the 1940 Summer Olympics, but the games were cancelled. The design was taken up after the war and produced in large numbers in the UK by Elliotts of Newbury, in France by Nord Aviation, in the Netherlands and in Switzerland.
When the prohibition on German aviation under the Allied occupation ended in 1951, Jacobs designed and marketed a significantly different, updated version of the Kranich.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Hans Jacobs." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/hans_jacobs>.
Discuss this Hans Jacobs biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In