Flugzeugkunde [and] Motorenkunde.

Schweizerischen Fliegertruppe, [Dübendorf], n.d. [1920s]

Two rare works of aviation history: Regulations on the dismantling, loading and recovery of aircraft which have crashed or landed in an emergency, and on the maintenance of aircraft engines. Typescript with original photographs.

Description: 2 vols., black cloth-backed over marbled paper boards (blue and red), upper board with paper lettering label printed in black. Quarto: 31 × 21 cm; pp.: (Flugzeugkunde): 41ll., [24]ll.; (Motorenkunde): 124ll. With 52 and 49 mounted photographs and illustrations. Typescript, probably reproduced by reflex copying.

Provenance: Former owner’s stamp “Kommando Fliegerwaffenplatz Dübendorf” and handwritten registration number “B235d” in Motorenkunde; Flugzeugkunde without owner’s marks.

Condition: Bindings with some rubbing to edges and slight wear to spine and boards. Motorenkunde with some loss to spine head. Both works internally clean and free of marks.

Notes: In addition to a general description of aeronautical topics, the Flugzeugkunde volume contains original photographs of various aircraft types and parts, such as the Fokker D.VII, Häfeli DH-3 and DH-5, Junkers G.23, Nieuport N-28 “Bébé”, Zeppelin C.II “Zepp”, etc. The Motorenkunde volume describes the aircraft engines of the time, their construction, components and maintenance. Both of these manuals are a piece of historical evidence from a time when aviation technology was still in its infancy. The manuals are not dated, but from the aircraft types depicted they can be dated to the mid to late 1920s (the last example of a Vickers Vulcan depicted crashed in 1928). Until 1938, Dübendorf was the main airfield of the Swiss Air Force and the only place where maintenance and major repairs were carried out on military aircraft. This meant that aircraft that were not airworthy had to be dismantled and transported to Dübendorf by road. The situation was just as relaxed when it came to making an aircraft airworthy. The airworthiness of an aircraft was guaranteed by the experience of the mechanic, not by regulations and checklists. The two manuals can therefore be seen as an early attempt to systematise and regulate the maintenance of military aircraft. Both manuals were probably only reproduced in small numbers and were only used in the Dübendorf workshops.