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17
The History of the Department
1930/31
Willy Messerschmitt is awarded a teaching
assignment on the construction and design of
aircraft.
1932/33
Establishment of a second Chair of Technical
Mechanics. This is maintained until W. Kaufmann
is conferred emeritus status. It mainly conducts
research on the mechanics of fluid and gaseous
bodies.
1935
The Chair of General Design Theory and Machine
Elements with trial field, workshop, carpenter’s shop
and test facility is established under the direction of
Erich Böddrich. In-depth arms research is carried
out and the trial field is extended. It is evacuated to
Schäftlarn Monastery between 1942 and 1945.
1936
The Chair of Metallurgy and Metals Science is
established.
1936
Establishment of the Chair of Aircraft Engines and
Engine Science under the direction of Kurt Schnauf-
fler. During the following years a research institute
for aviation and motor vehicle engines is set up at
the Kapuzinerhölzl, north of the Botanical Gardens.
The original plan to move the entire THM there was
discarded because of the course of the war. Today
the location at Schragenhofstrasse accommodates
the engine laboratory of the Chair of Internal Com-
bustion Engines.
Willy Messerschmidt as a student
at Munich Technical University
From the very beginning, government aid for AK Flieg was based on military considerations.
After the First World War an academic aeronautical society, AK Flieg was
established. At the outset only gliders were built and flown.