EMIL MEINECKE 1892-1975

EARLY BIRD EMIL MEINECKE From Early Bird CHIRP, January, 1973

NEW MEMBER During the past year, two aviation pioneers were admitted to membership. Strange as it may seem, there are still those, who for some reason or other, have never applied and how that time is running out, want to be counted. We welcome them into the organization.      The first is Emil Meinecke. He was born July 20, 1892 in Mannheim, Germany where he was educated in the Elementary Schools. He then served an apprenticeship as mechanic. After learning his trade, he became mechanic for German Aviation Pioneer, Karl Jatho in 1910. After three years of servicing airplanes, his ambition to fly them was achieved and he was allowed to solo in the Jatho Monoplane in the Autumn of 1913.      When World War I started in 1914, he joined the German Fliegertruppe and served first in Germany, then in Turkey as an instructor and later as a combat pilot.Meinecke was discharged from the German Air Force in December 1919.

Meinecke in the cockpit of a Bücker BU 181 'Bestmann' multi-role trainer. Photo courtesy of Hans Meneke Plane Identification courtesy of Henri Kaper Webmaster Koolhoven Aeroplanes Foundation

 

Unable to find work in Germany, he went to Holland where he secured a job as mechanic with Fokker. Fokker was selling aircraft to the Russians and Emil was sent along to see that the planes passed the Russian acceptance tests. When a Russian pilot refused to test flight one of the planes, Emil flew it and passed the test. As a result he was promoted to test pilot.

This photograph, taken at Schiphol in 1936, shows Meinecke, a German test pilot employed by Fokker at that time, seated in (or should it be on?) the replica of Anthony's 'Spider'. Photo courtesy of Hans Meneke

A Command Performance for Queen Wilhemina With a Fokker Spider Aircraft, 1936 Photo courtesy of Hans Meneke

During World War II he served in Holland as test pilot and ferry pilot for Fokker. After the collapse of Germany, he did many things mostly working as a mechanic on any job that he could find. When the Berlin Airlift was set up, he worked as a mechanic for the 53rd Troop Carrier Squadron, USAF at Rhein/Main Air Force Base in 1949. With the end of the Berlin Airlift, he migrated to Canada, where his daughter lived.      He received his Canadian citizenship June 1, 1956 at St Catharines, Ontario. He is now living in a retirement home because of failing eyesight. His address is "Heidehof" 600 Lake Street, St. Catharines, Ont., Canada From The Early Birds of Aviation January 1973

 

Emil Meinecke & Bristol Scout D      I have now confirmed the identity of the aircraft: it is Bristol Scout D no.8996 shot down by Lt.Meinecke on Feb.17, 1917. The scout was flown by Lt.Bysshe. It is Lt. Meinecke sitting on the aircraft. (source "The air war Canakkale" by Bulent Yilmazer. Photo from Stuart Kline, 10-6-07 Identification by Ole Nikolajsen, 10-7-07

 

SILVER CIGARETTE CASE Email From Hans Meneke, 3-15-00 Hello Ralph: I have visited your sites and found them very interesting. I also looked at the face of my father and wondered where the rest of his body went. His head was part of a picture showing him sitting in the cockpit of a D-21 Fokker fighter plane. I wonder why it was cropped?      I A historian in Turkey purchased my Dad's foto albums but I stll have some fotos and copies of fotos around which I will send you later. Is the Website a display a focused at aviation pioneers world wide, civilian and military alike?      II have attached four views of the cigaret case. The reflection of the silver presents a problem with the exposure of the film, but if you zoom in, you will see more details. The German inscription reads: His true comrade in arms in battle and in victory on the Dardanellen Fighter squadron leader Theo Croneiss. Best Regards, Hans Meneke.      Editor's Note: To view the Cigarette Case mentioned in the email from Hans, you may click on: Cigarette Case

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Emil Meinecke", using the Google search engine, (4-18-04), you will find about 31 links. Perhaps the most unique one is the one written by his son, Hans Meneke.

Herinneringen aan Schiphol door Hans Meneke, zoon van Fokker's testpiloot Emil Meinecke       This article, which is one of many to be found on the Dutch Historic Aviation Sites website, was written by Hans Meneke, Emil's son. It is written entirely in Dutch, which is a real problem for those of us who don't read the language, but it does offer six unique photographs from Meneke's collection which can be appreciated by everyone. If you wish, you can translate portions of the text by using the BabelFish program which is available on the AltaVista website. You can access the site by clicking on the title above.       If you are not already familiar with the Dutch Historic Aviation Sites website, I highly recommend that you visit it and sample some of the many offerings. You will find a copy of the Introduction in English reproduced immediately below. "Introduction Dutch Historic Aviation Sites is an initiative to connect (and list) all the Dutch sites of the subject; this includes Dutch sites on foreign historic aviation and private sites. Not all of these sites are written in the Dutch language! Some are in both Dutch and English, some even English only. The flags on the right are an easy indication of the language(s) of the site. Dutch Historic Aviation Sites is an initiative of Henri Kaper (also webmaster for the Koolhoven Aeroplanes Foundation)."       You can access the site by clicking on one of the titles above.

 

EMIL MEINECKE       You will find the information on Emil's WW I activities on The Aerodrome website to be especially interesting. You can access his page by clicking on the title above.       The Aerodrome is a wonderful resource which features the Aces and Aircraft of World War I. It has sections on Aces, Books, Forum, Guests, Help, Links, Medals, News and Search. I have found the stories on the aces to be comprehensive, fascinating and often the only source of information available. A visit to any of the other sections is always rewarding. I highly recommend that you make a visit to the site, as time permits.

 

Emil Meinecke died in 1975 From The Early Birds of Aviation ROSTER, 1966

 

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