Brigadier General Charles E. Yeager, USAF, made his final flight as an active duty Air Force officer aboard a McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II at Edwards Air Force Base, California, 25 February 1975. (U.S. Air Force)
25 February 1975: At Edwards Air Force Base, California, Brigadier General Charles Elwood (“Chuck”) Yeager, United States Air Force, made his final flight as an active duty Air Force pilot, flying a McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II 65-0713.¹
Brigadier General Charles E. Yeager made his final flight in the U.S Air Force in the prototype McDonnell YF-4E Phantom II 65-0713.
During his career, General Yeager flew 180 different aircraft types and accumulated 10,131.6 flight hours.
General Yeager retired 1 March 1975 after 12,222 days of military service.
McDonnell YF-4E Phantom II 65-0713 was named Glamorous Glennis for General Yeager’s Final Flight.
¹ 65-0713 was a McDonnell F-45D-28-MC Phantom II which had been modified as the prototype YF-4E, armed with an M61 rotary cannon. Later, 65-0713 was used as a test bed for the F-4G Wild Weasel. The airplane is on display at Edwards Air Force Base.
The prototype Lockheed Model 10 Electra X233Y in flight over Southern California, 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)
24 February 1934:¹ Edmund Turney Allen,² a consulting engineer and test pilot, took the prototype Lockheed Model 10 Electra, serial number 1001, registered X233Y, for its first flight from the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation plant in Burbank, California, to the adjacent United Airport (which soon became United Air Terminal, then Lockheed Air Terminal and is now the Hollywood-Burbank Airport, BUR).
Aerial photograph of United Airport, looking west northwest, early 1930s. The Lockheed factory is just out of frame at the lower left, bordering the railroad tracks. (Burbank Public Library)
The Los Angeles Times reported:
NEW-TYPE PLANE PERFECTED
Lockheed Factory Turns Out First of “Electras,” Latest Word in Swift Transport
The latest forward step by Los Angeles in the field of swift-aircraft manufacture, a 215-mile-an-hour, ten-passenger, low-wing monoplane built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, made its first appearance and took to the air in its initial test flight yesterday.
The all-metal airliner, one of the fastest multimotored transport planes in the world and designed for economical performance by airlines enjoying little or no air-mail subsidy, was flown by Edmund T. Allen on its maiden flight from the Lockheed plant to United Airport, Burbank.
The ship, named the Electra, is the first of nine such planes ordered by two airlines, Northwest Airways having placed an order for three and Pan-American Airways awaiting delivery on six Electras. The model follows the single-engine Lockheed Vega, Orion and Sirius models flown by Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, Wiley Post, Col. Roscoe Turner, Amelia Earhart and other noted flyers on record flights.
The Electra’s cruising speed is in excess of 190 miles per hour. It is equipped with controllable-pitch propellers to gain maximum efficiency from its two Wasp Junior engines supercharged to develop 420 horsepower each at 5000 feet.
The craft is equipped with advanced improvements, including new retractable landing gear, wing flaps to insure low, safe landing speed, and a radical new-type tail assembly having two small vertical fins, or rudders,instead of one large one, making for greater maneuverability.
The Electra will be on display at United Airport, and the public, according to United Airlines officials, is invited to inspect it.
—Los Angeles Times, Vol. LIII, 25 February 1934, Page 17, Columns 1 and 2
The prototype Lockheed Electra Model 10 prototype, X233Y, at Union Airport, Burbank, California, before its first flight, 24 February 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)
The Lockheed Model 10 Electra was designed as a 10-passenger commercial transport and was a contemporary of the Boeing Model 247. This was Lockheed’s first all-metal airplane. The Electra had two engines, a low wing and retractable landing gear. The airplane was designed by Lloyd Stearman and Hall L. Hibbard.
Lockheed Model 10 Electra X233Y. (aviadejavu)
A young engineer, Clarence L. (“Kelly”) Johnson, an assistant aerodynamicist at the University of Michigan, performed the wind tunnel tests on scale models of the proposed design and recommended changes to the configuration, such as the use of two vertical fins mounted at the outboard ends of the horizontal stabilizer. This became a design feature of Lockheed airplanes into the 1950s and included the Model 14 Super Electra/Hudson, Model 18 Lodestar/PV-1 Ventura, the P-38 Lightning fighter and the L-1649 Starliner, which was produced until 1958. Johnson would become the leader of Lockheed’s legendary “Skunk Works.”
Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson conducted wind tunnel testing of the Model 10 at the University of Michigan. Note the single vertical fin on this wind tunnel model. (Lockheed)
The prototype Electra was was used for certification testing. During a full-load test at Mines Field (now, LAX, Los Angeles International Airport) the Electra’s landing gear malfunctioned. Marshall (“Babe”) Headle, Lockheed’s chief pilot, flew the airplane back to Burbank and made a one-wheel landing. The prototype was slightly damaged but quickly repaired.
Lockheed Model 10 Electra X233Y at Union Airport, Burbank, California, before its first flight, 24 February 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)Lockheed Model 10 Electra X233Y at Union Airport, Burbank, California, before its first flight, 24 February 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)Lockheed Model 10 Electra X233Y at Union Airport, Burbank, California, before its first flight, 24 February 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)Passenger cabin of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, looking forward. (James Borden Photography Collection)Lockheed Model 10 Electra NC233Y at Northwest Airways, St. Paul, Minnesota, May 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)Lockheed Model 10 Electra NC233Y, Northwest Airways, St. Paul, Minnesota, 24 May 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)Lockheed Model 10 Electra NC233Y, St. Paul Minnesota, 24 May 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)
After testing was competed the prototype Electra was delivered to Northwest Airways, Inc., at St. Paul, Minnesota, in May 1934. The experimental registration was changed to a standard registration, NC233Y, and it was assigned the Northwest fleet number 60.
Like the Boeing 247, the Electra was originally produced with a forward-slanting windshield to prevent instrument light reflection during night flights. This resulted in ground lighting reflections, though, and was changed to a standard, rearward slant with the fifth production airplane. NC233Y was modified by Northwestern’s maintenance staff.
Lockheed built 147 Model 10s in various configurations. The first production variant was the Model 10A. It was 38 feet, 7 inches (11.760 meters) long with a wingspan of 55 feet (16.764 meters), and height of 10 feet, 1 inch (3.073 meters). The wings had a total area of 458.3 square feet (42.6square meters). Their angle of incidence was 0°, and there were 5° 34′ dihedral.
The airplane had an empty weight of 5,455 pounds (2,474 kilograms) and a gross weight of 9,000 pounds (4,082 kilograms).
Three-view illustration of initial configuration of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra.
The Model 10A was powered by two air-cooled, supercharged, 986.749-cubic-inch-displacement (16.170 liters) Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. SB 9-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6:1. They were rated at 400 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m at 5,000 feet (1,524 meters), and 450 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m. for takeoff, using 87-octane gasoline. The SB engines were direct-drive and turned two-bladed Smith variable-pitch propellers. The Wasp Jr. SB was 3 feet, 6.59 inches (1.056 meters) long, 3 feet, 11.75 inches (1.162 meters) in diameter, and weighed 645 pounds (293 kilograms). The engines were covered by NACA cowlings.
The airplane had a cruise speed of 190 miles per hour (306 kilometers per hour) at 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) and maximum speed of 215 miles per hour (346 kilometers per hour) at 8,000 feet (2,438 meters). The service ceiling was 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) and the range at cruise speed was 750 miles (1,207 kilometers).
The prototype Lockheed Model 10 Electra, NC233Y, after cockpit windshield modifications by Northwest Airways, Inc. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive, Catalog #: 01_00091576)
Newsreel footage of the Lockheed Model 10 prototype’s first flight, by cinematographer Alfred Dillimtash Black for Fox Movietone News, is in the collection of the Moving Image Research Collections, University of South Carolina, University Libraries, and can be viewed at: https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/MVTN/id/7073
The Electra was “the Lisbon plane” in the classic 1942 motion picture, “Casablanca,” which starred Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid and Claude Rains.
Probably the best-known Lockheed Electra is the Model 10E Special, NR16020, which was built for Amelia Earhart for her around-the-world flight attempt in 1937. She took delivery of the airplane on her 39th birthday, 24 July 1936.
Amelia Earhart with her Lockheed Electra 10E, NR16020, at Burbank, 1937.
The prototype Lockheed Model 10 later carried U.S. registrations NC2332, NC17380, and Canadian registration CF-BRG. It was placed in service with the Royal Canadian Air Force 2 August 1940 with the serial number 7652. One of 15 Lockheed Electras in RCAF service during World War II, it was destroyed by fire at RCAF Station Mountain View, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada, 14 October 1941.
Statement of Accident (Royal Canadian Air Force/Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum)
¹ Most sources cite 23 February as the date of the first flight.
² Many sources (e.g., Wikipedia) state that Lockheed’s Chief Pilot, Marshall Headle, made the Electra’s first flight.
Captain Geoffrey de Havilland, O.B.E., in the cockpit of an airplane, circa 1925. (Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
22 February 1925: At the de Havilland Aircraft Company airfield at Stag Lane, Edgware, London, Geoffrey de Havilland, O.B.E., took his new DH.60 Moth, c/n 168 (later registered G-EBKT), for its first flight.
The DH.60 was a light-weight, two-place, single-engine, single-bay biplane. The fuselage was constructed of plywood and the wings and tail surfaces were covered with fabric. The Moth was 23 feet, 5½ inches (7.150 meters) long with a wingspan of 29 feet, 0 inches (8.839 meters) and overall height of 8 feet, 9½ inches (2.680 meters). The airplane was designed so that the wings could be folded parallel to the fuselage, giving it an approximate width of 9 feet (2.7 meters).
The wings had a chord of 4 feet, 3 inches and the lower wing was staggered slightly behind the upper. Their total area was 229.0 square feet (21.3 square meters). The vertical gap between the wings was 4 feet, 10 inches (1.473 meters) and lower wing was staggered 3 inches (7.62 centimeters) behind the upper. Both wings had 3.5° angle of incidence and 3.5° dihedral. There was no sweep.
The DH.60 had an empty weight of 764 pounds (346.6 kilograms) and its gross weight was 1,650 pounds (748 kilograms).
An A.D.C. Cirrus aircraft engine at the Science Museum, London. (Nimbus227)
The Moth was powered by an air-cooled, normally-aspirated 4.503 liter (274.771-cubic-inch-displacement A.D.C. Aircraft Ltd., Cirrus inline 4-cylinder overhead valve engine with two valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 5.4:1. The direct-drive engine produced 60 horsepower at 1,800 r.p.m., and 65 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. The Cirrus was 0.983 meters (3.225 feet) long, 0.908 meters (2.979 feet) high and 0.450 meters (1.476 feet) wide. It weighed 260 pounds (118 kilograms). The A.D.C. Cirrus was designed by Major Frank Bernard Halford, who later designed the de Havilland Gipsy engine, as well as the Goblin and Ghost turbojet engines.
De Havilland built 8 pre-production and 31 production DH.60 Moths. 595 DH.60s of all variants were produced at Stag Lane.
The prototype de Havilland Aircraft Company DH.60 Moth, G-EBKT. (Unattributed)
On 29 May 1925, Alan Cobham flew the prototype from Croydon to Zurich and back in 14 hours, 49 minutes. Cobham also flew the Moth in The Kings Cup Air Race, though weather forced him to land short of the finish. It placed second in a follow-up race.
The G-EBKT was used as a demonstrator for de Havilland for a brief time before being sold to Sophie C. Elliot Lynn, 26 March 1926. She flew the Moth in the Paris Concours d’Avions Economiques in August 1926. (Mrs. Elliott Lynn later became Mary, Lady Heath.)
Sophie Catherine Elliot Lynn with her pale blue de Havilland DH.60 Moth, G-EBKT. (A Fleeting Peace)
In 1927, G-EBKT was sold to the London Aeroplane Club. It crashed at Dennis Lane, Stanmore, Middlesex, 21 August 1927, injuring the pilot and a passenger:
On Sunday afternoon, Pilot Officer Stanley Pritchard-Barrett, flying on D.H. “Moth” G-EBKT with his wife as passenger, crashed in the grounds of the residence of Major Sir Maurice FitzGerald,Bt. He was severely injured about his head, and his wife, who was a passenger, had a leg broken. The machine fell from a height of about 90 ft.
The London Aeroplane Club “Moth” is apparently a complete write-off.
—Flight
G-EBKT’s registration was cancelled 20 January 1928.
17 February 1956: Test pilot Herman Richard (“Fish”) Salmon made the first flight of the Lockheed YF-104A service test prototype, Air Force serial number 55-2955 (Lockheed serial number 183-1001). This airplane, the first of seventeen pre-production YF-104As, incorporated many improvements over the XF-104 prototype, the most visible being a longer fuselage.
Lockheed test pilots Anthony W. (“Tony”) LeVier, on the left, and Herman R. (“Fish”) Salmon, circa 1957. An F-104 Starfighter is in the background. (Jet Pilot Overseas)
On 28 February 1956, YF-104A 55-2955 became the first aircraft to reach Mach 2 in level flight.
The YF-104A was later converted to the production standard and redesignated F-104A.
Lockheed XF-104 53-7786. (Lockheed-Martin)Lockheed YF-104A Starfighter 55-2955 (183-1001), right profile. Note the increased length of the fuselage and revised air intakes, compared to the XF-104, above. Also, the XF-104’s nose gear retracts backward, while the YF-104A’s gear swings forward. (U.S. Air Force)
The Lockheed F-104A Starfighter is a single-place, single-engine, Mach 2 interceptor. It was designed by a team lead by the legendary Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson. The F-104A is 54.77 feet (16.694 meters) long with a wingspan of 21.94 feet (6.687 meters) and overall height of 13.49 feet (4.112 meters). The total wing area is just 196.1 square feet (18.2 square meters). At 25% chord, the wings are swept aft 18° 6′. They have 0° angle of incidence and no twist. The airplane has a very pronounced -10° anhedral. An all-flying stabilator is placed at the top of the airplane’s vertical fin, creating a “T-tail” configuration.
The F-104A had an empty weight of 13,184 pounds (5,980.2 kilograms). The airplane’s gross weight varied from 19,600 pounds to 25,300 pounds, depending on the load of missiles and/or external fuel tanks.
Internal fuel capacity was 896 gallons (3,392 liters). With Sidewinder missiles, the F-104A could carry two external fuel tanks on underwing pylons, for an additional 400 gallons (1,514 liters). If no missiles were carried, two more tanks could be attached to the wing tips, adding another 330 gallons (1,249 liters) of fuel.
Lockheed F-104A Starfighter three-view illustration with dimensions. (Lockheed Martin)
The F-104A was powered by a single General Electric J79-GE-3B, -11A or -19 engine. The J79 is a single-spool, axial-flow, afterburning turbojet, which used a 17-stage compressor and 3-stage turbine. The J79GE-3B has a continuous power rating of 8,950 pounds of thrust (39.81 kilonewtons) at 7,460 r.p.m. Its Military Power rating is 9,600 pounds (42.70 kilonewtons) (30-minute limit), and 15,000 pounds (66.72 kilonewtons) with afterburner (5-minute limit). The engine is 17 feet, 3.2 inches (5.263 meters) long, 2 feet, 8.6 inches (0.828 meters) in diameter, and weighs 3,225 pounds (1,463 kilograms).
Lockheed F-104A-5-LO Starfighter 56-742, with a General Electric J79 turbojet engine, circa 1957–59. (U.S. Air Force)
The F-104A had a maximum speed of 1,150 knots (1,323 miles per hour/2,130 kilometers per hour) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). The Starfighter’s initial rate of climb was 60,395 feet per minute (306.8 meters per second) and its service ceiling was 59,600 feet (18,166 meters).
The Lockheed F-104 was armed with an electrically-powered General Electric T-171E-3 (later designated M61) Vulcan 6-barrel rotary cannon, or “Gatling Gun.” The technician has a belt of linked 20 mm cannon shells. (SDASM)
Armament was one General Electric M61 Vulcan six-barreled revolving cannon with 725 rounds of 20 mm ammunition, firing at a rate of 4,000 rounds per minute. An AIM-9B Sidewinder infrared-homing air-to-air missile could be carried on each wing tip.
Lockheed YF-104A 55-2955 with landing gear retracting. (Lockheed Martin via International F-104 Society)
Lockheed built 153 of the F-104A Starfighter initial production version. A total of 2,578 F-104s of all variants were produced by Lockheed and its licensees, Canadair, Fiat, Fokker, MBB, Messerschmitt, Mitsubishi and SABCA. By 1969, the F-104A had been retired from service. The last Starfighter, an Aeritalia-built F-104S ASA/M of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana, was retired in October 2004.
While conducting flame-out tests in 55-2955, 25 April 1957, Lockheed engineering test pilot John A. (“Jack”) Simpson, Jr., made a hard landing at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) southwest of Edwards Air Force Base. After a bounce, the landing gear collapsed, and the Starfighter skidded off the runway. 55-2955, nick-named Apple Knocker, was damaged beyond repair. “Suitcase” Simpson was not hurt.
Lockheed F-104A 55-2955 was damaged beyond repair, 25 April 1967. (U.S. Air Force photograph via International F-104 Society)
Wilfried von Engelhardt tests the prototype Bölkow-Entwicklungen KG Bo-105 V-2, D-HECA, in an out-of-ground effect hover with engine cowlings removed, 16 February 1967. (Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH)Wilfried von Engelhardt (Académie de l’Air et de l’Espace)
16 February 1967: At Ottobrun, Germany, test pilot Wilfried von Engelhardt made the first flight of the Bölkow-Entwicklungen KG Bo-105 prototype V-2, D-HECA, a twin-engine, rigid rotor helicopter. Baron von Engelhardt took off at 5:04 p.m. The flight lasted 20 minutes. D-HECA was the second prototype. The first one was destroyed by ground resonance during pre-flight testing.
Messerschmitt AG merged with Bölkow-Entwicklungen KG in June 1968, becoming Messerschmitt-Bölkow. The following year, the new company merged with Blohm & Voss to become Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm KG, or MBB. The Bo-105 A entered production in 1970. A number of civil and military variants followed.
The Bo-105 is a 5-place light helicopter powered by two turboshaft engines. It has a four-bladed rigid (or hingeless) main rotor. This gives it a high degree of maneuverability, and it is capable of performing aerobatic maneuvers. The two-bladed tail rotor is mounted high on a pylon and gives exceptional ground clearance for a helicopter of this size. There are two “clam shell” doors located at the rear of the cabin section, giving access to a large flat floor. The helicopter has been widely used by military, law enforcement and as an air ambulance.
Bölkow-Entwicklungen KG prototype Bo-105 V-2, D-HECA, during flight testing. (Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH )
The Bo-105 is 11,86 meters (38 feet, 10.9 inches ) long with rotors turning. The fuselage is 8,81 meters (28 feet, 10.9 inches) long, with a maximum width of 1,58 meters (5 feet, 2.2 inches). The helicopter’s overall height is 3.00 meters (9 feet, 10 inches). The helicopter has an empty weight of approximately 1,276 kilograms (2,813 pounds), depending on installed equipment, and maximum takeoff weight of 2,100–2,500 kilograms (5,512 pounds), depending on variant.
The diameter of the main rotor is 9,84 meters (32 feet, 3.4 inches). The main rotor follows the American practice of turning counter-clockwise as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the right.) It operates at 416–433 r.p.m. (361–467 r.p.m. in autorotation). The tail rotor diameter is 1,90 meters (6 feet, 2.8 inches). It turns clockwise as seen from the helicopter’s left side. (The advancing blade is below the axis of rotation.)
Three-view illustration of the Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo-105 LS (lengthened cabin section). (Nordic Helicopters)
The prototype was powered by two Allison 250-C18 turboshaft engines, with increasingly more powerful 250-C20, -C20B and C-28C engines being added through the production run. The Allison 250-C18 is a 2-spool, reverse-flow, gas turbine engine with a 6-stage axial-flow, 1-stage centrifugal-flow, compressor section, and a 4-stage axial-flow turbine (2-stage gas producer, and 2-stage power turbine). The 250-C18 is rated at 317 shaft horsepower at 51,600 r.p.m., N1 (6,000 r.p.m. N2).
The helicopter’s cruise speed is 127 miles per hour (204 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed (VNE) is 135 knots (155 miles per hour/250 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level. The service ceiling is 17,000 feet (5,180 meters). The Bo-105 C has a maximum fuel capacity of 580.0 liters (153.22 U.S. gallons), of which 570.0 liters (150.58 U.S. gallons) are usable. The range is 691 miles (1,112 kilometers.
The original Type Certificate for the Bölkow Bo-105 A was issued 13 October 1970. Since then, the Bo-105 series has been produced in Germany, Canada, Spain, Indonesia and the Philippines. More than 1,500 were built.
Wilfried von Engelhardt tests the Bölkow-Entwicklungen KG Bo-105 V-2, D-HECA, at Ottobrun, Germany, 16 February 1967. (Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH)Charles (“Chuck”) Aaron demonstrates the aerobatic capability of the Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo-105 CBS-4, N154EH. (Red Bull)Baron von Engelhardt’s parents
Wilhelm Friedrich Franz Eugen Baron von Engelhardt was born at Schloss Liebenberg, north of Berlin, Germany, 11 September 1928. He was the son of the Rudolf Robert Baron von Engelhardt and Ingeborg Maria Alexandrine Mathilde Baroness Engelhardt (Gräfin zu Eulenburg), and the grandson of Friedrich-Wend Fürst zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld, Count of Sandels.
Wilhelm von Engelhardt had an early interest in aviation. His stepfather, Generalmajor Carl-August von Schoenebeck, a World War I ace, commanded the Luftwaffe flight test agency at Flugplatz Rechlin-Lärz, Rechlin, Germany. Von Englehardt was able to meet a number of well known German pilots, some of whom were guests at the family home. At the age of 16, he began flight training in gliders.
With the approach of the Soviet Red Army, von Engelhardt and his family fled to Austria. (General Shoenebeck was held as a prisoner of war until 1948.) He trained in hotel management in Salzburg. Following his release from Allied custody, General Schoenebeck formed Luftfahrt-Technik, a distributor for several aircraft manufacturers, including Hiller Helicopters.
With the assistance of General Schoenebeck, in the early 1950s von Engelhardt went to Paris, France, to train as a helicopter mechanic. He next became a helicopter pilot, then flight instructor, in 1958. He flew the Hiller 12, the Bell 47, and the gas turbine-powered Sud-Ouest Djinn. Von Engelhardt flew the SNCASE SE.3130 Alouette II in Papua New Guinea, 1961–1962, then returned to France where he trained as a test pilot at École du personnel navigant d’essais et de réception (EPNER) at Istres.
Von Engelhardt was recommended as test pilot for the Bölkow-Entwicklungen KG Bo-46, by the helicopter’s rotor system designer, Hans Derschmidt. The Bo-46 was an experimental high-speed helicopter. Von Engelhardt made the first liftoff of the prototype aircraft 14 February 1964.
Bölkow-Entwicklungen Bo-46 V-1, D-9514, with the Derschmidt rotor system. (Johan Visschedijk Collection, No. 6705/1000aircraftphotos.com)
Wilhelm von Engelhardt served as Bölkow’s chief test pilot, from 1962 to 1973. He then became the company’s sales director and director of customer service training.
With the Soviet occupation of eastern Germany, the village where Baron von Engelhardt was born was seized. It later came under the jurisdiction of the German Democratic Republic. Following the reunification of East and West Germany, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany held control of Schloss Liebenberg.
Schloss Liebenberg is now a hotel. (Michelin)
In 1996, without informing the local population, the Federal Office for Special Tasks Related to Unification, government’s privatization agency, placed the entire village, including the castle, the 13th century church, all the homes, farm buildings and stable, for sale. The asking price was so high that it was impossible for the villagers to come up with enough money to buy their home town. There was considerable outcry from the villagers, who said that they felt as if they, too, had been put on sale.
Baron von Engelhardt, who was living in a rented coach house on the estate that his family had owned for more than 300 years, gained international recognition for his attempts to negotiate a reasonable outcome.
With his wife, Evamaria, he edited and published Brücke über den Strom, (“Bridge over the Stream”), the letters of his cousin, Sigwart Botho Philipp August zu Eulenburg, Count of Eulenburg, a musical composer who was killed during World War I.
Wilhelm Friedrich Franz Eugen Baron von Engelhardt died 24 January 2015, at the age of 86 years.
Wilhelm Friedrich Franz Eugen Baron von Engelhardt (11 September 1928–24 January 2015)
