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Title: Fete Aerienne: Geneve |
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Description: This Swiss poster advertises an aerial exposition that took place in Geneva on May 31 and June 1, 1925. The upper text names the “Society for the Development of Aviation” the official host. Below, bright blue, yellow, and red hues punctuate the scene with a sense of joviality and excitement. Five cartoonish airplanes soar through the air as white smoke trails each plane in loops and curls, suggesting the exciting feats the pilots have just performed. While some of the airplanes vaguely resemble the Blériot XI or Dormier Komet II, it is clear that the artist has taken extensive artistic license. Although a German firm, Switzerland played a unique role in Dornier’s history, particularly in the 1920’s. Originally of French decent, the Dornier family moved to Bavaria in 1871 |
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following the Franco-Prussian War (1870 – 1871). Thirteen years later, on May 14, 1884 Claude Dornier – future founder and principal engineer of Dornier Fluzeugwerke – was born. From an early age “science was his chief interest,” and Dornier graduated from The Technical University in Munich in 1907. Dornier immediately started work as an engineer and began to develop rigid airships. With the onset of WWI, Count Zeppelin saw a need to build military aircrafts and enlisted Dornier, allowing him to “use his own discoveries and design ideas for aircraft construction.” With Germany’s loss at the end of the war in 1919 and “with all hopes for successful further development destroyed, German aviation seemed to have come to an end.” Dornier persevered, however, continuing “his work against the dim prospects for the future.” Maintaining headquarters in Germany, he continued engineering technology and producing prototypes for an international market, working with foreign aviation firms such as Switzerland’s Ad Astra. In the early 1920s Dornier demonstrated the Delphin and Komet (a cartoonish version of which appears in this poster) in Amsterdam and Stockholm. In 1922 when all aircraft production in Germany became prohibited by law, Dornier relocated his operation across Lake Constance to Roschach, Switzerland. Despite the challenges for German aviation at the time, from there Dornier further expanded the company’s international presence. In 1924 he travelled to Japan when Kawasaki Dockyard Co. in Kobe, Japan took out a license to manufacture Dornier aircraft and lectured at Tokyo University. In this 1925 poster, instead of presenting a documentary image that advertises the appearance of any specific aircraft, the poster conveys a broader sense of excitement about the event. In the distance, one pilot ejects from his aircraft and parachutes down towards the ground. Once he lands he will meet two colleagues who, themselves, have just landed mere feet from a cartoonish monoplane in the middle of the exposition field. Hundreds, if not thousands, of spectators surround the field to watch the various fêtes aériennes performed. Moreover, the poster’s bottom text puts the viewer right in the audience proclaiming, “What you will see is the Air Show,” or ce que vous verrez a la Fête Aérienne, in French. The Swiss Alps – a symbol of national identity – rise in the background signifying that this is a distinctly Swiss event. The Alps also symbolize the contemporary wonderment of the fetes of aviation: before the advent of sophisticated aviation technology, the highest point man could reach was the top of the famous and rocky mountain range. As the planes soar high above the mountains, the wonders of man surpass the wonders of nature: man is now able to ascend beyond the Alps and take the skies. Notably, the Alps were used in other aviation posters in Switzerland throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s, including the Herbert Matter aviation posters published by the Swiss Tourist Bureau in the 1930’s. While Geneva paled in comparison to other French hubs, the city had an established history of aviation and balloon races. Geneva was home to the Switzerland’s national flying school, the École-Aero. Perhaps most famously, the Swiss city hosted the 1922 Gordon Bennett Balloon Race (also known as the Geneva Balloon Classic or the Coupe Bennett). Departing from the Tulieres Garden in Paris, the annual race began on September, 30 1906. The event came to be hosted in a different city every year and was thus a highly international event – race officials annually reached out to various, national aero-clubs, including the United States’. Though the race only took a few hours, by 1922 the race had transformed into an elite, though staggering, 10-day event including various parties and receptions. Speaking to the race’s esteem, competitors were often officially selected by their national governments, as was the case in the U.S. The 1922 iteration of the race was followed with great interest in the U.S. as American Major Oscar Westover won for longest distance covered, traversing a record 940 kilometers. Newspaper clippings from 1922, show the race covered in various press outlets throughout the country. Another notable Geneva aviation event was the 1929 Geneva Aircraft Show. If anything, however, it demonstrated the fact that Switzerland was really a second-tier aviation nation; especially compared to neighboring France. The event lacked representatives from many top-tier aviation firms. Those missing included some of the most famous French firms including De Havilland and Blériot. Still, reflecting the general international interest in aviation (and its subsequent events and mechanical fetes) one U.S. paper wrote: “A great number and variety of aircraft motors were exhibited by the firms specializing in this construction. The assembling and workmanship of these motors showed a noticeable degree of perfection in solidity and finish.” Despite some good press, Switzerland lagged behind other European nations in the international flying community. For example, Switzerland didn’t establish a national airline until 1931 when Balari and Ad Astra merged to form Schwerizerische Luftverkehr (Swissair). Turning back to 1925, the year of the Geneva event advertised in the poster, there were a few notable aviation developments that took place that year in Switzerland. According to Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, Switzerland developed three new aircrafts during 1925. The first was a two-seater Haefeli D.H.5. with a 200 horsepower Winerthur engine. The Haefeli planes were the standard aircraft of the Swiss army. This new iteration, however, had a top-speed of 108 mph and maximum climbing ability of 21,000 ft. The other two new models were Dorniers. Although Dornier was historically a German aviation firm, in 1922 it moved its headquarters to Rorschach, Switzerland when all domestic German aircraft production became prohibited as part of the aftermath of WWI. As described in Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, the Swiss firm was notable for its development of the Dormier D.1, “the first cantilever machine to be built with wings covered with uncorrugated duralumin sheet.” One of the new Swiss aircrafts in 1925 was the single-seat Dornier “Falke” Fighter, produced at the Dormier factory in Romanshorn, Switzerland. The cantilever monoplane was equipped with a Wright 340 horsepower engine and two machine guns. Its redesigned nose and new radiator were able to increase flying speeds and landing abilities. The aircraft had a maximum speed of 162 mph and a climb ceiling of 28,000 ft. Moreover, it was able to climb 1,000 ft. in just 1.8 minutes and climb 3,000 ft. in 6.5 minutes. The other Dornier developed in Switzerland in 1925 was the “Wal,” built at the factory in Rorschach, Switzerland. It was able to accommodate a wide variety of engines including two BMW 230 horsepower engines, two Maybach 260 horsepower engines, and two Hispano-Suizas 300 horsepower engines. |
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