Wolfgang Von Gronau

Personal

Vocation

Notable

Family

German aviation pioneer who flew on a transatlantic flight on 18 August 1930 on a Dornier Wal —the old D-1422 flying boat that Amundsen had flown earlier. He took off from Sylt (Germany) through Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and Labrador, reaching New York City after covering 7,520 km (4,670 mi) in 47 flight hours. On 21 July 1932 von Gronau flew from Germany around the world on another Dornier Wal flying boat —named "Grönland Wal" (Greenland Whale)— with a crew of three people. He returned 111 days later, on 10 November, after having taken off from List auf Sylt westwards across Iceland, Greenland, Canada, the Aleutians, Alaska, the Kurils, Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malacca, Burma, Ceylon, India, Iran, Iraq, Cyprus, Greece and Italy, landing finally in the Lake of Constance after having covered over 44,000 km (27,000 mi). In 1934 he became the president of the Aeroclub von Deutschland and in 1935 Vicepresident of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Von Gronau was posted to the German Embassy in Tokyo as air attaché shortly before the outbreak of World War II. He lived as a diplomat in Japan until the end of the war, having reached the rank of Major general when the Third Reich was disbanded. He died in Frasdorf on 23 October 1977, aged 84. Link to Wikipedia biography