Hermann Isaak August Dorner was born on May 27th, 1882 in
Wittenberg, the son of a professor of theology. He was interested in
flight from early days and made his first glider experiments as a
teenager on the dunes of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), where the family
had moved. After a year of military service in the Navy he graduated as
Diplom-Ingenieur in shipbuilding in 1906.
After briefly working at a machinery company he received support from
the Berliner Verein für Luftschiffahrt and the Kriegsministerium to
make flying experiments. Together with his friend Gottfried Begas he
built a glider, which in 1908 made flights of up to 80 metres at
altitudes of up to 7 metres at Schöneberg. In the end of 1908 he
designed and built a 20 hp engine and a high-wing monoplane. He entered
the 1909 Berlin-Johannisthal aviation meeting, but with the untested
machine he could not achieve much. After the meeting he installed
himself in one of the empty hangars at the Johannisthal airfield. After
several crashes and rebuilds he won the third "Lanz-Preis" on
July 11th. This prize was awarded to the five first German pilots in
German machines completing a figure-eight flight around two markers,
one kilometre apart.
In September 1910 the "Dorner-Flugzeug-GmbH" was registered
and Dorner started a flying school. During the next couple of years he
developed new, larger and more powerful versions of his monoplane. One
of them set a passenger altitude record in 1911, but unfortunately
crashed fatally after the record flight. Dorner was not much of a
businessman and with money running out and without hoped-for military
orders the company was liquidated in the summer of 1913.
After the closure of his company Dorner worked as a teacher for
"Luftfahrerschule Adlershof" and then for the "Deutsche
Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt" (DVL). After brief periods at a
couple of other companies Dorner was employed by DFW. He designed the
unsuccessful T.28 "Floh" for them, but also more successful
multi-engine R-types. In 1916 he moved to Hannover, joining the
"Hannoverschen Waggonfabrik" as "Chefkonstrukteur".
He designed several successful types during the war. After World War 1
he worked with passenger plane projects and sailplanes, before leaving
the company in 1923.
Immediately afterwards he started the "Dorner-Ölmotoren AG",
which built light-weight diesel-engined cars for a couple of years
until it went bankrupt. Dorner then worked for other engine-builders
and travelled to the USA in 1926, working for International Harvester
and Packard, resulting in Packard's 1928-1929 pioneering radial
diesel aero engine. He returned to Germany in 1931, but there were no
openings for him, so he started a furniture factory in Hannover. The
money it generated enabled him to continue his research, which resulted
in several patents, for example for propellers and aircraft control
systems. During World War 2 he worked on submarine projects and
designed an air-launched "manned bomb", from which the pilot
would parachute to safety, for defence against bombers.
Dorner's properties in Hannover were destroyed or damaged by allied
bombings. After the war his assets in the USA were confiscated.
Although he received several awards and decorations he had little
income and had difficulty making ends meet. During latter years he
also suffered from effects of a concussion that he had suffered during
a crash in 1910. Dorner passed away from heart failure in Hannover on
February 6th, 1963.
Dorner qualified for German pilot's licence (No. 18) on Juli 26th,
1910.
Hermann Dorner participated in the following air race
meetings: