Helga
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Helga is a self-taught luge world champion. On the left she can be seen at the 1957 "2nd Luge World Championships" in Davos, Switzerland (2nd Place). On the right on a double with Host Tiedge in the German Championships in Triberg, Black Forest in 1958 (1st Place).
And yes - just in case you're wondering: that is a football helmet she is wearing on the left. Sporting helmets were almost impossible to come by in Germany in those days. Her cousin Helmut of Lookout Mountain, Colorado,
gave her a present of his laid-off college helmet. |
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National Team Member and World Champion is welcomed back home by the Major of Bad Sachsa, Harz Mountains, Germany 1957. |
At the World Championships in Poland 1958 |
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World Champions 1957:
Fritz Nachmann, Sepp Strillinger (1st Place Doubles) Hansl Schaller (1st Place Mens' Single) Helga Müller (2nd Place Womens' Single) |
The Home Stretch in Davos 1957 |
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This is what you got for your efforts in 1957 (yes, the Edelweiss is real - picking it today might land you in prison): |
The emblem of the national team: |
Robert
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Early beginnings.
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1951 - allied command
re-allows gliding and ballooning in Germany. Robert and friends building an SG-38 "Schulgleiter", a club-buildable, rubber-launch training glider. |
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SG-38 taking off (Wikipedia free commons license) |
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Photos taken in Grenchen, Switzerland in 1953 |
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As can be seen from his flight log (below) Robert went solo after 2:09 hours and 55 landings of dual instruction.
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First double Page from Robert's first log-book
Postcard. Grenchen from the air in 1953.
At a time when Flight Schools still sent Post Cards and Christmas Greetings. Part of the Grenchen Flying School Piper-J3 "Cub" fleet.
Known to Swiss aviators as "das Piperli" ("little Piper" or "the Piperette"). Grenchen Airfield in 1957
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This is what a Swiss Pilot's license looked like in 1953
Grenchen airfield traffic in 1953 (AT-6). Flight instructor Beier on Nord 1001 (Messerchmitt Bf 108 "Taifun")
More airfield traffic ... including the Miles Gemini HB-EKS
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Helga's secondary education ended with an intermediate degree due to post-war complexities and her families many moves. Helga did a full apprenticeship to be a seamstress, went to fashion school in Zürich, Switzerland and worked as directrice (production manager) at Goldstart, Quaisser and Bogner in München. She designed cool couture, some of which she wore herself:
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Robert started his industrial career at Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugbau, which later amalgamated into Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke Fokker (VFW-Fokker) and again into Entwicklungsring Süd (EWR-Süd), which would then become Messerschmidt Bölkow Blohm (MBB), and today, Airbus. He left EWR-Süd and became the Senior Specialist for Manned Aviation Systems at IABG mbH (a Government Contractor for overseeing large military procurement contracts and a supplier of large scale test equipment) and a longtime member of NATO AGARD groups. In the late 80s/early 90s he was seconded to Brussels for several years to start the Aviation Department at the Directorate-General for Science, Research, and Development (DG-XII) at the European Commission.
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Helga and Robert met in Munich in 1961...
... and shared many interests.
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They got married in 1962
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My career in exciting vehicles began in 1963
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