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Yes..We lost Dieter Konig 20 years ago tomorrow.
I have many good memories from racing with Dieter Konig.
This is Paris 6 hours..and the red arrow is Dieter.
Joachim Mareth was my co-pilot for the race..(Dieters sisters son)..
We raced my Molinari with a Volvo Penta/König in the OE class.
Thanks for everything Dieter and R.I.P.
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König Motorenbau, Berlin (Friedrich Olbricht Damm 72) I
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dumperjack
day after tomorrow, before 20 years ago died Dieter Koenig....
the accident was on 16.08.1991, the following day he died in hospital.
on a small airfield near Berlin (the name of small city: Saarmund), he fell off during a test flight.
he tested an ultra-light flight - engine.
A week ago our son Hans and I visited Holger Arens at his factory in east Berlin. We'll post photos and a story later. He told us that the König factory is still there on Friedrich Olbricht Damm, the doors were simply shut when Dieter died, and that son Peter König occasionally sells some motor parts to König enthusiasts. That was during our annual vacation on the east German island Hiddensee ne of Berlin.
On the way back from Hiddensee to Austria yesterday we stopped and (with Wayne Baldwin's help with the address) finally found the factory's back entrance just before Peter and his sister Marion were about to drive away. I immediately recognized Peter from photos of Dieter. Peter asked who am I, noticed my Johnson cap, and was immediately very friendly (as was Marion) to an old boat racer. They had a duty to perform but nevertheless took time to show us the factory (I didn't find out if they speak English, but having grown up in west Berlin I assume that they do). As we walked inside the factory I said to Peter 'Wir sind auf heilige Grund' ('We're on holy ground'). When he took me into the test room he finally responded, 'Jetzt sind wir auf heilige Grund' ('Now we're on holy ground'). There were a pair of expansion chambers attached to a hose to send the exhaust out of the building. I didn't see the dyno but it was surely there. In another room we looked at rows of blocks and powerheads, a few with v-block reeds (experimental) but most with rotary valves. There were also the air cooled plane motors. Near the end Marion brought out a box of props, König, Wald (east German) and Dewald. There was an unworked König prop casting among the lot. Peter vaguely recalls being with his father once when the metal was poured (Marion thinks the molds may still exist) but he doesn't recall the foundry. The König prop has a blade shape that I'd build, so I bought it. I don't know which class motor it fits, will put it on my pitch gauge when I get back to Houston and then Wayne can tell me the class. It was a very pleasant and important experience for me to see the old factory, rows of parts complete with machines. Peter didn't want photos made of the machines because of what he saw as Unordnung. My German wife took one photo, she didn't hear him say that, and the machine shop looked fine to both of us.
The first photo shows the front, today, of the former factory building. The König entrance is at rear. Between the used car business and König is a small metal works. Wayne has posted (pg. 1) a photo of the front of the building from 1977, and fantastic photos from the inside. Presumably, that was during Wayne's trip to Berlin when he and Dieter went to a race in Austria on the Donau/Danube. I didn't ask Peter and Marion if the rent out the rest of the building, or simply sold it.
I told Peter I'll try to visit again next summer. Marion was kind enough to give me a stack of König decals before we left, now I'll have to put them on a JohnRude! Unless there are enough parts left in the stock to assemble a complete König. I'm wondering if the old 3 cyl. 500 cc model might be possible but would settle for a Boxer.... .
As an anecdote, I told Peter I was a factory-trained Mercury mechanic at age 14 and cringed every time I saw a König speed record listed in the NOA record book. that brought a smile.
Joe McCauley
PS I learned later via email that Peter is fluent in English.
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König Motorenbau, Berlin (Friedrich Olbricht Damm 72) II
I took the first three photos, the rest were taken by my wife, Cornelia Küffner.
Our 29 year old son, Hans, on the website is 'May Fly III'.
The nice finished prop shown is the König design that I bought yesterday.
Peter stated that Dieter made a pitch gauge (shown below) and that he
found that most props have pitch variation from one blade to another (true, excepting
Mercury, thanks to the Dick Snyder tradition). Dieter found that he could pick up speed just by getting the pitch (distribution) equal on all blades, but his blade shape is also decidedly better than that of many if not most racing props made today.
Did they carry hydros over to the canal (shown below) for testing?
For an update on what's going on today in Berlin in outboard manufacturing, look for my next post on 'Arens Motorenbau'.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dumperjack
day after tomorrow, before 20 years ago died Dieter Koenig....
the accident was on 16.08.1991, the following day he died in hospital.
on a small airfield near Berlin (the name of small city: Saarmund), he fell off during a test flight.
he tested an ultra-light flight - engine.
Way cool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posts like this are the reason there is a Boat Racing Facts....Joe: Great job, great photo's. The flat 4 with reeds and Rotax style porting would have been very interesting.
Peter looks so much like his dad.....
Michael D-1