Editing Anselm Franz

{{Short description|Austrian engineer (1900 to 1994)}}

{{Infobox person
|birthname = Anselm Franz
|birth_date = {{birth date|1900|01|21}}
|birth_place = [[Schladming]], [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1994|11|18|1900|01|20}}
|death_place = [[Bridgeport, Connecticut]], U.S.
|occupation = Jet engine engineer
|education = [[Graz University of Technology]] (BS) <br>[[University of Berlin]] (PhD)
}}
'''Anselm Franz''' (January 21, 1900<ref>[https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/graz-seckau/schladming/17604/?pg=94 Birth Register Parish Schladming, 1888-1911]</ref>—November 18, 1994) was a pioneering Austrian [[jet engine]] [[engineer]] known for the development of the [[Junkers Jumo 004|Jumo 004]], the world's first mass-produced turbojet engine by [[Nazi Germany]] during [[World War II]],<ref name=AF>{{cite book |url={{GBurl|FW_50wm8VnMC|pg=PA234}} |title=Air warfare: An international encyclopedia: A-L |editor-first=Walter J. |editor-last=Boyne |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2002 |pages=234–235 |isbn=978-1-57607-345-2}}</ref> and his work on [[turboshaft]] designs in the [[United States]] after the war as part of [[Operation Paperclip]], including the [[Lycoming T53]],<ref name=AF /> the [[Honeywell T55]],<ref name="CTPost20110818">{{cite news |issn=1070-874X |work=[[Connecticut Post]] |title=Unsung aviation pioneer gets exhibit at Helicopter Museum |url=https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Unsung-aviation-pioneer-gets-exhibit-at-2117521.php |date=August 18, 2011 |first=John |last=Burgeson |access-date=January 1, 2022 |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220101054333/https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Unsung-aviation-pioneer-gets-exhibit-at-2117521.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> the [[AGT-1500]], and the [[Honeywell T55|PLF1A-2]], the world's first high-bypass turbofan engine.{{R|AF|p=[{{GBurl|FW_50wm8VnMC|p=235}} 235]}}

==Early life==
Born in Schladming, [[Austria]], in 1900,<ref name=AF /> Franz studied mechanical engineering at the [[Graz University of Technology]] and earned a doctoral degree from the [[University of Berlin]]. Franz worked as a design engineer at a company in Berlin, where he developed hydraulic [[torque converter]]s. In 1933 Franz joined the [[Sturmabteilung]].<ref>[https://www.graz.at/cms/dokumente/10327035_10900919/2e04cc04/Endbericht%20der%20ExpertInnenkommission%20f%C3%BCr%20Stra%C3%9Fennamen%20Graz.pdf Endbericht der ExpertInnenkommission für Straßennamen Graz], Graz 2017, p. 3, 27.</ref>

==Junkers Aircraft==
In 1936, he joined [[Junkers (Aircraft)|Junkers]],<ref name=JR /> and during much of the 1930s he was in charge of [[supercharger]] and [[turbocharger]] development.

Meanwhile [[Hans von Ohain]]'s first engines were being run at [[Heinkel]], although there was little official interest. [[Helmut Schelp]] and [[Hans Mauch]], at the [[Reichsluftfahrtministerium]] (RLM), tried to keep development moving through the "back door", attempting to interest existing engine companies in jet development. On one such visit in early 1939 Otto Mader at Junkers said that even if the idea was worth looking at, he had no one to run such an effort. Schelp suggested that Franz would be perfect for the job, given his experience in turbocompressor work.

The program was set up later in 1939,<ref name=AF /> initially consisting of a very small team drawn from the supercharger division. Unlike the Heinkel designs, the Jumo would use an [[axial compressor]], as opposed to the [[centrifugal compressor]], in order to have a smaller frontal area. With that exception the design was otherwise very conservative, a series of six flame cans were used for combustion instead of a single annular burner, and the [[compression ratio]] was kept low at 3.14:1. Franz decided to focus on development time-to-market instead of performance in order to avoid having the program killed off if it didn't produce a working engine quickly.

The first testbed run of the experimental '''004A''' took place in the spring of 1940, and had full speed runs in January 1941. The engine flew on an [[Messerschmitt Bf 110]] on March 15, 1942,<ref name=AF /> and after a number of these A models were delivered, the [[Messerschmitt Me 262]] first took to the air with the 004A on July 18. The RLM was finally interested in the design, and ordered 80 production quality versions. The new '''004B''' version included a number of changes, but ran into difficulty with vibration and fatigue problems that greatly delayed its service entry. It was not until the spring of 1944 that the engine was routinely lasting 50 hours and could enter full production. It nevertheless went on to power the majority of the [[Luftwaffe]]'s jet designs.

==Operation Paperclip==
After the war Franz moved to the United States as part of [[Operation Paperclip]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OoFcHOLpCskC&dq=Anselm+Franz+%2C+operation+paperclip&pg=RA1-PA338 "Aeronautical research in Germany: from Lilienthal until today, Volume 147"], Ernst-Heinrich Hirschel, Horst Prem, Gero Madelung. Springer, 2004. p. 338. {{ISBN|3-540-40645-X}}, 9783540406457.</ref> and worked for a time with the [[United States Air Force|USAF]] on engine-related issues at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]].<ref name=AF /> He was known to still wear his long leather, military coat from Nazi Germany in the United States, with the Nazi insignia removed.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GS0nWCig8MIC&dq=dr.+Anselm+Franz+%2C+nazi&pg=PA88 "Alden O. Sherman, an American Original: The Story of the Man and His Company"], Jane E. Sherman. iUniverse, 2004. p. 88. {{ISBN|0-595-30622-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-595-30622-0}}.</ref>

In 1951 he was hired to set up a new turbine division at [[Lycoming Engines|Lycoming]]'s otherwise unused plant in [[Stratford, Connecticut]].<ref name=JR>[https://books.google.com/books?id=znlqEwF-U5kC&dq=Anselm+Franz+%2C+born%2C+1900&pg=PA171 "The jet race and the Second World War"], Sterling Michael Pavelec. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. p. 171. {{ISBN|0-275-99355-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-275-99355-9}}.</ref> Here he decided to focus on engine areas not currently served by the larger companies ([[General Electric]] and [[Pratt & Whitney]]), eventually settling on [[helicopter]] engines. His first design, the [[Lycoming T53|T53]],<ref name=AF /> would go on to be one of the most popular [[turboshaft]] engines in history, powering the [[Bell Aircraft]] [[UH-1 Huey]] and [[AH-1 Cobra]] helicopters, and the [[OV-1 Mohawk]] [[ground attack aircraft]]. He followed this success with the larger [[Honeywell T55|T55]], later converting it into a small [[turbofan]] engine as well. In the 1960s he led development of a new design for [[tank]] use, which developed into the [[AGT-1500]],<ref name=JR /> used on the [[M1 Abrams]].

==Retirement==
Franz retired from Lycoming in 1968, having risen to vice president and assistant general manager.<ref name="from jets to tanks">{{cite book |last1=Franz |first1=Anselm |title=From Jets to Tanks - My Contribution to the Turbine Age |publisher=Avco Lycoming Stratford Division |location=Stratford, Conn. |page=79}}</ref> He died in 1994, holder of the U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, the R. Tom Sawyer Award from the [[American Society of Mechanical Engineers]], the Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art,<ref>[[:de:Liste der Träger des Österreichischen Ehrenzeichens und der Österreichischen Ehrenkreuze für Wissenschaft und Kunst|List of holders of the Austrian Decoration of Honour and the Austrian Crosses of Honour for Science and Art on German Wikipedia.]]</ref> and the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Star for Services to the Republic of Austria.<ref>[http://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/VHG/XXIV/AB/AB_10542/imfname_251156.pdf List of holders of Austrian decorations of honour]</ref><ref name=JR />

==References==
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[[Category:20th-century Austrian engineers]]
[[Category:Sturmabteilung personnel]]
[[Category:American engineers]]
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]