All Articles Tagged 'austria-hungary' (17)

If you looked at their mustard yellow and vibrant blue pants and chest covered by polished steel breast plate, you would not think the Pontifical Swiss Guard were real soldiers tasked with protecting the Pope. In fact the Swiss Guard are members of the Swiss military, trained not only in ceremonial duties, but…

Meet Oberleutnant Max (Maximilian Karl) Hesse.

Here he is, holding a dog, with Leutnant Rudolf Stanger. Hesse was not an ace but he had an illustrious war career, crash-landing in the enemy territory in 1914 and being the pilot of the first plane in history which corrected artillery fire through wireless messages (Jan. 12, 1915). Promoted to Hauptmann, he was…

21^st century online banking may have its advantages. But doing your transactions from the lazy couch with an iPad on your knees can of course not replace the stylish atmosphere of a proper bank building. Especially if it is the Postal Savings Bank in Vienna by Otto Wagner with its Dieselpunk features (have a look on those heating pipe exhausts).

Otto Wagner’s Postal Savings Bank is one of the earliest buildings marking the move away from Art Nouveau and Neoclassicism. It…

Jože Plečnik (1872-1957) created a unique architectural style, mixing Baroque and Secession, Classicism and Modernism.

His legacy belongs to Vienna, Prague and Ljubliana. In an alternate universe where the Austro-Hungarian Empire hasn't collapsed in 1918, he could be the Chief Architect of His Imperial and Royal Majesty. Instead, he helped to shape the…

Another forgotten chapter of the air war history:

The Lohner company Series 111 aircraft was an Austria-Hungarian prototype single seat biplane built in 1917 by Lohnerwerke GmbH. The fuselage was a laminated wood construction. The wing struts were an "I" requiring no wires tor structural stability. Power was provided by an Austro-Daimler engine generating 185…

Internal combustion engine + electric motor. 111 years old.

Ferdinand Porsche built the first standard hybrid power unit in 1900 for k.u.k. Hofwagenfabrik Ludwig Lohner & Co., a firm of coachmakers in Vienna. His Lohner Porsche ‘Semper Vivus’ featured two combustion engines and an electric hub motor, and could store energy in a battery.…

The name Porsche has been associated with pioneering automotive engineering innovations since the beginning of the last century. In 1900 Prof. Ferdinand Porsche unveiled his Lohner Porsche, an electric car with wheel-hub motors driving the front wheels. Soon after, this car featured all-wheel drive and…

Has it ever occurred to you that the most bizarre aircraft of the Great War were designed in Austro-Hungarian Empire?

Actually, these aircraft were designed in the Transleithanian part of the realm, by the Magyar Lloyd Repülőgép és motorgyár Részvény-Társaság (Hungarian Lloyd Aircraft and Motor Works, Inc.). Its main product, the C-Series observer/recce planes, were quite conventional.…

The Flight over Vienna was an epic action performed by Italian poet and nationalist Gabriele D'Annunzio on 9 August 1918.

He was planning it as early as in 1917, but his dream to fly over the enemy capital together with his friends Maurizio Pagliano and Luigi Gori (see Poetic Bombers) shattered when their Ca.3 bomber was shot by Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg on…

For any dedicated museum-crawler, the capital of Austria is a true paradise.

Art museums of any kind you like, Military Museum, Technical Museum, world's only Globes Museum... and the Tramway Museum in an old brownstone shed, just five minutes walk from Schlachthausgasse subway station.

In the courtyard there are historic tramcars ready for a sightseeing tour:…

11.11. Today, just a few photographs taken in the Military Museum in Vienna.

Gottfried Freiherr (Baron) von Banfield (6 February 1890 – 23 September 1986) was the most successful Austro-Hungarian naval aeroplane pilot in the First World War.

He was known as the 'Eagle of Trieste', being probably the only flying ace who flew a flying boat fighter to nine or more victories.

Of Norman origin, the Banfields were an Irish family in the…

I've already posted some pictures made in the Technical Museum (Vienna, Austria).

But the exposition is not restricted to the automotive items - there are much more and I hope they are worth a look. The museum, established in 1909 and opened in 1918…