August von Parseval [SEP] place of death
August von Parseval
August von Parseval (5 February 1861, in Frankenthal (Pfalz) – 22 February 1942, in Berlin) was a German airship designer.
As a boy, Von Parseval attended the Royal Bavarian Pagenkorps in Munich from 1873 to 1878, where he took the "Fähnrichexamen" (cadet exams). He then joined the Royal Bavarian 3rd Infantry Regiment "Prinz Carl von Bayern". An autodidact, he busied himself with the problems of aeronautics. In the garrison town of Augsburg he came into contact
with August Riedinger and also came to know his later partner Rudolf Hans Bartsch von Sigsfeld, with whom he developed "Drachenballons": balloons used by the military for observation.
In 1901 Parseval and Sigsfeld began building a dirigible airship. After Sigsfeld's death during a free balloon landing in 1902, the work was interrupted until 1905.
By 1905, thanks to improvements in motor design, an appropriate engine was now available. His designs were licensed to the British Vickers company.
Up to the end of the First