Between 1910 and 1915, the aviation scene in Central Europe was dominated by a series of graceful, birdlike airplanes collectively referred to as Tauben (literally, “pigeons,” though English-speakers preferred to call them “doves”). Most were monoplanes with wings braced by a combination of wires and a girder-like structure underneath the wings called a Brücke (“bridge”). Their most characteristic feature was reflexed or washed-out wingtips that curved upward at the trailing edge, endowing them with inherent stability. In a time when aircraft were usually difficult and often dangerous to control, that alone made the Taube both popular and famous.
Germany built and flew the most Tauben before and during the first year of World War I. Indeed, by the end of 1914, Allied troops tended to use the term “Taube” for every German airplane they saw. Despite its Teutonic association, however, the Taube design originated in Austria-Hungary. And in spite of its avian shape, the Taube’s evolutionary process literally grew from a seed.
The Etrich behind the Taube was born in Trutnov, Bohemia—then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire—on December 25, 1879. He received his father’s name, Ignaz Etrich, but came to be called Igo. In 1895 the Etrichs, who owned linen mills in two Bohemian towns, became interested in the glider experiments of German aviator Otto Lilienthal (see the feature starting on page 44). Ignaz sent his son to school that year to learn the fundamentals of aviation, and then sent him to the Technical College in Leipzig.
In August 1896, Lilienthal was fatally injured in a glider accident. Determined to continue his experiments, the Etrichs purchased two gliders in Berlin, but in 1898 they began work on their own design. It featured a welded steel-tube frame, a tall three-wheeled undercarriage and a pilot’s seat, but the glider proved
