Kurt Tank

Kurt Waldemar Tank
Prof. Dr. Dipl.-Ing. Kurt Tank, March 1941
Born	24 February 1898 Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), Province of Posen
Died	5 June 1983 (1983-06-06) (aged 85) Munich
Nationality	German
Education	Technical University of Berlin
Engineering career
Projects	Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Focke-Wulf Ta 152 Focke-Wulf Fw 200 FMA IAe 33 HAL HF-24
Awards	Honorary Professor with chair at Technical University of Braunschweig

Kurt Waldemar Tank (24 February 1898 – 5 June 1983) was a German aeronautical engineer and test pilot who led the design department at Focke-Wulf from 1931 to 1945. He was responsible for the creation of several important Luftwaffe aircraft of World War II, including the Fw 190 fighter aircraft, the Ta 152 fighter-interceptor and the Fw 200 Condor airliner. After the war, Tank spent two decades designing aircraft abroad, working first in Argentina and then in India, before returning to Germany in the late 1960s to work as a consultant for Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB).

Tank was born in Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), Province of Posen. His grandfather was a cavalry sergeant in the Uhlans and his father, Willi Tank, was a grenadier sergeant in the 3rd Division. When World War I broke out Tank wished to join the Deutsches Heer's then-named Fliegertruppe air service, but his father insisted he instead follow the family tradition and enlist in the cavalry. He ended the war as a captain, with many decorations for bravery.

After the war, Tank graduated from the Technical University of Berlin in 1923. A mentor from the university secured him his first job, in the design department of Rohrbach Metallflugzeug GmbH, where he worked on flying boats and assisted in the design of the passenger aircraft, the Ro VIII Roland.