Profiles and Background

Profiles

About Friedrich (Danny) Hildebrand

  • 1936 born in Dresden
  • 1939 to 1950 moved around a lot, due to war, evacuations etc.
  • 1951 to 1955 studied to become a motor mechanic in Hamburg
  • 1956 to 1958 Sailor on a Norwegian freighter „John Bakke“
  • 1958 Driver in the US Army in Frankfurt/Main
  • 1959 Salesman, including door-to-door sales, in Frankfurt/Main and Hamburg. Also in 1959 – all the way down: homeless bum out of the “Palette, ABC-Straße” with sleeping places in the waiting room of the main station as well as on the sidings of trains of the Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railroad)
  • 1960 to 1961 Owner of a Jazz-Club and a Restaurant in Hamburg
  • 1962 Film Editor
  • 1963 Detective
  • 1964 to 2002 Opened and ran a car repair garage in Hamburg
  • 1964 Married to Reni
  • 1964 Daughter Nadine is born
  • 1967 Daughter Susanne is born
  • 1972 Motor mechanic master exams
  • 1973 to 1993 Hobby pilot (various planes)
  • 1979 to 1997 Canada- and Alaska-Adventurer (triple crossing of Chilkoot Pass, and several 1000 paddel miles in a 17 foot Canadian, mostly with Bruno Benischek from Austria)
  • 1989 Guide for ZDF German Television (Dieter Kronzucker: „Abenteuer u. Legenden“) in Alaska and in the Yukon Territory
  • 1990 to 2002 volunteer Examiner with the Motor Vehicle Guild in Hamburg
  • 1979 to 1997 independant travel documentary and hobby film maker
  • 1998 Sports boat captains license, inland
  • 2002 Sports boat captains license, sea waterways
  • 2002 Sale of garage and subsequent retirement
  • 2002 Captain of a museum ship (Built 1930, 39 seats) in Hamburg/Oevelgönne
  • 2002 til today: various inland journeys with this ship (Elbe, Hamburg – Dresden – Hamburg, various trips in the Mecklenburg Lake District, Hamburg – Berlin,
    Upper- and Lower Elbe tours, Kiel Canal, from Eider to Tönning, occasional Charter trips)
  • Since 2003 Senior Foto Model (Best-Ager) for Television spots and Print
  • December 2019 Purchase of a 4k camera drone DJI Mavic 2 Zoom
  • January 2021 European remote pilot licence A1/A3
  • March 2024 at 88 still travelling by van, launch and bike

About Dr. Bruno Benischek

  • 1942 born in Gmünd/ Lower Austria
  • Grew up in the Czech border region in a custom house in Schlag near Litschau
  • 1949-1952 Elementary school in Schlag
  • 1952-1955 Grammar school in Zwettel/Austria
  • 1955-1960 Grammar school in Horn/Austria and passed the school leaving examination
  • 1960-1961 Served in the Austrian Federal Armed Forces including weapons training and a promotion to Lieutenant
  • 1961-1969 Studied medicine at The Unversity of Vienna
  • 1969 Passed as Doctor of Medicine
  • 1969-1970 Doctor on routine at the Gmünd hospital in Austria
  • Subsequently assistant in the private Surgical Clinic of Ahrensburg near Hamburg
  • 1977 Assistant Doctor and subsequently a surgical specialist in The Hamburg General Hospital in Wandsbeck
  • 1977 first trip to Canada (Yukon: Whitehorse to Dawson)
  • 1977-1982 Studied to become an Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Orthopaedic Clinic at Castle Werneck in Würzburg (during these years there were many canoe tours in the Yukon Territory and Alaska)
  • 1982-1983 Senior Physician at the Surgical Clinic in Ahrensburg
  • Since 1983 first Assistant Medical Director and then Senoir Physician of the Surgical Department of the Hospital in Scheibbs/Lower Austria
  • In the mean time, 14x in Canada – Yukon, Northwest-Territories and Alaska with over 7000 Miles in a canoe on various rivers – many with Danny Hildebrand from Hamburg
  • Further Hobbies: Hunting, Hiking, Golf, in the years before a private pilot in a few classes including Glider and light planes – Licenses are not currently valid: still travelling in Canada!!
  • Deceased in May 2018