Germany Credit - © Mark Wade

• German Diaspora.

• German Civilian Rocketry.

• Bitburg AB. Agency: USAF. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRCM Base. Latitude: 49°55' N. Longitude: 6°31' E.

• Cuxhaven. Agency: British Army/Germany. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Niedersachsen. Latitude: 53°52' N. Longitude: 8°42' E.

• Hahn AB. Agency: USAF. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRCM Base. Latitude: 49°50' N. Longitude: 7°15' E.

• Heidekraut. Agency: German Army. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Tucheler Heide (now in Poland). Latitude: 53°36' N. Longitude: 18°00' E.

• Heidelager. Agency: German Army. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Truppenubungsplatz Heidelager, Blizna, Krakow, Poland. Latitude: 50°12' N. Longitude: 21°48' E.

• Kummersdorf. Agency: Heereswaffenamt. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Kummersdorf-West. Latitude: 52°05' N. Longitude: 13°20' E.

• Neu Ulm. Agency: US Army. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 48°22'40" N. Longitude: 10°0'45" E.

• Peenemuende. Agency: German Army. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Heersversuchsstelle Peenemuende, Usedom, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Latitude: 54°10' N. Longitude: 13°48' E.

• Raketenflugplatz. Agency: Verein fuer Raumschiffahrt. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Reinickendorf-West, Berlin. Latitude: 52°35' N. Longitude: 13°21' E.

• Schwaebisch-Gmuend. Agency: US Army. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 48°48'54" N. Longitude: 9°48'29" E.

• Sembach AB. Agency: USAF. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRCM Base. Latitude: 49°31' N. Longitude: 7°48' E.

• V-2 Gruppe Nord. Agency: SS. Type: Ballistic Missile Launch Area. Location: Holland.

• V-2 Gruppe Sued. Agency: SS. Type: Ballistic Missile Launch Area. Location: Hachenburg, Germany.

• Waldheide-Neckarsulm. Agency: US Army. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 49°7'45" N. Longitude: 9°16'31" E.

• Wueschheim. Agency: USAF. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRCM Base. Latitude: 50°2'33" N. Longitude: 7°25'6" E.

• Zingst. Agency: German Army. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Latitude: 54°12' N. Longitude: 12°42' E.

• Kapani Tonneo. Agency: OTRAG. Operator: Germany. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Shaba. Latitude: 7°55'31.56" S. Longitude: 28°31'33.38" E.

• Tawiwa. Agency: OTRAG. Operator: Germany. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Latitude: 26°33'35.79" N. Longitude: 13°10'14.36" E.

• A1. - test vehicle - Status: Design 1933. First in series of rockets leading to V-2. Exploded at Kummersdorf during a test run. Considered aerodynamically unstable (a stabilising flywheel was mounted forward) and no launch attempts were made.

• A2. - test vehicle - Status: Hardware 1934. First flight test rocket in the series that led to the V-2. Two were built, dubbed Max and Moritz. Both were successfully flown.

• A3. - test vehicle - Status: Hardware 1937. The A3 was the first large rocket attempted by Wernher von Braun's rocket team. It was equipped with an ambitious guidance package consisting of three gyroscopes and two integrating accelerometers. The rocket was intended as a subscale prototype for the propulsion and control system technology planned for the much larger A4. All of the launches were failures, and a total redesign, the A5, was developed.

• A4b. - intermediate range boost-glide missile - Winged boost-glide version of the V-2 missile. The A4b designation was used to disguise work on the prohibited A9 program.

• A5. - test vehicle - Status: Hardware 1938. Subscale test model of A4 (V-2). Replaced the A3 in this role after its unsuccessful test series. The A5 used the same powerplant as the A3, but had the aerodynamic form of the A4 and a new control system. 25 all-up versions were flown, some several times.

• A6. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Design study 1943. The A6 designation was applied to a version of the A5 subscale V-2 using alternate propellants. It also seems to have been applied to a manned, ramjet-powered version of the A9 winged V-2.

• A7. - test vehicle - Status: Hardware 1940. Subscale test model of the A9 rocket. Considered for use as a weapon as well.

• A8. - cruise missile - Status: Hardware 1938. Planned stretched version of the V-2 with storable propellants. Never reached the hardware stage, but design continued after the war in France as the 'Super V-2'.

• A9/A10. - intercontinental boost-glide missile - Status: Development ended 1945. The A9/A10 was the world’s first practical design for a transatlantic ballistic missile. Design of the two stage missile began in 1940 and first flight would have been in 1946. Work on the A9/A10 was prohibited after 1943 when all efforts were to be spent on perfection and production of the A4 as a weapon-in-being. Von Braun managed to continue some development and flight tests of the A9 under the cover name of A4b (i.e. a modification of the A4, and therefore a production-related project). In late 1944 work on the A9/A10 resumed under the code name Projekt Amerika, but no significant hardware development was possible after the last test of the A4b in January 1945.

• A9/A10/A11. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1944. The A11 was planned at Peenemuende to use the A9/A10 transoceanic missile atop the tubby A11 stage to form the basis for launching the first earth satellite - or as an ICBM....

• A9/A10/A11/A12. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1952. The A12 has been named as the designation for a true orbital launch vehicle, as sketched out at Peenemuende. It would have been a four-stage vehicle consisting of the A9+A10+A11+A12 stages. Caluclation suggest it could have placed 10 tonnes into low earth orbit.

• ADLER. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1993. Ariane-5 derived semi-reusable proposal. Expendable fuel tanks but recoverable propulsion/avionics module.

• Astros. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1990. Under the Future European Space Transportation Investigation Programme (FESTIP) of 1994-1999 French agencies and contractors designed a number of alternative reusable space launchers. This one was a Sled-launched horizontal takeoff / horizontal landing single stage to orbit. Essentially similar to FESTIP FSS-4

• Beta. - VTOVL orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1969. In 1969 rocket pioneer Dietrich Koelle was working at MBB (Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm). There he sketched out a reusable VTOVL design called BETA using Bono's SASSTO as a starting point. The vehicle, taking European technology into account, was a bit heavier than Bono's design. But the thorough analysis showed even this design would be capable of delivering 2 tonnes of payload to orbit.

• Beta II. - VTOVL orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1987. Beta II was Dietrich Koelle's nominal 350 tonne lift-off mass SSTO design for launch of a 10 tonne European spaceplane.

• Beta III. - VTOVL orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1987. In 1969 Dietrich Koelle proposed his BETA III design. This was to deliver 20 tonnes to orbit with a launch mass of 600 tonnes. In 1996 and 1998 he updated the design for use as an ISS resupply vehicle in place of the shuttle, and as a space tourism vehicle for 100 passengers.

• Beta IV. - VTOVL orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1987. Beta II was Dietrich Koelle's largest SSTO concept, with a nominal 2000 tonne lift-off mass SSTO design and 100 tonne payload.

• Cirrus I. - sounding rocket - Status: Out of production. Cirrus I was a two-stage sounding rocket developed by the German Rocket Society in the late 1950's. It could carry meteorological or biological payloads up to a speed of 1000 m/s and an altitude of 35 km. All launches were made from Cuxhaven, and discontinued when the German government prohibited civilian rocket launches in June 1964. The propellant was developed by the DRG and fabricated at Liebenau Company for Production of Chemical Materials (GmbH zur Verwertung chemischer Erzeugnisse Liebenau).

• Cirrus II. - sounding rocket - Status: Out of production. Cirrus II was a two-stage sounding rocket developed by the German Rocket Society in the late 1950's. It could carry meteorological or biological payloads up to a speed of over 1000 m/s and an altitude of 50 km. The first stage produced 1800 kgf and the second 508 kgf. All launches were made from Cuxhaven, and discontinued when the German government prohibited civilian rocket launches in June 1964. The propellant was developed by the DRG and fabricated at Liebenau Company for Production of Chemical Materials (GmbH zur Verwertung chemischer Erzeugnisse Liebenau).

• Cobra. - anti-tank missile -

• DSL HTHL. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1990. Under the Future European Space Transportation Investigation Programme (FESTIP) of 1994-1999 French agencies and contractors designed a number of alternative reusable space launchers. This one was a Horizontal Takeoff / Horizontal Landing Two Stage to Orbit proposal with Mach 3 stage separation. Later evolved into the FESTIP FSS-11,which was merged with FSS-12. Reusable and expendable upper stage options.

• EARL I. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1987. Vertical takoff/horizontal landing two stage launch vehicle study from the 1980s.

• EARL II. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1990. Later EARL version from 1990. Parallel staging, both stages winged and recoverable. Expendable upper stage for heavy-lift missions.

• EHB LV. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1949. The EBH (Engel - Bödewaldt - Hanischlaunch) vehicle was a 1949 manned design which would had a gross launch mass of 220 tonnes and delivered a payload of 3 tonnes to a 557-kilometre orbit

• Enzian. - missile - German surface-to-air missile, tested during World War II but abandoned in 1945 in favour of Wasserfall.

• Forschungsflugkorper. - sounding rocket - Single stage vehicle consisting of 1 x FFK

• He-112. - rocketplane - The Heinkel He-112 was an unsuccessful pre-war German monoplane fighter, competing for orders with the Bf 109. However it entered rocketry history when tests were conducted with rocket engines.

• HW-1. - sounding rocket - Johannes Winkler was a founding member and president of the VfR. On 14 March 1931, his HW-1 lifted off from a field outside of Dessau, Germany, becoming the first liquid fuel rocket in Europe to be successfully launched.

• HW-2. - sounding rocket - Johannes Winkler followed up his experimental HW-1 by the much larger and ambitious HW-2, which had an aerodynamic teardrop-shaped outer shell and a very respectful fuel mass fraction of 72% using an aluminium-magnesium structure.

• Hytex. - rocketplane - Following the cancellation of Saenger II, Germany briefly considered a manned X-15/NASP type flight test vehicle (HYTEX) capable of Mach 6 flight. This too was cancelled for cost reasons.

• IRIS-T. - air-to-air missile - Under development

• Jumbo. - anti-ship missile - Cancelled 1975

• KEPD 250. - air-to-surface missile - Turbofan derivative of DWS 39

• KEPO 350. - air-to-surface missile - For use in Tornado and Eurofighter, derivatives for Gripen, F/A-18.

• Kumulus. - sounding rocket - Status: Out of production. Kumulus was a single-stage sounding rocket developed by the German Rocket Society in the late 1950's. It could carry meteorological, postal, or biological payloads up to a speed of 750 m/s and an altitude of 20 km. All launches were made from Cuxhaven, and discontinued when the German government prohibited civilian rocket launches in June 1964. The propellant was developed by the DRG and fabricated at Liebenau Company for Production of Chemical Materials (GmbH zur Verwertung chemischer Erzeugnisse Liebenau).

• LART. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1985. MBB/ERNO airbreathing horizontal takeoff / horizontal landing single stage to orbit proposal from the mid-1980s. Largely similar to the BAe HOTOL.

• Magdeburg. - sounding rocket - Rudolf Nebel's subscale prototype for a man-carrying rocket was flown eight times in 1933. Further tests were prohibited by the Nazi government. This would be the largest German rocket launched until the A3 in 1937.

• Mamba. - anti-tank missile -

• Maul Camera Rocket. - sounding rocket - Maul conceived of using powder rockets to launch film cameras for military reconnaissance in 1901, beginning an 11 year development process.

• Maxus. - sounding rocket - The MAXUS micrograviy program was a collaboration between Sweden and Germany. The single-stage vehicle developed for the program used a Castor 4B motor, the largest fired from Western Europe.

• Me-163. - rocketplane - The rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me-163 was the world's first and only operational pure rocket fighter and represented the culmination of Alexander Lippisch's years of research in rocketplanes, tail-less aircraft, and delta wings. As a weapon, the Me-163 had tremendous speed but very limited range. However the concepts developed by Lippisch contributed to the Space Shuttle and Buran orbiters of a quarter century later.

• Mirak. - sounding rocket - Mirak - a 'Minimum Rocket' - was conceived by Rudolf Nebel to demonstrate the practicality of the liquid rocket, using the thrust chamber developed for the abandoned Oberth rocket. Mirak was realised not by Nebel, but talented engineer Riedel. It flew over 100 times in 1931-1932 and convinced the German Army of the practicality of the rocket as a weapon of war.

• Mohr Rocket. - sounding rocket - Status: Out of production. Engineer Ernst Mohr of Wuppertal, under the auspices of the German Rocket Society, developed a sounding rocket that was designed to reach altitudes of 50 km. A solid rocket motor with 7800 kgf would take the separable payload section to a speed of 1200 m/s. The booster had a diameter of 0.30 m, a length of 1.7 m, a total mass of 135 kg including 75 kg of solid propellant. The payload dart was 56 mm in diameter, 1.25 m long, and had a total mass of 15 kg.

• Oberth. - sounding rocket - Rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth agreed to build and fly a liquid propellant rocket to publicise the Fritz Lang film Frau im Mond. Oberth's design was too ambitious and the rocket was never completed in time for the film's premiere. But the engine developed for it would be further refined and used in the Mirak rocket, flown in 1931-1933.

• Opel. - rocketplane - Fritz von Opel sponsored early tests of rocket-powered automobiles and aircraft, popularizing the idea of rocket propulsion in Germany.

• Otrag. - low cost orbital launch vehicle - Status: Out of production. $200 million was spent from 1975-1987 by Lutz Kayer in a serious attempt to develop a low-cost satellite launcher using clusters of mass-produced pressure-fed liquid propellant modules. The project was finally squelched by the German government under pressure from the Soviet and French.

• Paris Gun. - short range ballistic missile - The Paris Gun of World War I could hurl a 120 kg shell with 7 kg of explosive to a range of 131 km and an altitude of 40 km.

• Project 621. - sounding rocket - Dornier project of the early 1960's for a recoverable, reusable sounding rocket. The liquid fueled rocket would use a paraglider for recovery, and could be reused up to six times. Drop tests were made of the paraglider system in Sardinia in 1965 but no flights of the rocket itself ever took place.

• Puellenberg. - sounding rocket - Albert Puellenberg began construction of a series of increasingly sophisticated rockets in 1928. After further private rocketry development was prohibited in 1934, Puellenberg continued his work in secret, culminating with the extremely sophisticated VR12 rocket in 1938. This was the end of the line and the last privately-developed rocket built in Germany until 1956.

• Rheinbote. - surface-to-surface missile - Status: Production 1945. Director Klein and Doctor Vuellers at Rheinmetall in Leba had developed this unguided bombardment weapon. It was a four-stage powder rocket of minimum weight but a range of 120 km.

• Rheintochter. - surface-to-air missile - German surface-to-air missile, tested during World War II, but never completed development. The name translates as 'Rhine Maiden'.

• RWDT HTHL. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1990. Under the Future European Space Transportation Investigation Programme (FESTIP) of 1994-1999 French agencies and contractors designed a number of alternative reusable space launchers. This one was a Horizontal Takeoff / Horizontal Landing Two Stage to Orbit proposal with Mach 4 stage separation. Vehicle consisted of an unpowered 'reusable winged drop tank' and 2-engine expendable Ariane-5 upper stage.

• Saenger. - intercontinental boost-glide missile - Status: Study 1943. Saenger-Bredt antipodal bomber - sled launched, boosted to suborbital velocity, 'skips' off upper atmosphere to deliver bombload on target, recovery back at launch site. Fascinated Stalin, led to US Dynasoar project.

• Saenger I. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1969. Final version of the Saenger spaceplane, as conceived by Eugen Saenger during his lifetime. A rocket propelled sled would be used for horizontal launch of delta-winged, rocket-propelled first and second stages.

• Saenger II. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1985. Proposed two stage to orbit vehicle. Air-breathing hypersonic first stage and delta wing second stage. The German Hypersonics Programme and its Saenger II reference vehicle received most of the domestic funding for spaceplane development in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

• Schmetterling. - surface-to-air missile - German surface-to-air missile which completed development at the beginning of 1945. However it was never produced in appreciable quantities. The name translates as 'Butterfly'.

• Seliger Rocket. - sounding rocket - Status: Out of production. Berthold Seliger's firm designed a modular series of sounding rockets in 1961-1964. One, two, and three stage versions were built, reaching 52, 80, and 120 km altitude.

• Taifun. - surface-to-air missile - German surface-to-air barrage rocket, tested during World War II, but never operational. Copied in the USA as the Loki and in the USSR as the R-103. The name translates as 'Typhoon'.

• Tiling. - sounding rocket - Wing-recovered compressed powder rockets that set altitude records in Germany before being surpassed by liquid propellant designs.

• V-1. - short range cruise missile - Status: Out of production. First significant cruise missile. German engineer, Paul Schmidt, working from design of Lorin tube, developed and patented a ramjet engine later modified and used in the V-1 Flying Bomb.

• V-2. - short range ballistic missile - Status: Out of production. The V-2 ballistic missile (known to its designers as the A4) was the world's first operational liquid fuel rocket. It represented an enormous quantum leap in technology, financed by Nazi Germany in a huge development program that cost at least $ 2 billion in 1944 dollars. 6,084 V-2 missiles were built, 95% of them by 20,000 slave labourer in the last seven months of World War II at a unit price of $ 17,877. As many as 3,225 were launched in combat, primarily against Antwerp and London, and a further 1,000 to 1,750 were fired in tests and training. Despite the scale of this effort, the inaccurate missile did not change the course of the war and proved to be an enormous waste of resources. The British, Americans, and Russians launched a further 86 captured German V-2's in 1945-1952. Personnel and technology from the V-2 program formed the starting point for post-war rocketry development in America, Russia, and France.

• V-3. - short range ballistic missile - The V-3 Hochdruckpumpe (aka HDP, 'Fleissiges Lieschen'; 'Tausend Fussler') was a supergun designed by Saar Roechling during World War II. The 140 m long cannon was capable of delivering a 140 kg shell over a 165 km range. Construction began of a bunker for the cannons in September 1943 at Mimoyecques, France. The site was damaged by Allied bombing before it could be put into operation and was finally occupied by the British at the end of August 1944. Two short-length (45 m long) V-3's were built at Antwerp and Luxembourg in support of the Ardennes offensive in December 1944. These were found to be unreliable and only a few shots were fired without known effect.

• Valier. - rocket - Max Valier, first with the backing of automobile magnate von Opel, then in competition with him, was instrumental in popularising rocketry in Germany in the 1920's. He dreamed of rocket-propelled transatlantic aircraft, but was killed in a rocket engine test in 1932.

• Valier-Oberth Moon Gun. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1926. In 1926 rocket pioneers Max Valier and Hermann Oberth, members of the VfR (Society for Space Travel), amused themselves by designing a gun that would rectify Verne's technical mistakes and be actually capable of firing a projectile to the moon.

• Von Braun 1948. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1952. Von Braun's 1948 design for a reusable space launcher was remarkable in its tubby design. This was partly driven by the need for large parachute cannisters in the base of the first and second stages, which took up one half of the diameter, with the engines arranged around the periphery.

• Von Braun 1952. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1952. Von Braun's 1952 design for a reusable space launcher used the same mass and performance calculations done in 1948. However the large parachute cannisters were replaced by deployable drag skirts. This allowed the design to be substantially less squat and more elegant than the 1948 version -- but still fatter than the sleek paintings that appeared in print!

• Von Braun 1956. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1952. In 1956, for the book Exploration of Mars and the Disney television series, the 1952 design was significantly 'down-sized'. The first and second stages were simply reduced to 20% of their former size. A tiny expendable third stage replaced the manned glider. The manned glider itself became a seperate payload, that could be replaced by an 'all cargo' module.

• Wasserfall. - surface-to-air missile - German surface-to-air missile, tested during World War II, but never operational. Single stage vehicle, V-2 configuration. Copied in the USA as the Hermes and in the USSR as the R-101. The name translates as 'Waterfall'.

• X4. - air-to-air missile - Status: Development ended 1945. German wire-guided air-to-air missile. 8 kg of pressure-fed Salbei + Tonka 250 propellants provided a thrust that varied from 140 kgf down to 30 kgf over the 17 second burn time. Final velocity was 230 m/s.

• Zucker Rocket. - mail rocket - Status: Out of production. The Zucker Rocket was not an operational rocket at all, but a series of flashy-looking hulls powered by powder rockets like those used in fireworks. Zucker travelled through Germany in 1931-1933, displaying his rocket, selling tickets to launches, and then selling fraudulent postal covers carried aboard the 'flights'. The highest recorded altitude achieved in Germany was 15 m.

• A9. - Manned Rocketplane

• ABRIXAS. - Astronomy X-ray

• AEROS. - Earth Magnetosphere

• Ariane 5 EPS L10. - Tug

• Ariane 5 ESC B. - Tug

• Aussenstation. - Manned Space Station

• AZUR. - Earth Magnetosphere

• BIRD. - Earth Landsat

• BremSat. - Technology RV

• DIAL WIKA. - Technology

• Draeger Suit. - Manned Space Suits

• Equator-S. - Earth Magnetosphere

• GFZ-1. - Earth Geodetic

• He-112. - Manned Rocketplane

• Helios. - Solar

• Horus. - Manned Spaceplane

• Hytex. - Manned Rocketplane

• Inspector. - Manned Logistics

• Lofer Mystery Craft. - Manned Spaceplane

• Me-163. - Manned Rocketplane

• Mirka. - Technology RV

• ROSAT. - Astronomy X-ray

• Saenger I. - Manned Spaceplane

• Safir. - Communications Store-dump

• SAR-Lupe. - Surveillance Military Radarsat

• TerraSAR-X. -

• Tubsat. - Technology Communications

• Von Braun Rocketplane. - Manned Rocketplane

• Amelkina. - Dr Galina Vasilyevna Amelkina Russian Physician Cosmonaut. Born 22 May 1954.

• Axster. - Herbert Felix Axster Rocket engineer. Born 3 November 1899. Died 25 May 1991.

• Bachem. - Dipl-Ing Erich Bachem German Engineer. Born 1906. Died 1960.

• Ball. - Erich K A Ball Rocket engineer. Born 12 September 1901. Died 1990.

• Bauschinger. - Oscar Bauschinger Rocket engineer. Born 9 August 1911. Died 27 December 1989.

• Beduerftig. - Hermann F Beduerftig Rocket engineer. Born 17 May 1903. Died 1973.

• Beichel. - Rudi Beichel Rocket engineer. Born 19 August 1913. Died 25 October 1999.

• Beier. - Anton Beier Rocket engineer. Born 9 September 1906. Died 12 September 1960.

• Bredt. - Irene Bredt Engineer. Born 1911. Died 1983.

• Bringer. - Karl-Heinz Bringer German Engineer. Born 16 June 1908. Died 2 January 1999.

• Dannenberg. - Konrad Dannenberg Engineer. Born 5 August 1912.

• De Beek. - Gerd Wilhelm De Beek Rocket engineer. Born 13 July 1904. Died 2 December 1989.

• Debus. - Kurt Heinrich Debus American Manager. Born 29 November 1908. Died 4 October 1983.

• Deppe. - Hans Deppe Rocket engineer.

• Dornberger. - Gen Dr.-Ing E h Walter Robert Dornberger American Manager. Born 1895. Died 1980.

• Drawe. - Gerhardt Drawe Rocket engineer. Born 5 November 1910. Died 15 June 1996.

• Duerr. - Friedrich Duerr Rocket engineer. Born 26 January 1909. Died 20 December 2000.

• Ehricke. - Krafft Arnold Ehricke American Engineer. Born 24 March 1917. Died December 1984.

• Eisenhardt. - Otto Karl Eisenhardt Rocket engineer. Born 7 June 1905. Died 10 December 1986.

• Erdmann. - Siegfried Erdmann Rocket engineer. Born 1916. Died 2002.

• Ewald. - Dr Reinhold Ewald German Engineer Cosmonaut. Born 18 December 1956. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 19.69 days.

• Favier. - Dr Jean-Jacques Favier French Payload Specialist Astronaut. Born 13 April 1949. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 16.91 days.

• Fichtner. - Hans Joachim Oskar Fichtner Rocket engineer. Born 8 September 1917.

• Finzel. - Alfred Johannes Finzel Rocket engineer. Born 25 July 1916. Died 1 December 1984.

• Flade. - Klaus-Dietrich Flade German Engineer Cosmonaut. Born 23 August 1952. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 7.91 days.

• Fleischer. - Karl-Otto Fleischer Rocket engineer. Died Deceas.

• Fuhrmann. - Herbert Walter Fuhrmann Rocket engineer. Born 27 April 1912. Died Before 2005.

• Geissler. - Ernst Geissler Rocket engineer. Born 3 August 1915. Died 3 June 1989.

• Gengelbach. - Werner Kurt Gengelbach Rocket engineer. Born 29 September 1912.

• Gerhardt Bernhard. - Bernhard Gerhardt American Engineer. Born 17 December 1893.

• Gruene. - Hans Gruene Rocket engineer. Born 24 May 1910. Died 23 October 1980.

• Hackh. - Rudolf Hackh German Rocket engineer. Born 24 August 1900. Died 12 September 1950.

• Hager. - Karl Franz Hager Rocket engineer. Born 25 March 1903. Died Deceas.

• Haukohl. - Guenther Haukohl Rocket engineer. Born 27 March 1913. Died 9 December 2002.

• Helm. - Bruno Helm Rocket engineer. Born 31 December 1909. Died 2 December 1987.

• Hermann Rudolf. - Rudolf Hermann Professor. Born 1904. Died 1991.

• Heusinger. - Bruno Heusinger Rocket engineer. Born 27 May 1912. Died 1 April 1973.

• Hirschler. - Otto Heinrich Hirschler Rocket engineer. Born 14 December 1913. Died 2 February 2001.

• Hoberg. - Otto August Hoberg Rocket engineer. Born 5 September 1912. Died 3 February 1991.

• Hohmann. - Walter Hohmann German Spaceflight theoretician. Born 18 March 1880. Died 11 March 1945.

• Holderer. - Oskar F Holderer Rocket engineer. Born 4 November 1919.

• Holker. - Rudolf Franz Maria Holker Rocket engineer.

• Horn. - Helmut Horn Rocket engineer. Born 24 June 1912. Died 1994.

• Hosenthien. - Hans Henning Hosenthien Rocket engineer. Born 26 May 1905. Died 3 July 1996.

• Jacobi. - Walter Jacobi Rocket engineer. Born 13 January 1918.

• Jaehn. - Sigmund Werner Paul Jaehn German Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 13 February 1937. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 7.87 days.

• Kaschig. - Erich Kaschig Rocket engineer. Born 11 February 1906. Died 9 September 1988.

• Kayser. - Lutz T Kayser German Rocket engineer. Born 31 March 1939.

• Kepler. - Johannes Kepler German Scientist. Born 27 December 1571. Died 15 November 1630.

• Kissinger. - Henry A Kissinger American Manager. Born 1923.

• Klaus. - Ernst E Klaus Rocket engineer. Born 9 May 1914. Died 1986.

• Klein Johann. - Johann Klein Rocket engineer. Born 10 March 1915.

• Koelle. - Prof. Dr-Ing Heinz-Hermann Koelle American Rocket engineer. Born 1925.

• Koellner. - Eberhard Koellner German Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 29 September 1939.

• Kuers. - Werner Kuers Rocket engineer. Born 18 April 1907. Died 14 May 1983.

• Kurzweg. - Hermann H Kurzweg American Engineer. Born 1 January 1908. Died 29 June 2000.

• Lange Hermann. - Hermann E Lange Rocket engineer. Born 23 October 1906. Died 3 July 1997.

• Leust. - Reimar Leust German Manager. Born 1923.

• Ley. - Willy Ley American Writer. Born 2 October 1906. Died 24 May 1969.

• Lindenmayer. - Hans Josef Lindenmayer Rocket engineer. Born 19 October 1912.

• Luehrsen. - Hannes Luehrsen Architect. Born 13 March 1907. Died January 1986.

• Mark. - Hans Mark American Manager. Born 1929.

• Merbold. - Dr Ulf Dietrich Merbold German Payload Specialist Astronaut. Born 20 June 1941. Number of Flights: 3.00. Total Time: 49.90 days.

• Merk Ernst. - Ernst Helmut Merk Rocket engineer. Born 1 April 1911. Died Deceas.

• Messerschmid. - Dr Ernst Willi Messerschmid German Payload Specialist Astronaut. Born 1 May 1945. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 7.03 days.

• Michel Josef. - Josef Martin Michel Rocket engineer. Born 19 October 3797. Died 29 June 1997.

• Minning. - Rudolf Friederich Franz Minning Rocket engineer. Born 8 May 1914. Died 11 September 1998.

• Morgenstern. - Oskar Morgenstern American Manager. Born 24 January 1902. Died 1 July 1977.

• Mueller Fritz. - Fritz Mueller Engineer. Born 27 October 1907. Died 15 May 2001.

• Nebel. - Rudolf Nebel German Engineer. Born 21 March 1894. Died 18 September 1978.

• Nowak Max. - Max Ernst Nowak Rocket engineer. Born 28 September 1908. Died 24 July 1998.

• Opel. - Fritz von Opel German Manager. Born 4 May 1899. Died 8 April 1971.

• Patt. - Kurt Paul Erich Patt Rocket engineer. Born 18 March 1913. Died 1 April 1969.

• Paul. - Hans Paul Rocket engineer. Born 15 April 1909. Died 5 May 1980.

• Puellenberg. - Albert Puellenberg German Engineer. Born 3 July 1913.

• Rees. - Eberhard Friedrich Michael Rees American Manager. Born 28 April 1908. Died 2 April 1998.

• Reiter. - Thomas Arthur Reiter German Engineer Cosmonaut. Born 23 May 1958. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 350.23 days.

• Riedel Klaus. - Klaus Erhardt Riedel ("Riedel II") German Engineer. Born 1907. Died 9 August 1944.

• Riedel Walter. - Walter J H "Papa" Riedel ("Riedel I") German Engineer. Born 1902. Died 1968.

• Roth. - Ludwig Roth Engineer. Born 10 June 1909. Died Novemb.

• Schaper. - Otto Friedrich Schaper Rocket engineer. Born 26 October 1892. Died 1 November 1967.

• Schilling. - Martin Schilling Rocket engineer. Born 1 October 1911. Died April .

• Schlegel. - Hans Wilhelm Schlegel German Mission Specialist Astronaut. Born 3 August 1951. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 9.99 days.

• Schlidt. - Rudolf Karl Hans Schlidt Rocket engineer. Born 15 July 1914.

• Schlitt. - Helmut Wilhelm Emil Schlitt Rocket engineer. Born 15 March 1912. Died Deceas.

• Schmidt. - Helmut Heinrich Schmidt Rocket engineer.

• Schnarowski. - Heinz Ludwig Schnarowski Rocket engineer. Born 3 June 1910. Died 1 January 2005.

• Schriever. - Bernard A Schriever American Manager. Born 14 September 1910. Died 20 June 2005.

• Schuler. - Albert E Schuler Rocket engineer. Born 16 May 1915. Died 10 July 1998.

• Simon. - Dr George Warren Simon American Payload Specialist Astronaut. Born 22 April 1934.

• Staats. - Friedrich Staats German Engineer. Born 27 October 1913. Died 30 May 2002.

• Stuhlinger. - Ernst Stuhlinger American Engineer. Born 19 December 1913.

• Thiele. - Gerhard Julius Paul Thiele German Mission Specialist Astronaut. Born 2 September 1953. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 11.24 days.

• Thorne. - Steven Douglas Thorne American Mission Specialist Astronaut. Born 11 February 1953. Died 24 May 1986.

• Urbanski. - Arthur P Urbanski Engineer. Born 24 January 1900. Died 1 January 1977.

• Utsch. - Albert Utsch American Engineer. Born 2 March 1902. Died 1 October 1970.

• Vandersee. - Fritz Vandersee Rocket engineer. Born 22 June 1918. Died 1 March 1975.

• Von Braun. - Wernher Von Braun American Engineer. Born 23 March 1912. Died 16 June 1977.

• Von Braun Magnus. - Freiherr Magnus von Braun Rocket engineer. Born 10 May 1919. Died 21 June 2003.

• Walpot. - Heike Walpot German Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 19 June 1960.

• Walter. - Dr Ulrich Hans Walter German Payload Specialist Astronaut. Born 9 February 1954. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 9.99 days.

• Wiesemann. - Walter Fritz Wiesemann Rocket technician. Born 30 August 1920. Died 11 July 2000.

• Winkler. - Johannes Winkler German Engineer. Born 29 May 1897. Died 27 December 1947.

• Woerdemann. - Hugo H Woerdemann Engineer. Born 21 February 1915. Died 24 June 1999.

• Zolke. - Helmut Max Arthur Zolke Rocket engineer. Born 9 May 1915.

• Zucker. - Gerhard Zucker German Engineer. Born 1900. Died 1985.

• Furrer. - Dr Reinhard Alfred Furrer German Payload Specialist Astronaut. Birth Country: Austria. Born 25 November 1940. Died 19 September 1995. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 7.03 days.

• Oberth. - Hermann Julius Oberth German Scientist. Birth Country: Romania. Born 25 June 1894. Died 1989.

• Saenger. - Eugen Albert Saenger German Engineer. Birth Country: Czech Republic. Born 22 September 1905. Died 10 February 1964.

• Seliger. - Berthold Seliger German Engineer. Birth Country: Czech Republic. Born 1928.

• Valier. - Max Valier German Engineer. Birth Country: Italy. Born 9 February 1895. Died 17 May 1930.

1912 March 23 -

• Wernher von Braun born in in Wirsitz, Posen. Von Braun was the second of three sons born to Baron Magnus von Braun and Baroness Emmy von Quistorp. Level: 1.

• Paris Gun begins bombardment of Paris Apogee: 40 km (24 mi). The rail-mounted weapon could hurl a 120 kg shell with 7 kg of explosive to a range of 131 km. During the 170 second trajectory the shell reached a maximum altitude at the edge of space - 40 km. This was the highest altitude attained by a man-made object until the first successful V-2 flight. From March through August of 1918, three of the guns shot 351 shells at Paris from the woods of Crepy, killing 256 and wounding 620. As a military weapon the gun was a failure - the payload was minuscule, the barrel needed replacement after 65 shots, and the accuracy was only good enough for city-sized targets. But as a psychological tool it was remembered when the V-1, V-2 and V-3 weapons were being developed two decades later.Level: 1.

• Treaty loophole permits German rocket development. Signing of Treaty of Versailles disarmed Germany of a military air force but did not include rockets as potential weapons, thus leaving Germany free under international law to develop them. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Oberth proposes circumlunar flight In a discussion of the uses of an interplanetary rocket, Hermann Oberth proposed circumlunar flight to explore the hidden face of the moon and discussed the possibility of storing cryogenic fuels in space. A spacecraft could rendezvous and dock in earth orbit with a fuel capsule. When the spacecraft reached the vicinity of a planet, it would detach itself from the capsule and descend to the surface. On departure, the spacecraft would ascend and reconnect to its fuel supply for the return trip.References: 16. Level: 1.

• Die Rakete zu den Planetenräume published. Die Rakete zu den Planetenräume (The Rocket Into Interpanetary Space) by Hermann Oberth was published in Germany, and was the genesis for considerable discussion of rocket propulsion. The book would have a huge and life-changing impact on ten year old Wernher Von Braun.References: 17. Level: 1.

• Valier-Oberth Moon Gun In the 1920's members of the VfR (Society for Space Travel) amused themselves by redesigning Verne's moon gun. In 1926 rocket pioneers Max Valier and Hermann Oberth designed a gun that would rectify Verne's technical mistakes and be actually capable of firing a projectile to the moon.Level: 1.

• VfR established. Johannes Winkler forms the first society for space travel in Breslau. The Society for Space Travel (Verein fuer Raumschiffahrt), is better known by its abbreviation 'VfR'. From the three people that attended the first meeting, it would grow to 500 members within the year, including most of the European space pioneers - Oberth, Hohmann, von Hoefft, von Pirquet, Rynin, and Esnault-Petrie.References: 17. Level: 1.

• Von Pirquet Moon Gun Further improvements to the Valier-Oberth gun were suggested by Willy Ley and Baron Guido von Pirquet of Vienna. To achieve the necessary muzzle velocity, it would be necessary to construct the gun with angled lateral chambers. These design concepts would be put to military use in the V-3 Hochdruckpumpe cannon of World War II.Level: 1.

• First rocket car Max Valier campaigned to get automobile magnate Fritz von Opel interested in rocket-powered automobiles. Valier proposed to use different combinations of compressed black powder rockets manufactured by Friedrich Wilhelm Sander of Wesermuende. Sander's rockets were 80 cm long, 12.5 cm in diameter, and could came in two versions. The centre-bore rockets provided 180 kgf for 3 seconds, while the end-burners provided 20 kgf for 30 seconds. Valier proposed to use combinations of these motors to first boost an automobile to high speed with the high-thrust rockets, then use low-thrust units to maintain velocity. This had no practical application but would demonstrate the potential of rockets to the German public, at the same time giving Opel publicity. The first secret test, at Ruesselsheim, used a one high thrust and one low thrust motor in a small stock Opel. The results were unimpressive - the vehicle went only 140 m in 35 seconds.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Opel Rak After two tests the day before, which showed that a good fraction of Brander's rockets would either fail to ignite or explode, Valier made the first official rocket car run for the press. Of 12 rockets attached to the 'Rak' vehicle (a motor car stripped of engine and brakes), five failed to function, but the vehicle reached 110 kph and the press was mightily impressed. Opel received an unexpected amount of free publicity and funded Valier in further rocket car development.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Opel Rak II Fritz von Opel personally drives rocket-car Opel Rak II, equipped with 24 Brander powder rockets, to 200 kph at Berlin. The same day Oberth is debating the German scientific establishment, trying to overturn their belief that space flight using liquid rockets is theoretically impossible. The VfR regard Valier's experiments with Opel as publicity stunts, threatening the credibility of their society.References: 47. Level: 1.

• First manned rocket-powered aircraft flight. Crew: Stamer. A rocket-boosted glider is flown by Friedrich Stamer from the Rhoen Mountains in Western Germany. The development was funded by Opel, the canard-layout glider designed by Hans Lippisch, and the powder rockets developed by Sander. As in the Opel ground vehicles, a boost rocket (360 kgf for 3 seconds) was to accelerate the glider down the launch ramp. A sustainer rocket (20 kgf for 30 seconds) would keep the aircraft in flight. It was hoped to develop a method of launching gliders that would allow the pilot to get airborne without assistance - that did not require a tow aircraft or the eight-man crew needed to pull back the rubber band on existing rail launchers. Tests with smaller motors in models showed the high-thrust motors were too powerful, so the full-scale tests used a standard rubber-band rail launcher with only the low thrust motors installed. After two attempted flights, Stamer finally made a successful flight, firing two 20 kgf motors one after the other. The glider flew about 1.5 km in 70 seconds. On the second flight the first motor exploded, setting the aircraft on fire. Stamer landed successfully but further attempts were abandoned.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Opel Rak III The third Opel rocket-car is mounted on railroad tracks near Celle. The first run, with 10 rockets, reached 290 kph. A second run, with 24 rockets, jumped the tracks and demolished the vehicle. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Opel Rak IV The fourth Opel rocket-car is destroyed when one motor explodes, setting off all off the other motors simultaneously. The car jumps off the tracks at the start. Rail authorities prohibit further experiments and Opel Rak V never runs. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Noordung orbiting space observatory Spacecraft: Noordung. Hermann Noordung (pseudonym for Capt. Potocnik of the Austrian Imperial Army) expanded the ideas of Hermann Oberth on space flight in a detailed description of an orbiting space observatory. The problems of weightlessness, space communications, maintaining a livable environment for the crew, and extravehicular activity were considered. Among the uses of such an observatory were chemical and physical experiments in a vacuum, telescopes of great size and efficiency, detailed mapping of the earth's surface, weather observation, surveillance of shipping routes, and military reconnaissance.References: 16. Level: 1.

• First JATO takeoff. Use of a battery of solid-propellant rockets on Junkers-33 seaplane, the first recorded jet-assisted take-off of an airplane, made in tests near Dessau, Germany. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Opel Sander Rak 1 flies. Crew: Opel. Opel sponsored resumption of tests of rocket-boosted gliders near Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. These involved a design by Lippisch, boosted by 16 powder rockets of 23 kgf each. With Opel at the controls, the glider successfully launched itself from a 20-m long rail launcher, and he flew the aircraft for ten minutes. However the landing went badly - the design had a landing speed of 160 kph, and with a total weight of 270 kg, a high wing loading. Opel survived but the glider had to be written off. This was Opel's last involvement with rocketry. General Motors, the majority owner of the Opel company, prohibited further rocketry work after the stock market crash. Fritz von Opel left the country and moved to Switzerland.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Frau im Mond (The Girl in the Moon) premieres in Berlin. The film, directed by Fritz Lang, with Hermann Oberth as technical consultant, provided a realistic portrayal of the rollout and launch of a liquid-propellant booster sending a manned expedition to the moon. Lang provided Oberth with funds to build and launch a liquid-propellant rocket to publicise the film. Oberth's rocket, using a conical combustion chamber to mix liquid oxygen and gasoline, was 1.8 m tall and was to have been launched to an altitude of 64 km over the Baltic Sea from Greifswalder Oie. One of the assistants hired by Oberth to fabricate the rocket was Rudolph Nebel, a World War I fighter pilot with (unfortunately) little actual engineering experience. Oberth also had no practical engineering or organizational ability, and was unable to produce the liquid rocket in the four months allotted. He then turned to an 11-m tall hybrid rocket that was to burn a to-be-determined carbon compound with liquid oxygen. This also proved impossible, and Oberth simply gave up and left town - returning, however, for the film's premiere. Ufa studios took ownership of the unfinished rockets.References: 47. Level: 1.

• VfR regroups Winkler had resigned as president. Oberth is back in Berlin, and a meeting is held, with Nebel, Wurm, Oberth, Klaus Riedel, Winkler, and Willy Ley in attendance. It was decided to try and get the Oberth rocket materials back from Ufa and press on to demonstrate flight of a liquid propellant rocket. For this purpose the Oberth rocket was much too ambitious and probably wouldn't work anyway. Nebel proposes building a new 'Minimum Rakete' or 'Mirak' to demonstrate that it could be done. Work begins to obtain funds to ground test and perfect Oberth's 'Kegelduese' conical rocket motor.References: 47. Level: 1.

• VfR bankrupt. Nebel, general secretary of the VfR, files bankruptcy papers with the German courts. However he does not inform any of the other members of his actions. The fact is not known until 1933. References: 47. Level: 1.

• VfR evening in Berlin The VfR presents itself to the scientific community in Berlin. Winkler gives a lecture at the auditorium of the Central Post Office, and the Oberth rocket, Kegelduese, and other articles are displayed. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Valier rocket car Valier has arranged for Dr Weyland to develop a new, powerful liquid rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and gasoline. The car made its first slow run this day, but combustion of the motor was poor and acceleration of the vehicle low. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Valier killed in rocket engine explosion While working in Dr Weyland's laboratory on Saturday, the combustion chamber explodes, and a metal splinters pierces Valier's aorta, killing him immediately. References: 47. Level: 1.

• VfR demonstrates rocket motor to German government officials The VfR fires its 'Kegelduese' liquid oxygen and gasoline-fueled rocket motor in a demonstration for the Director of the Chemisch-Technische Reichsanstalt in an attempt to secure financial support. Nebel had arranged the demonstration and runs the Kegelduese for 90 seconds. It generates 7 kgf and consumes 6 kg of liquid oxygen and 1 kg of gasoline in that time (specific impulse 90 seconds). Participating are Oberth, Nebel, Riedel, Ley, and Von Braun. Nebel's Mirak is not yet ready to test.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak experiments Nebel and Riedel conduct a series of tests of the Mirak rocket at the farm of Riedel's grandparents near Bernstadt, Saxony. They slowly perfect the motor, finally achieving significant net thrust by September, when the motor explodes, ending the test series.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Raketenflugplatz Berlin Nebel signs the $4/year lease for the worlds first 'Rocket Port', an abandoned German army munitions storage area on 10 square kilometres on Tegeler Weg in the Berlin northern suburb of Reinickendorf. The numerous bunkers are ideal for rocket motor tests. References: 47, 394. Level: 1.

• Kummersdorf selected for missile development. German Army Ordnance Office, after reviewing work of Goddard and others, decided to establish rocket program and to equip artillery proving ground at Kummersdorf to develop military missiles. The German Army issues the first budget for rocket development - 5,000 Reichsmarks.References: 17. Level: 1.

• Poggensee instrumented rocket reaches 450 m. Apogee: 0.45 km (0.28 mi). Karl Poggensee launched a powder rocket at a field near Berlin. Although the rocket technology did not represent a forward step, the rocket was was instrumented with a barometer, a camera, and a velocity measurement device. The rocket also set an altitude mark that Winkler, Nebel, and the other German liquid rocketeers had to beat in order to prove the superiority of the liquid fuel rocket.Level: 1.

• Winkler HW-1 rocket - first liquid-fuel rocket in Europe. Apogee: 0.0030 km (0.0019 mi). Funded by a Mr Hueckel, Winkler flies the first European liquid propellant rocket at Dessau, Germany. It is 60 cm high, weighs 5 kg, including 1.7 kg of liquid oxygen and methane propellants. The rocket consists of three tanks - one for the fuel, one for the oxygen, and one for the nitrogen gas that pressure-feeds the motor. The motor is a simple 18-inch long cylinder, housed at the centre of the prismatic rocket. The rocket reaches only 3 m in the first test due to a malfunction.References: 47. Level: 1.

• First liquid rocket hardware developed for the Germany Army. Walter Riedel, and Arthur Riedel, at the Heylandt Company, built the first 20 kgf liquid propellant engine for the Heereswaffenamt. It featured a double-walled cylindrical combustion chamber, and was used to test different propellant combinations. References: 693. Level: 1.

• HW-1 reaches 500 m. Apogee: 0.50 km (0.31 mi). Winkler's HW-1 rocket reached 500 m over Dessau, Germany. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Second Mirak explodes Nebel and the other designers realise that using liquid oxygen to cool the combustion chamber simply would not work - it turned to gas, and the excessive pressure eventually burst the oxygen tank. They turn to a water-cooled combustion chamber. The end result was an aluminium pressure-fed engine that weighed 85 g but produced 32 kgf while burning 160 g of liquid oxygen and gasoline per second - a specific impulse of 200 seconds. The new design proves reliable and is demonstrated to visitors from the American Rocket Society in April 1931.References: 47. Level: 1.

• VfR/AIS meeting. Raktenflugplatz in Germany was visited by Mr. and Mrs. G. Edward Pendray as official representatives of the American Interplanetary Society, who upon their return organized the experimental program of the society. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Tiling rocket Apogee: 0.80 km (0.50 mi). Reinhold Tiling, financed by Baron von Ledebour, publicly demonstrates his compressed black powder rocket design at Osnabrueck. The 1.8 m long rocket uses flip-out wings for recovery, and reach altitudes of 800 m. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Heyland motor Heyland completes development testing of the rocket motor intended for Valier's rocket car. It weighs 18 kg and is capable of producing 160 kgf for several minutes. Although powerful, the specific impulse is thought to be fairly low. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak II / Repulsor Apogee: 0.0020 km (0.0012 mi). Riedel improvises a rocket, using the thrust chamber developed for the Mirak, fed by two long tanks containing liquid oxygen and gasoline, which would form guiding sticks for the forward-mounted engine. The lashed-together rocket rises to 20 m on its first 'static' test.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak II / Repulsor I rocket reaches 60 m. Apogee: 0.0060 km (0.0037 mi). First official test flight of the Mirak (Minimum Rakete) II. A flight-weight version of Riedel's 'flying test stand' takes off into a looping trajectory, sending the VfR experimenters running for cover, but reaching 60 m altitude in the process. Attending were Wernher Von Braun, Klaus Riedel und Kurt Heinisch (Rudolf Nebel, the chief engineer, was in Kiel at the time).References: 693. Level: 1.

• Mirak II / Repulsor 2 Apogee: 0.0060 km (0.0037 mi). The rocket reaches 60 m before heading off horizontally over the Raketenflugplatz, ending up in a tree outside the perimeter, 600 m from the launch point. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak II / Repulsor 3 Apogee: 0.18 km (0.11 mi). This is the first Repulsor equipped with a recovery parachute. It reaches 180 m, but then the parachute deploys early, and it falls into the same clump of trees as Repulsor 2, 600 m from the launch point. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak II rocket reaches height of 500 m Apogee: 0.50 km (0.31 mi). VfR successfully fired an improved Mirak (Minimum Rakete) II rocket to height of 500 m. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Mirak II / Repulsor 4 Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi). The perfected Repulsor has the propellant tanks close together at the centreline, to form a guide stick in the manner of Congreve's war rockets. It reaches an altitude of 1000 m, and the parachute recovery system functioned perfectly at apogee. Subsequent such 'one stick' Repulsors' will reach 1500 m altitude and 3000 m range - in fact, they are normally launched only partially-fuelled to prevent them landing outside the perimeter of the Raketenflugplatz.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Raketenflugplatz featured in newsreel Apogee: 1.50 km (0.90 mi). After one year of operation of the worlds first 'rocket port', the Ufa weekly newsreel carries an extensive film report on the VfR's experiments. By then 270 engine test runs had been completed, as well as 87 test flights of Repulsors. However the filmmakers also capture an errant rocket leaking gasoline onto a shack owned by the police, which burns down. This leads to further restrictions on VfR activities at the site.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak III rocket completed. Apogee: 4.00 km (2.40 mi). It would reach an altitude of 4000 m in subsequent tests. References: 394. Level: 1.

• V-1 engine concept patented. German engineer, Paul Schmidt, working from design of Lorin tube, developed and patented a ramjet engine later modified and used in the V-1 Flying Bomb. The concept of the world's first jet-powered cruise missile was originated by Flight Staff Engineer Bree. The pulse engine was based on a French patent dating to the 1890's. The engine, which operated by creating 500 fuel-air explosions per minute, was designed for a specific operational altitude. The guidance system consisted of propellor in the nose. When this had turned a preset number of times (corresponding to the desired range to the target), the counter pushed the missile's rudder hard over, resulting on a dive to the ground. A V-1 could be produced for one tenth of the cost of a V-2.References: 17. Level: 1.

• Dornberger put in charge of Kummersdorf. The German Army Ordnance Office formalized its rocket develoment program by placing Captain-Doctor Walter Dornberger in charge of Research Station West at Kummersdorf. References: 17, 693. Level: 1.

• Nebel demonstrates VfR liquid rocket to the German Army. Apogee: 0.0700 km (0.0435 mi). Nebel contacted the German Army and proposed the use of liquid fuel rockets as war missiles. He arranged for Army representatives to observe a demonstration launch at Kummersdorf. Riedel and Von Braun prepare the rocket, which was 3.5 m long and 10 cm in diameter, had a gross lift-off mass of 20 kg, an empty mass of 10 kg, and a thrust of 60 kgf. The new design featured the engine forward of the stack, followed by the liquid oxygen tank, then the alcohol tank, then the manometers and other elements of propellant pressurisation. The new-design engine was developed by Walter Riedel and Arthur Rudolph at the Heylandt Company. The rocket reached an altitude of 20 to 70 m before veering horizontally into a forest. An exhaust velocity of 2000 m/s was expected, but only 1700 m/s was demonstrated.. The Army is seemingly unimpressed. However a month later they hire Von Braun, who drops out of sight.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Von Braun joins German Army missile program. Wernher von Braun joined the German Army Ordnance Office rocket program at Kummersdorf. He is working on a 300 kgf thrust liquid propellant engine, which has been tested with an exhaust velocity of 1700 m/s, but it is believed can be tuned up to as much as 1900 m/s. This is to power the A1 rocket, which is to have the same tractor configuration as the 20 kg test rocket launched in August 1932. The main issue is how to solve the problem of keeping the rocket stabilised in flight, as the August test demonstrated. The A1 is to be 1.4 m long x 30 cm in diameter, a 150 kg gross takeoff weight, and 40 kg of propellant., allowing a 16.5 second burn time.References: 17. Level: 1.

• HW-2 Apogee: 0.0030 km (0.0019 mi). Following an aborted attempt on 29 September, Winkler launches his HW-2 rocket from Pillau on the Baltic. He had worked for months at the Raketenflugplatz developing the new device. However on launch day an explosive propellant mix developed in the internal compartments of the rocket, and after igniting and rising only 3 m, it was blown to smithereens.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Private rocket development in Germany winds down As the influence of Nazism in German Society increases, the VfR disintegrates in political disputes and withdrawal of funding by its wealthiest backers. In this period it occurs to Riedel that alcohol may prove a better fuel than gasoline - primarily because as a fuel it needs much less of the expensive and difficult-to-handle cryogenic liquid oxygen. Experiments determine that 60% alcohol to water is the best fuel mixture, and for the first time use the fuel to cool the combustion chamber before leading it into the chamber - regenerative cooling.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Magdeburg Project Mengering, an engineer working for the city of Magdeburg, is entranced by the theories of Peter Bender, who proposes that the people of the earth are in fact living on the inside surface of a hollow sphere. He believes that this can be proven. A rocket fired vertically from Magdeburg should impact south of New Zealand. Mengering convinces the city authorities to fund experiments leading to this objective. Nebel, now a member of the Nazi Party, obtains a contract of 25,000 Marks for the first step. He will build a rocket that will carry a man to an altitude of one kilometre, from where the pilot will bail out and return to earth by parachute. The rocket is to be fired on 11 June 1933 in a huge event publicizing the city. The Pilot Rocket would be in the form of the VfR Repulsors, with the passenger in a bullet-shaped fairing over the engine compartment, and the propellants being stored in two long cylindrical tanks trailing the engine. It was to be 7.6 m tall and powered by an engine of 600 kgf. A prototype was to be built first, 4.6 m tall, powered by a 200 kgf motor. This would not be capable of carrying a pilot, but would have a parachute for recovery.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Rocket test stand explosion at Kummersdorf. No one was injured and more stringent safety precautions were taken in the future. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Magdeburg Project tests A test stand is completed for ground test of rocket engines of up to 1000 kgf. Tests of the 200 kgf motor begin on 22 March. Motors explode on 25 March and 3 April, but by the end of April, 20 test runs have been conducted and the motor is considered reliable enough for flight test (despite several burn-throughs of the throat).References: 47. Level: 1.

• Zucker rocket launched at Cuxhaven Apogee: 0.0150 km (0.0093 mi). Zucker's amazing 'operational rocket'. was supposedly a recoverable cruise missile, 5 m long, with a thrust of 360 kg and a takeoff mass of 200 kg. In actuality the missile was only an enormous hull equipped with eight powder rockets. Zucker showed up in Cuxhaven on the German North Sea coast in the winter of 1933, ready for a long-range demonstration (15 km, from the coast to Neuhaven Island). After being stuck in a ditch while being taken out to the field for a February launch attempt, the great day finally came in April 1933. A huge crowd of local folk and officials gathered to witness the event. After staggering 15 m into the air, the torpedo came crashing down.Level: 1.

• Magdeburg launch attempt First attempt to launch the subscale prototype of the Magdeburg Pilot Rocket. A launch stand 9 m tall is erected in the countryside near Magdeburg. However the rocket develops insufficient thrust to clear the tower. Other attempts on 10 and 11 June are also unsuccessful, due to leaky valves and other quality problems. The rocket is returned to the shop for rework.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Magdeburg launch Apogee: 0.0100 km (0.0062 mi). The 200 kgf prototype rocket is finally launched. However it catches on one of the rails in the launch tower and is flung horizontally as it clears the tower. It flies 300 m horizontally over the pastures, then slides along the ground for 10 m more. It is relatively intact, but the Magdeburg city officials are not interested in funding further attempts. Nebel receives only 3200 Marks for his work.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi). The Magdeburg prototype rocket is reworked into a four-stick design and flown from Lindwerder Island at Tegeler Lake near Berlin. It reaches 1000 m, loops a few times, then thrusts straight toward the earth. The parachute deploys at the last moment and the rocket splashes down in the lake 100 m from the launch stand. It is recovered.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 0.0060 km (0.0037 mi). After an aborted launch, the rocket does clear the tower but on oxidiser valve fails to open. The rocket reaches only 60 m but splashes down in the lake and is recovered. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 0.0010 km (0.0006 mi). After objections by the owner of the previous launch location, tests are moved to Schwielow Lake, with launch from the stand erected on a motor boat. The rocket explodes soon after lift-off. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 0.0020 km (0.0012 mi). Second attempt from Schwielow Lake. The rocket goes horizontal and hits the water in the lake's steamboat channel. It cannot be recovered. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 2.00 km (1.20 mi). Third launch from Schwielow Lake. Rocket flies out of sight and is not found. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 0.10 km (0.06 mi). Fourth launch from Schwielow Lake. This employs a new design with two longer tanks in place of four shorter propellant tanks. Results 'poor'. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 0.10 km (0.06 mi). Final launch from Schwielow Lake using the new design. Results again 'poor'. References: 47. Level: 1.

• End of Raketenflugplatz Nebel is presented with a water bill of 1600 Marks for 1930-1933. He and the VfR are unable to pay, so the government cancels the lease and takes the property back. Klaus Riedel manages to arrange employment for himself and several of the VfR technicians with Siemens, which also agrees to allow them to store the Raketenflugplatz rockets and technical materials in a company warehouse. After Riedel and the others are recruited by the Army and leave for Peenemuende, Nebel allegedly sells of these materials. In any case they disappear.References: 47. Level: 1.

• Death of Tiling In his propellant processing room, where he uses his proprietary process to compress black powder into solid rocket propellant, a fire breaks out. Tiling, and his assistant Angelika Buddenboehmer, are killed. Earlier he had demonstrated his rockets to a small crowd at Tempelhof Airfield in Berlin, but the rest of the event was called off by police after one of his first shots went into the grandstandsReferences: 47. Level: 1.

• Saenger begins rocket engine tests. Eugen Saenger begins a series of rocket engine tests in Vienna. He methodically explores various propellant combinations and additives through the end of 1934. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Rakatenflugtechnik published. Spacecraft: Dynasoar. Eugen Sänger of Germany published his classic Rakatenflugtechnic, which dealt with rocket motor design and high-speed flight in the atmosphere. References: 17. Level: 1.

• The VfR rocket team unravels. Willy Ley decides to leave for America in the face of increased Nazi domination of German society. Most of the VfR experimenters end up at Peenemuende, working on development of the V-2. Some, such as Nebel, remain private citizens. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Liquid rocket explosion kills three. Dr Kurt Wahmke and two technicians were testing a 90% H2O2/Alcohol combination at Kummersdorf when the chamber exploded, killing them. These were the first and only deaths of technicians in the history of German rocket development. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun receives doctorate. His public doctoral thesis, "About Combustion Tests," was completed in very little time (one source states that he joined the SS at this time). The actual thesis was later revealed to be a classified Army document. This dissertation, "Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket", was dated 16 April 1934 but did not surface until 70 years later. It detailed the construction and design of the A2 rocket that would fly later that year.References: 730. Level: 1.

• A2 rocket 'Max' successfully launched. Apogee: 2.20 km (1.37 mi). Von Braun's German Ordnance group launches A-2 'Max' from the Island of Borkum in the North Sea before the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army. The rocket is at an altitude of 1.7 km at burn-out, and reaches 2.2 km before falling back to impact 800 m from the launch point.References: 17, 394, 693, 730. Level: 1.

• A2 rocket 'Moritz' successfully launched. Apogee: 3.50 km (2.10 mi). Von Braun's German Ordnance group launches the second of two A-2 rockets ('Moritz') successfully to a height of 3.5 km on the Island of Borkum in the North Sea. Burnout is at 1.8 km, and the rocket ascends more vertically than the test the previous day, reaching a greater altitude and impacting 500 m from the launch point.References: 0. Level: 1.

• Me-163 rocket engine development begins. There was no interest within the German Aviation Ministry at that time in rocket engines as primary propulsion for a combat aircraft. Due to the rocket engine's high fuel consumption, it was seen as only useful in providing Jet Assisted Takeoff for conventional propeller aircraft.References: 693. Level: 1.

• He-112 rocket engine static tests. First static tests of Heinkel He-112 with rocket engines performed in Germany. References: 17. Level: 1.

• First test of liquid rocket engine intended for use on aircraft Spacecraft: Junkers 'Junior'. A 300 kgf engine was installed in a Junkers 'Junior' aircraft fuselage at Kummersdorf. This was the first rocket engine installation in an aircraft. But the problem to be solved was how to ensure continuous operation of the engine during aircraft manoeuvres. The rocket team finally built a big carousel, capable of testing the engine installation at up to 5 G's.References: 693. Level: 1.

• A3 rocket tested. Germans tested A-3 rocket with 1,500 kgf thrust which served as basis for military weapon specifications. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Go-ahead to build Peenemuende The missile test range is to be a combined Army / Air Force test ground. Von Braun had found the location in December 1935, after his first choice - Briz on the island of Ruegen - was taken over by the Deutsch Arbeitsfront as a 'Kraft durch Freude' recreation camp. During his Christmas holiday, Von Braun toured the cost, and found Peenemuende. It seemed perfect - 400 km of ocean to the east for use as a missile shooting range, room along the path on the coast for tracking radars.References: 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun enters Luftwaffe. Wernher Von Braun joins the German Air Force and receives pilot training at Frankfurt/Oder and Stolp. Level: 1.

• A4 wind tunnel tests The tests showed that the A3 configuration was unstable in flight and that it was going to take a lot of trial and error to identify the correct aerodynamic shape for the supersonic missile. Therefore the decision was taken to go slow on development of the A4 until tests with the A3 were complete. The 25 tonne thrust engine would also have to be built and proven in ground tests to determine its actual characteristics before a lot of effort was put into final design and construction of the rest of the rocket. So a series of test launches of the A3 to test the A4 control and guidance systems were undertaken, while Test Stand I at Peenemuende was prepared for tests of the 25 tonne engine.References: 693. Level: 1.

• Ground broken at Peenemuende First objective is development of the A4 strategic ballistic missile, later dubbed the V-2. The missile is to deliver a one tonne high explosive payload to double the range of the Paris Gun of World War I (250 km - the Paris Gun could deliver a ten kg, 21 cm diameter shell to 125 km range). To provide a reserve, the missile was designed for a 1500 m/s burnout velocity, which resulted in a 275 km range. Accuracy was to be 2 to 3 per mille, versus typical artillery shell accuracy of 4 to 5 per mille. These requirements indicated a 25 tonne thrust engine, powering a 12 tonne missile, with a 2100 m/s exhaust velocity, burning 8 tonnes of propellant in 65 seconds. The requirement to transport the missile by rail limited the diameter to 1.6 m, which in turn led to a 14 m length. Span with the detachable tail fins was 3.5 m.

  Several major issues had to be solved during development. The first was what wing and body shapes would be stable at supersonic velocities. Another was building adequate ground facilities for the intensive tests needed to develop the 25 tonne thrust motor. For this purpose a static test facility was built at Peenemuende capable of handling 100 tonne thrust motors, seen as the next step after the A4. Another major problem was developing high-capacity pumps to deliver the liquid oxygen at a temperature of -185 deg C.References: 693. Level: 1.

• First supersonic wind tunnel. Following problems with testing of the A3 (a subscale version of the planned V-2) by Dr Hermann, Von Braun proposes to the Germany army that a supersonic wind tunnel be constructed at a cost he estimates as 300,000 Marks. Other parts of the Army are not supportive of the facility, but it is finally built, costing millions more than Von Braun estimated.References: 693. Level: 1.

• Rocketplane stand tests completed at Kummersdorf During the year the team had proven installation of a 1000 kgf engine, installed in a He-112, at burn times of up to 90 seconds. References: 693. Level: 1.

• German rocketplane tests Three flight tests were made between February and April in a He-112 equipped with a 300 kgf liquid fuel rocket engine by Flight-Captain Erich Warsitz from Neuhardenberg near Berlin. On the final flight Warstiz smelled something burning, and made an emergency belly landing. He survived but the aircraft had to be written off. Engine exhaust had flowed back into the space between the engine and fuselage and burnt cables. Work on this engine continued at Area 4 at Peenemuende. The planned application was a 1000 kgf JATO pod, with a burn time of 30 seconds, to boost bombers into the air.References: 17, 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun joins Nazi Party. Wernher Von Braun joins the Nazi Party. Level: 1.

• Peenemünde opened. Joint German Army-Air Force rocket research station opened at Peenemünde on the Baltic Sea. The Army Ordnance rocket program under Capt. Walter Dornberger moved 90 of its staff from Kummersdorf. Thiel and five staff working on V-2 rocket engine development remained at Kummersdorf until the summer of 1940, when the test stands at Peenemuende were finally completed..References: 17, 693. Level: 1.

• First A3 launch Apogee: 0.10 km (0.06 mi). First launch of an A3 rocket. New facilites being built at Peenemuende were not ready, so the A3 launches were made from the offshore island of Greifswalder Oie. The A3 launched on this day was 6.5 m long and 70 cm in diameter. The engine occupied the first 2 m of the fuselage. The missile had a 750 kg lift-off mass, including 450 kg of propellant, which was pressurised to 20 atmospheres. The 1.5 tonne thrust engine had a 1900 m/s exhaust velocity and a 45 second burn time. The parachute deployed 3 seconds after launch, and the engine cutoff at 6.5 seconds. The rocket impacted and exploded 300 m from the launch point.References: 86, 394. Level: 1.

• A3 launch Apogee: 0.10 km (0.06 mi). Second launch of an A3. Same result as the first - the rocket made a quarter turn after launch, then reached only 100 m before the parachute jettisoned and the missile crashed into the sea a short distance from the launch stand. References: 394. Level: 1.

• A3 launch Apogee: 0.10 km (0.06 mi). Third launch of an A3. No parachute deployment and the engine cut-off early. The rocket impacted into the Baltic Sea and sank. References: 394. Level: 1.

• A3 launch Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi). Final launch of the A3. The rocket is fired without the parachute that ruined the first two attempts, but in heavy fog. It is more successful than earlier shots, but at 800 to 1000 m altitude it also veers over and thrusts its way downward into the ocean. Analysis showed that the fins steering the rocket could not overcome the 8 m/s wind blowing at the time of the launch. Further study shows that at the low speed of initial rocket acceleration, a wind as little as 4 m/s would be enough to topple the rocket. A rudder area ten times greater than is needed to control the rocket at low speeds. This result leads to the decision to abandon the A3 configuration and build the A5 to support development of the A4 missile.References: 394. Level: 1.

• A4 engine tests begin The engine delivered 18 months after design started was so compact, that the length of the A4 could be cut in half. Walter Thiel, a gifted and systematic researcher, was responsible for the engine design. He had great difficulties in obtaining stable combustion, and preventing burn-through of the chamber walls. Various injector patterns were studied in a 1.5 tonne thrust chamber. His research finally reduced the combustion chamber length from 2 m to 30 cm, while the exhaust velocity was increased from 2000 m/s to 2100 m/s, and eventually reached 2280 m/s. However the reduction in the cooling area of the chamber also increased problems in preventing hot spots and burn through. This was finally solved by using a conical throat exit and a mixing chamber ahead of the burning chamber. The 1.5 tonne thrust engine was initially run at 15 bar pressure, versus the 50 bar desired. But whenever the combustion chamber pressure was increased, burn-throughs occurred, as well as forcing increases in the mass of the pumps and tanks. Therefore finally the decision was taken to leave the chamber pressure at 15 bar.

  The next step was to make a 4.5 tonne thrust by clustering three of the 1.5 tonne engines as preburners. However Thiel still had burn-throughs in test runs. Poehlmann suggested the use of film cooling, which finally solved the problem. For the 25 tonne thrust engine, Thiel simply used 18 x 1.5 tonne thrust chambers, feeding a common mixing chamber. This was on the test stand in early 1939.References: 693. Level: 1.

• A5 delivered to Peenemuende. The first A5 drop test model is delivered to Peenemuende just weeks after the third A3 test. Production is planned at a rate of 10 per month to define the A4 aerodynamic configuration. Objective of the first tests is to break the sound barrier - in the wind tunnel no configuration of fins had managed to go through the barrier without disintegrating. The only test possibility was to drop the model from a great height, and let gravity accelerate it to supersonic speeds. The model weighs 250 kg and is 1.6 m long and 20 cm in diameter.References: 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun is discharged from the Luftwaffe. Level: 1.

• Rocket fighters Spacecraft: He-176, He-122, Me-163. The first rocket fighter, the He-176, powered by a Walther engine, was tested at Peenemuende. In competition, Dornberger's team developed a 120-second duration engine to power the He-122. However loss of control in unpowered flights of the latter resulted in it crashing and being eliminated from further consideration. Dornberger's team left further rocket fighter engine development to Walther, and concentrated on the A4 and follow-on ballistic missiles.References: 693. Level: 1.

• A5 launches from Greifswalder Oie Apogee: 12 km (7 mi). In the summer of 1938 the decision is made to go ahead with four A5 tests from Greifswalder Oie without the stabilising system or a parachute. The first missile ascended into a low wind, and reached 8 km altitude, nearing but not exceeding the sound barrier. Maximum altitude reached in the test series is 12 km.References: 394, 693. Level: 1.

• A5 stabilisation system tests In order to test the A4's stabilisation system, Walter, Kiel, is subcontracted to build a large number of model A5's. Like the drop test models, these are 20 cm and 1.6 m long. However they weigh only 47 kg gross lift-off mass, with a 27 kg empty mass. The rocket engine burns 85% hydrogen peroxide monopropellant using a calcium permanganate catalyst. The engine produces 120 kgf for 15 seconds, and has an exhaust velocity of 1000 m/s. The design objective is a low cost, reliable, and simple rocket, which will allow a large number of trail-and-error test launches to be made within a tight budget. The fins developed for the A4 as a result of these tests were shorter and wider than those of the A3. They owed nothing to aircraft wing designs of the times, which couldn't withstand supersonic speeds. But they were still too affected by the wind, tending to set the rocket on a rotation around its long axis during ascent.References: 693. Level: 1.

• First A5 drop test. The model is dropped from a He-111 bomber from 7000 m. It breaks through the sound barrier at 1000 m altitude at a speed of 360 m/s. The stabilising fins keep the maximum oscillation of the model to within 5 degrees from vertical. The drogue ring parachute then deployed to decelerate the model to 100 m/s, followed by the main parachute which slows it to 5 m/s when it impacts in the ocean.References: 693. Level: 1.

• JATO tests at Peenemuende From 1939-1940 a series of rocket engine tests to support development of a JATO pod were conducted from Peenemuende-West with a He-111. It was found that liquid oxygen was not an appropriate oxidiser for civil use, so the engineers at Walther - Kiel introduced hydrogen peroxide as an alternate. The Walther engine was simpler than the rocket team's prototype, could produce 1000 kgf for 300 seconds, and was capable of taking a rocket fighter to 12 km altitude within two minutes from engine start.References: 693. Level: 1.

• Hitler visits Kummersdorf-West This was the first time he became acquainted with liquid rocket engine technology. 300 kgf and 1000 kgf engines were fired in his presence. A colour-coded cutaway model of the A3 rocket was presented and its systems explained. Hitler was quiet throughout the exhibits and asked no questions. Afterwards, while taking lunch at the mess hall, he asked only about the development schedule (clucking when told), the range of the missile, and the impact on the schedule if synthetic 'Eisenbled' was substituted for light metal alloys in the rocket frame. Hitler spoke of deceased rocket pioneer Max Valier - he had known him in Munich, but dismissed him as a dreamer. Dornberger countered by comparing the state of rocket development to the early days of the zeppelin, when Lillienthal made the first primitive experiments. Hitler in turn dismissed airships as dangerous, filled with explosive gas . The Fuehrer finally departed with handshakes and few words. His summary of the day: 'Es war doch gewaltig' (it was impressive, nevertheless). The rocket team was dismayed - it was the first time a visitor had exhibited no reaction to the power the rocket engines when fired for their benefit. But on the plus side, Von Brauchtisch said he was astounded at the progress made by the team in only a few years. Dornberger believed Hitler was enthralled with artillery and tanks, and was unimpressed with rocket technology. He thought Hitler didn't understand the possibilities and didn't believe the time had come yet for development of the rocket as a weapon.References: 693. Level: 1.

• A4 in crisis After Hitler's visit, it finally it became clear to Dornberger that either support for the project would have to come from the highest level, or that Peenemuende should abandon rocket research and be devoted to more pressing war needs.

  Meanwhile the results of the air war over London showed that the A4 could be an economic weapon. Bombers were averaging only 5 to 6 missions, dropping only 6 to 8 tonnes of bombs before being shot down. Once the loss of trained flying crews was considered, the bomber cost 30 times more than the A4 to deliver a tonne of explosives on London compared to the expendable A4 at its production price of 38,000 Marks. But time was being lost in convincing others in the German leadership that the missile should be put into production.References: 693. Level: 1.

• Wernher von Braun proposed to the German Reich Air Ministry a "fighter with rocket drive". Spacecraft: Von Braun Rocketplane. The vertical take-off interceptor would reach 8 km altitude in 53 seconds and then manoeuvre toward the aircraft to be intercepted. The design was developed further by Fieseler as the Fi-166, which retained the rocket takeoff but used a turbojet for a longer cruising flight. The Ministry finally rejected the vertical-takeoff rocket interceptor concept at the end of 1941. The concept was revived at the end of the war as the Bachem Natter.Level: 1.

• A4 full scale development authorised Von Brauchtisch gave the go-ahead for the A4 to enter full development as a weapon system for the German Army. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Goering tours Kummersdorf-West Unlike Hitler, he was enthusiastic about the potential of rocket technology. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Rocket development given highest priority Von Brauchtisch obtained the highest priority for development of the A4. This was used in early 1940 to get 4,000 soldiers with the necessary engineering and technical backgrounds released from the Army and sent to Peenemuende's 'Versuchskommando-Nord'. Nevertheless there was a constant fight for priority in obtaining materials.References: 693. Level: 1.

• A-5 development rockets with gyroscopic controls and parachutes Apogee: 7.00 km (4.30 mi). New test series at Greifswalder Oie. The island had changed a lot, with massive new concrete installations. Three A3's were flown with a new Siemens control system. The first was launched vertically, reaching 7 km at 45 seconds into the flight at the time of engine cut-off. Both the drogue and main parachutes functioned correctly, and the rocket splashed down in the harbour and was recovered a half hour later by a motor boat (the rocket could float for up to two hours before water entering the empty propellant tanks would sink it).References: 17. Level: 1.

• Second functional A5 launch. Apogee: 7.00 km (4.30 mi). This was a vertical launch, replicating the first launch of the series, and was again recovered successfully. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Third functional A5 launch. Apogee: 4.00 km (2.40 mi). This was the first test of the pitch-over manoeuvre required for the operational A4. The test went perfectly - the rocket pitched over 4 seconds after lift-off, reaching 4 km altitude, and was 6 km downrange from the launch point when the drogue parachute deployed. The rocket was recovered from the ocean successfully. This was finally a complete success after seven years of developmental effort. But the rocket had not broken the sound barrier.References: 693. Level: 1.

• Further A5 test launches. Apogee: 18 km (11 mi). The German rocket team successfully fired and recovered further A5 development rockets with gyroscopic controls and parachutes, attaining altitude of 12 km and a range of 18 km. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A9 basic research and design By adding wings to the A4, the 800 m/s of kinetic energy the rocket had at cut-off could be exploited in a glide attack, extending the range of the missile from 250 km to 550 km. Such a supersonic aircraft had never been flown and presented many aerodynamic and engineering problems in 1943. Various tests of the A4's with wings began in early 1940. These were successful, and the configuration was dubbed the A9. The trajectory for such a missile involved a boost to an apogee of 29 km, then a stable glide at 20 km altitude at a speed of 1250 m/s. At the end of the glide, the missile would have descended to 5 km altitude, then make a vertical dive on the target in the fashion of the Fi-103/V-1. The A9 would be equipped with wings with a total area of 13.5 sq m. A manned version of this boost-glide rocketplane was also designed. This could reach a conventional airfield 600 km from the launch point in only 17 minutes, landing at a speed of 160 kph. Another possibility to further extend range would be a catapult-launched A9, using the technology developed for the V-1. This would provide an extra velocity of 350 m/s, further extending the missile's potential range.References: 693. Level: 1.

• Peenemuende wind tunnel goes into operation. The tunnel was used an average of 500 hours per month. 1000 cubic metres of vacuum vessels were pumped to a 98% vacuum in three to five minutes by three banks of double vacuum pumps. When vented, they provided the tunnel with 20 seconds of run time at velocities from Mach 1.2 to Mach 4.0, or 1500 m/s. Models 4 to 5 cm in diameter x 30-40 cm long could be accommodated in the tunnel, instrumented at 110 data points. These tests showed that drag increased 70% at the sound barrier and that the centre of pressure on the missile moved back one-half calibre. The wind tunnel runs showed that the basic A4 shape was all right, but that it needed load-carrying wings and a new rudder for the higher-speed A9 glider version. Huge trial and error was required to develop an A9 configuration that was stable, but not so stable that the control surfaces were too large. An arrow wing was the best performing, but the control surfaces were then in the turbulent flow of the wing and inadequate. Swept wings provided 12% less glide ratio than the arrow wing, resulting in a 60 km loss of range. Trapezoidal wings were the final solution, the end of a long iterative process.

  Peenemuende-developed delta wings were adapted to Army artillery rounds of the 105 mm flak gun and K5 280 mm cannon, decreasing drag by 35%. The result was an increase of 6 kg in the explosive load, a 6 kg increase in the iron mass of the round, but with a range increase from 59 to 90 km. Equipped with a new, lighter warhead, and a sabot boosting a slimmer round, the gun could shoot projectiles to a range of 135 to 150 km, with an accuracy of 2 per mill.References: 693. Level: 1.

• Design A9/A10 of the two stage transatlantic ballistic missile began in 1940. First flight would have been in 1946. Work on the A9/A10 was prohibited after 1943 when all efforts were to be spent on perfection and production of the A4 as a weapon-in-being. Von Braun managed to continue some development and flight tests of the A9 under the cover name of A4b (i.e. a modification of the A4, and therefore a production-related project). In late 1944 work on the A9/A10 resumed under the code name Projekt Amerika, but no significant hardware development was possible after the last test of the A4b in January 1945.Level: 1.

• A4 radio guidance tests In early 1940 a Do-17M aircraft was equipped with a Siemens fully automatic autopilot. This was designed to keep the aircraft within a 50 mhz guidance beam, which was produced at a 3 kW transmitter installed at Bornholm Island in Denmark, northeast of Peenemuende. The aircraft would capture the beam b flying within 1 degree of the its centre at a distance of 2 km from the transmitter. After a 140 km flight the aircraft would still be within 20 m of the correct position. The beam had a total effective range of 200 km. The Peenemuende team remembered its accuracy by the fact that on each test they would always fly over the same small red house in Bornholm on the coast.

  Use of the system on the A4 was complicated by the problem of the electrical charge that formed on the rocket body during flight through the atmosphere, and the electrical ions in the rocket exhaust, both of which made good reception of radio signals difficult. 90% of a 50 mhz signal was attenuated at the critical moment of engine cut-off. Another accuracy issue was oscillation of the rocket once it was out of the atmosphere - the rudders in the exhaust did not act smoothly, producing the equivalent of pilot-induced oscillations. The solution was to develop a missile that rode the beam during the entire boost phase, not just converging with it at the point of engine cut-off.

  Many partial system test stands were used to solve these control and guidance problems, most notably a full-up 'iron bird' that could be used to test the effect of new systems on existing components.References: 693. Level: 1.

• A4 rocket development removed from priority list. After the military success in Poland, Hitler believes development of expensive 'wonder weapons' are unnecessary to win the war. The A4 and other rocket projects are removed from the priority list, making acquisition of necessary materials and engineers difficult.References: 394. Level: 1.

• First full-duration test of A4 engine. The engine is run at 25 tonnes thrust for 60 seconds on Test Stand I at Peenemuende. References: 394. Level: 1.

• Hitler invades Norway, Denmark Level: 1.

• Von Braun promoted to SS Untersturmfuehrer. Von Braun's membership in the SS is 'renewed' and he is promoted to Untersturmfuehrer with the SS number 185068. According to some accounts he had joined the SS as early as 1934. Level: 1.

• Hitler invades the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg Level: 1.

• Hitler invades France Level: 1.

• Peenemuende test stands completed. Thiel and the remaining staff of the rocket team at Kummersdorf moved to Peenemuende. References: 693. Level: 1.

• The V-3 Hochdruckpumpe supergun conceived Coenders at Saar Roechling proposed the concept of sequentially electrically activated angled side chambers to provide additional acceleration of a shell during its passage up the barrel of the gun. This allowed a muzzle velocity of over 1500 m/s. A 140 m long cannon using this concept would be capable of delivering a 140 kg shell over a 165 km range. Funding is finally obtained to build a subscale prototype.Level: 1.

• A4 engine improvements Throughout the early 1940's Thiel and his team sought to produce a single chamber 25 tonne thrust engine in place of the kludged prototype engine that used 18 separate 1.5 tf chambers. They managed to demonstrate a 60 second burn time in the 18-chamber design, but the engine itself was considered too complicated to fabricate in production, requiring thousands of hand-assembled tubes to introduce fuel and oxidiser into the chamber. Thiel sought to replace these thousands of tubes with a simpler injection system - rows of simple bored holes on a flat injector plate at the head of the chamber. Beck at the Technische Hochschule in Dresden developed a ring-pattern injector that worked well in subscale engines. But the design proved unstable in the 25 tf engine. Therefore, it was decided to stick with the 18-head chamber for V-2 production.References: 693. Level: 1.

• A4 facilities The A4 assembly hall at Area 7 at Peenemuende was 30 m high and 50 m long. After assembly, the missile was moved to the cold flow test stand. There each rocket was tested and calibration documents were generated, necessary for the launch troops to take into account when preparing the rocket and programming its guidance system. The launch pad itself was ringed by a 7 m wide concrete embankment, and sunk 6 m into the ground. The viewpoint was 150 m from the pad, at the southern, smaller end of the complex.

  The pad was surrounded by instrumentation rooms. Water was delivered at 500 litres/second through a 1.20 m diameter pipe to a molybdenum steel cooling section, consisting of many pipes running around the exhaust blast diverter. Other test stands included number 10, where the effects of the rocket exhaust on different material surfaces was tested; and number 8, where newly delivered engines were fired and calibrated. These certification tests ran as long as 650 seconds on the water-cooled stand. Area 9 was used for launches of the Wasserfall surface-to-air missile, and Area 2 for t