HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Rudolf Schlidt, one of the last surviving members of Wernher von Braun's original "Paperclip" rocket team, has died in Huntsville. Schlidt, who died Friday, was 98.
Schlidt was a guided missile expert who was with von Braun developing the V-2 missile in Germany in World War II. His expertise was "rocket construction, testing and research of high temperature materials," according to his obituary. He accompanied von Braun to Fort Bliss, Texas, after the war and later to Huntsville, where the team led development of America's first missiles and later the Saturn V that took Americans to the moon. The team was code-named "Paperclip" by American military and intelligence services at the end of the war.
In a 2008 interview with The Huntsville Times on the occasion of NASA's 50th birthday, Schlidt recalled the war and his early life in America. Drafted into the German army, Schlidt said he thought he was bound for a parachute team but ended up at Pennemunde where the Germans were developing the V-2. "We were far from the war ...," Schlidt said. "It was a nice assignment." When the Allies bombed the missile factory, it became "hell." The scientists and engineers were evacuated in 1945, and Schlidt eventually made his way to America with the team. He weighed 136 pounds. . . .
Showing posts with label Wernher von Braun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wernher von Braun. Show all posts
Thursday, October 04, 2012
Remembering Adolf Hitler's Lethal V-2 Rocket 70 Years Later
One of the most dangerous weapons during the Nazi regime was built in Peenemünde: the V-2 rocket - the second German "Vengeance Weapon," developed by Wernher von Braun, that killed thousands.
October 3, 1942: For the first time in history, a missile makes it to outer space - from Peenemünde, on Usedom, an island in the Baltic Sea. The first successful launch of the Aggregat 4 rocket (A4) was one of the most dangerous technical breakthroughs at the time. The rocket reached four times the speed of sound, was able to transport explosives and is considered the prototype for all modern military and civilian booster rockets. It was in the harbor village of Peenemünde that German engineers, physicists and military personnel developed the so called "Vengeance Weapon" or V-2, the better-known name of the A4. Today, the former Nazi area has been turned into a museum.
The Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum (HTM) contains documents, original rocket parts, interviews with witnesses and documentary films. Right at the museum's entrance, visitors can spot the cigar-shaped A4 rocket. The HTM is the largest technical monument in the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and one of the biggest German museums and centers of attraction for people from all over the world. Some 200,000 people visit the site every year.
The Nazis started building the production facility at Peenemünde in 1936 and temporarily employed up to 15,000 people - mostly forced and foreign workers. There was a tram on site that departed every five minutes. Scientists developed a high-duty motor under the direction of physicist Wernher von Braun that could transport one ton of explosives. Von Braun was given a professor title by Hitler, which was never revoked - not even in the US, where von Braun became NASA's deputy director in the 1970s. . . .
October 3, 1942: For the first time in history, a missile makes it to outer space - from Peenemünde, on Usedom, an island in the Baltic Sea. The first successful launch of the Aggregat 4 rocket (A4) was one of the most dangerous technical breakthroughs at the time. The rocket reached four times the speed of sound, was able to transport explosives and is considered the prototype for all modern military and civilian booster rockets. It was in the harbor village of Peenemünde that German engineers, physicists and military personnel developed the so called "Vengeance Weapon" or V-2, the better-known name of the A4. Today, the former Nazi area has been turned into a museum.
The Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum (HTM) contains documents, original rocket parts, interviews with witnesses and documentary films. Right at the museum's entrance, visitors can spot the cigar-shaped A4 rocket. The HTM is the largest technical monument in the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and one of the biggest German museums and centers of attraction for people from all over the world. Some 200,000 people visit the site every year.
The Nazis started building the production facility at Peenemünde in 1936 and temporarily employed up to 15,000 people - mostly forced and foreign workers. There was a tram on site that departed every five minutes. Scientists developed a high-duty motor under the direction of physicist Wernher von Braun that could transport one ton of explosives. Von Braun was given a professor title by Hitler, which was never revoked - not even in the US, where von Braun became NASA's deputy director in the 1970s. . . .