German Rocket Society - Verein für Raumschiffahrt by Frank H. Winter - Part 3

From The Space Library

Jump to: navigation, search

The following paper is ©2015 Frank H. Winter.

Contents

Winkler's Own Rocket Work Revealed In Die Rakete

September 1928

The cover of the issue for 15 September 1928 is important as it shows Winkler, with another, though unidentified man, in a photo titled “Practical Work on the Rocket Problem.” Winkler did not fully explain the picture but on the following page is a revealing small item, in all probability written by him, titled “Rocket Motor with Liquid Air” that alludes to the picture.

But this item presents some mysteries. “Under this or other titles last month,” it begins, “there have been articles in the (local, Breslau) newspapers about rocket tests made by the Society for Space Travel (the VfR)...Without going into the full accuracy of the reports, we can only note that the experiments were not undertaken by a Board member of the Society, but by the auto repair shop of Autobauer (Autobuilder) of Breslau-Carlowitz...the machines for its operations in the production of test equipment were made available.... The fact that a new engine was invented here is not true. It was nothing more than practical work on the rocket engines for liquid propellants which have long been known on paper (i.e. known theoretically, in the work of Oberth and others). For the experiments, liquid oxygen not liquid air was used. Anyone who has experimented knows how infinitely time-consuming those tests are and how happy one is when one difficulty after another through tough work is gradually overcome. Our members will in time, learn more; for the time being, we offer only a glimpse of this silent work. Compare this with the cover picture.”

The newspaper article, or articles, in Breslau papers have not been found. Yet, this short and hitherto unexamined and vague Die Rakete piece suggests that Winkler had evidently proposed the experiments while the experiments themselves were initially undertaken by Autobauer of Breslau-Carlowitz. We may thus deduce that Autobauer did not permit him to use their machines directly but the experiments were made under his technical advice or direction; and they were perhaps the beginnings of first liquid-propellant rocket experiments undertaken in Germany, or Europe itself. (Rolf Engel's 1978 paper on Winkler, cited above, offers no details of his earliest experimental work simply because Engel only became Winkler's first assistant in 1931; neither are details found in Winkler's autobiographical sketch in Werner Brügel's Männer der Rakete of 1933, nor in the Winkler Papers in the Deutsches Museum.)

Yet Winkler was careful enough to indicate that this work was not undertaken by the VfR, but were independent, private experiments. Likewise, these articles show that by December 1927 he had ceased his solid-propellant phase and turned his attention to liquids. Note that this work was also undertaken before the German Army began its own rocket program that started in 1929.[1]

November 1928

Further evidence on the progress of Winkler's experimentation during this period is shown on the cover of Die Rakete for 15 November 1928 depicting machinery in a laboratory with the simple title of, “Experimental Apparatus for Liquid Rocket Fuels” but there is a reference to pages 165-166 that is a section of the article, “Introduction to the Spaceflight Problem,” one of several in a series of anonymously-authored articles, mentioned above, that were assuredly authored by Winkler. But the said section is a general discussion only about liquid-propellant experimentation, although it includes a most interesting schematic drawing of a rudimentary combustion chamber and the injections of both fuel and oxidizer, along with accompanying mathematics that he derived to work out the kinetic energy of combustion tests and exhaust velocities.

December 1928

The cover photo for the December 1928 issue is the “Assembly hall of the Linde Ice Machine Company in Höllriegelskreuth, providing the facilities for the production of liquid oxygen.” The Linde Company plant at Höllriegelskreuth, the municipality of Pullach, in Munich. In actuality, was the main plant established in the 1890s by the German engineer Carl Paul Gottfried Linde (1842-1934) in the development of refrigeration and gas separation - including the liquefaction of gases like oxygen. Liquid oxygen (hereafter, given as LOX) was not only important in the manufacture of beer and for medical purposes, but as Winkler and others well knew, was an ideal oxidizer for liquid-propellant rocket engines.

Hence, very likely Winkler himself visited the plant (to obtain and learn more about the nature of LOX and its handling for his rocket work). From the foregoing, it seems he also passed the theoretical stage with liquid-propellants and possible preliminary experiments with gaseous mixtures and was now fully into liquids. (However, it is highly unlikely he personally met Linde himself as Carl Linde was then already 86 years old and the enterprise was in the hands of his son.)[2]

The same issue features another of von Pirquet's “Travel Routes” articles - this one about a possible trajectory to the planet Jupiter. Perhaps this was the first scientific study (and scientific suggestion) ever made of a voyage to the far planets of the solar system.[3]

Highlights Of Issues Of The Third And Final Year Of Die Rakete, 1929

For some unknown reason (probably because of their greater expense), pictures no longer graced the covers of Die Rakete for the remainder of its run until the end of 1929. Another change saw it now re-named Die Rakete - Official Organ of the Society for Space Travel Registered Society in Germany, followed by: “Editor, Johannes Winkler...publisher and main office, Breslau 13, Höhenzollernstr. 63/65.” That is, he still operated the VfR and the journal from his home.

January 1929

Ironically, the January issue, in its piece, “At the Turn of the Year,” mentions and depicts Valier's rocket-propelled ice-sled that in retrospect was hardly a step towards spaceflight yet the same issue contained items that were far more relevant to the latter topic. Not only did von Pirquet continue his work on routes to Jupiter, but there is an article, evidently by Winkler, on “The Cost of Rocket Propulsion?” (for both terrestrial and potential spaceflight applications), but there was a sample chapter from the milestone book in the history of astronautics by Herman Noordung (a pseudonym for Hermann Potočnik), the Austro-Hungarian engineer, as well as a biographical sketch of Esnault-Pelterie with a mention of the REP-Hirsch Prize.[4]

Noordung's book is titled Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motor (The Problem of Space Travel - -The Rocket Motor) and although it was released in late 1928, it bears the publication date of 1929. It is the world's first serious study on the design of a space station (including a wonderful series of vivid color artist's pictures of his system). Through this work, Noordung (or Potočnik, who was born in Pula, now in Croatia, and of Slovene ethnicity), was advocating the long-term and even permanent establishment of a human presence in space. His orbiting spacecraft, to be set in a geosynchronous orbit, was for detailed observation of the ground for peaceful and military purposes.

Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen motor by Hermann Noordung (German edition 1928)
Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen motor by Hermann Noordung (German edition 1928)

Moreover, he described how the special conditions of space (including what we now call zero gravity) could be useful for scientific experiments. He is also credited as the first to calculate the geosynchronous orbit for spacecraft, although Tsiolkovsky may have been the first to suggest (unmanned) satellites in geosynchronous orbits. The German science fiction author Kurd Lasswitz, mentioned above, had suggested a fictional Martian space station in his 1897 novel, Auf Zwei Planeten (On Two Planets), in a fixed position 3,800 mile (6,115 km) above the North Pole of Earth and a smaller station above the South Pole; but this was a work of fiction after all and he only assumed that these positions above the poles were “gravitation-less” (i.e. where gravitation was supposedly nullified.)

Among several other advances made by Potočnik was his suggestion of the use of solar energy, in space, to power his space station; “artificial gravity” in space created within his slowly-revolving wheel-shaped station; concepts for spacesuits, and “walking” in space, and so on. The main station was to be a multi-manned “Living Wheel,” that obtained its power by collecting sunlight through a giant concave mirror in the center of the wheel; the heat driving a generator. The other two components in his space station system were a separate Observatory and a Machine Room; each component was connected to the living wheel by umbilical lines. Incidentally, under his real name of Potočnik, this author had sent a donation to the VfR, although he died prematurely, in late August 1929 in Vienna at age 36, of tuberculosis. It is relevant to add that he had been in communication with Oberth and von Pirquet, and probably others of the VfR.[5]

The short piece (with portrait) on Esnault-Pelterie in the January 1929 issue has been mentioned. Incidentally, Esnault-Pelterie is seen in the same issue to have donated money to the VfR from New York (City), most likely while there fighting patent litigation on his aeronautical (aviation) invention the “joystick,” or aircraft control. Otherwise, during the late 1920s, the VfR and Die Rakete were almost unknown in the U.S., nor was there any comparable society as yet in the U.S. to the VfR.[6].

February 1929

The February issue carried Winkler's article, “Experiments on Questions of the Heat Transfer in Free-Floating Droplets of Rocket Propellants,” with photo and drawing that for the first time, clearly shows that he was proceeding with his earliest liquid-propellant rocket experiments.

It may be stressed here that since its founding in 1927, Winkler's work was the only liquid-propellant rocket experimentation carried out during this period in Germany (or Europe) and that no news whatsoever was reported of Goddard's on-going experiments in America; likewise, due to his extreme secrecy, it was totally unknown in both his own country and in Europe, that he had already launched the world's first liquid-propellant rocket on 16 March 1926. Indeed, by this time, besides numerous static tests, Goddard had even made his third flight, on 26 December 1928, although the rocket only reached a distance of 204.5 ft. (62.3 m) at about 60 mph (96.5 km/hr.). Also in the February issue appeared a sample chapter of the science fiction novel (published later that year in book form), Flug in der Sterne (Flight to the Stars) by the author Walter Vollmer. This work was far less known and influential than those of Otto Willi Gail, Valier, and others previously mentioned. It may be one of the earliest (at least fictional) suggestions in the astronautical literature of interstellar flight, although the sample chapter reproduced by Winkler was confined to a trip by rocket to Mars and its satellite, Deimos.[7]

March 1929

The opening article by Winkler in the 15 March issue is “The Dimensions of the Combustion Space (i.e. Chamber) of the Rocket for Liquid Fuels,” including a sketch of a chamber. It was obviously written from his own experiences and was perhaps the first (engineering) technical description of a liquid-propellant rocket motor in Germany, if not Europe. A smaller, untitled item later in this issue (with a drawing that is titled "Risk of explosion!") warned against the dangers of explosions of oxygen with outer materials when heated up and may well reflect the possibility that Winkler himself might have experienced an unexpected explosion or two.

The same issue briefly reported, under the heading “Small News (Items)” that: “In Berlin a large spaceflight film is currently being produced. Mr. Prof. (Hermann) Oberth is entrusted with the calculations.” This item turned out to be more significant than first appeared since it related to the production of the Fritz Lang film “Frau im Mond” (“Woman on the Moon”) for which Oberth served as the “scientific advisor,” as discussed later. (Ley, according to his article “Eight Days in the Story of Rocketry,” was additionally hired by Lang and was to “write most of the scientific publicity for the film which took one year and one and a half million (Reich)marks to make.”)

There is also a small section titled “Meetings in Breslau” that announced a meeting of the Society at the Goldnen Zepter in Breslau on 26 March in which “Guests interested in our work are welcome.” They were thus returning to the site of the founding of the VfR.[8]

April 1929

The April 1929 issue has another Winkler article, “Calculations of Perturbations in the Trajectory of a Spaceship, with numerous mathematical calculations. Besides this, is the article, most likely also by Winkler, “How Can Members Support the Work on the Spaceflight Problem,” and he also placed his own sizable advertisement that he was available for “Lectures about Space travel.” In this, he followed the example of Valier who was always advertising his availability for space lectures, usually through the Kultur-Vortrages-Organisation (Culture Lectures Organization) in Berlin, which is how he made his living. (Incidentally, other advertisements often appeared in the back pages of Die Rakete which helped with the financing both of the journal and the Society. These concerns ran the gamut from book dealers - that included works on spaceflight - to a lathe company, a printing firm, and even a company called Gutsman & Winkler of Breslau that specialized in “Women's wardrobe and sportswear,” and perhaps belonged to a relative of Johannes Winkler.) [9]

May 1929

Winkler's article, “The Carbon Dioxide Rocket,” in the 15 May 1929 issue of Die Rakete provides another clue as to the progress of his experimentation. It seems that in addition to experimenting with liquid-propellants, he tried carbon dioxide as well since this mono-gaseous propellant was easily obtainable, though produced very low impulse. But it was a useful and safe way to learn more about basic rocket propulsion; in fact he wrote that attempts had been made to propel a car using a carbon dioxide bottle with a small exhaust nozzle. “These experiments,” he noted, “were made by the author on the premises of the Autobauer firm (in) Carlowitz (in Breslau).” He used the laws of thermodynamics to determine the exhaust velocity. But he concluded that while this was “the cheapest and safest form of rockets...For higher power only the liquid fuel rocket engine may be used, based on the combustion of a fuel with oxygen.”[10]

June 1929

The 15 June 1929 issue reported that “our Board member Oberth” had “unanimously” won the very first REP-Hirsch Prize for his updated book, Wege zur Raumschiffahrt (Ways to Space Travel), published that year as the best work advancing the field of space travel and its value was so highly prized that the monetary award was doubled to 10,000 Francs. Founded jointly by Robert Esnault-Pelterie (“REP”) and his friend the banker André Hirsch, the award was a significant step in helping transform the pursuit of spaceflight into a serious scientific and technological undertaking; it may be added that the VfR itself, including Die Rakete, were certainly other paths towards this goal of transforming the cause of spaceflight into a scientific endeavor. The two honorable mentions for the REP-Hirsch award for that year were Walter Hohmann, for his book, Die Erreichbarkeit der Himmelskörper, or The Attainability of Spaceflight, of 1925, and the little known American, John Noel Deisch for his almost 200 page manuscript that focused upon life-support systems that would be needed in spaceflight.[11].

In the same issue of Die Rakete, Winkler offered another article as a result of his experimental work, “The Rocket for Liquid Propulsion with Combustion.” But this issue also presented another turning point that seriously affected the nature of the content, Die Rakete, and the members of the VfR. It began with Oberth's piece in a new section of the journal called “The Critic's Corner.” His piece posed the question, “Do We Need a Critic's Corner?” “Space science today,” he began, “is today only in the making.” He then went on at length to explain that because it was not yet a fully developed science, errors were bound to occur and that no one individual could be the judge.

In truth, Oberth had already faced a painful experience with this kind of “Critic's Corner” in the Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure (The Journal of the Society of German Engineers) two years earlier when he had to defend himself against critical technical questions by Privy Counselor Prof. Dr. Hermann Lorenz of Danzig. Oberth had also later faced Lorenz in a debate on these same issues, at the annual meeting of the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Luftfahrt (Scientific Society for Aviation) on 12 March 1928, as described by Ley in his article, “Eight Days in the Story of Rocketry” as well as in his Rockets, Missiles. At any rate, “...Counselor Lorenz,” Oberth later recalled, “invent(ed) one objection after the other, and why did he...make it impossible for me to comment on his objections to the VDI periodical. I think he did this because he had said...that space flight was impossible, and he did not want to retract his statement.” Oberth, a sensitive man, did not at all want a repeat of such stressful and, in his view, uunnecessary treatment. But despite his entreaty not to pursue the “Corner” for Die Rakete, Winkler (and perhaps others of the VfR's Board who joined him) allowed the new feature to continue. Winkler was to regret it.[12]

July 1929

On the second page of the issue for July 1929 is an interesting long plea, probably authored by Winkler, headed in large bold letters reading, “Help Create the Spaceship!” “Recently,” the plea goes on, “it has been repeatedly shown at length that with the present-day level of technology it must be possible to fly through the empty space which separates us from neighboring celestial bodies; it is a project unequalled in grandeur. All objections which have been raised against it until now lack substance. Therefore, it is a matter of fostering and promoting this great idea with every effort....To this end the Society for Space Ship Travel Registered Society was founded on July 5, 1927 in Germany. Its executive board comprises the leading figures in this field...” Thus, from our later perspective, the VfR at this juncture was still in a less scientific and more romantic, or visionary or idealistic phase. Yet there is no question the Society's Die Rakete greatly helped more widely circulate several key astronautical concepts that helped form the foundation of the then new science as well as making the works of some of the leading pioneers in this field better known. Later, we will see how the same motto became exploited with a new, although decidedly more nationalistic message.[13].

The same July 1929 issue featured another of Winkler's articles reflecting his continuing experimentation, “The Rocket for Liquid Propellants - Performance in Heat Diagrams.” However, there also appeared other “Critic's Corner” submissions, two very lengthy exchanges, one an “Answer” by von Hoefft to points and remarks made by Oberth, and the other, Oberth's responses to von Hoefft. Together, these exchanges took up the bulk of this issue of Die Rakete, while at the end of the journal, for the first time, Winkler added an extra page called “Special Edition.” This contained the following bulletin: “In the last minute a message arrived that Professor Goddard in Worcester, Mass., on 18 July 1929, shot a test rocket of 3 m (9.8 ft.) length and 70 cm (27.5 in.) diameter that should have reached an enormous height. The rocket started properly, but exploded at a low altitude with a mighty bang, so that the windows were shattered in the surrounding area. This is a long time since new signs of life have come from Goddard, which clearly shows how even over there they are working hard on the space problem.”

This was followed by another message: “On this occasion, it may be mentioned that even a rocket launch with a light aircraft is (being) prepared by Fritz von Opel at the aircraft factory of the Müller brothers in Griesheim, and that even Max Valier has completed a specially constructed rocket plane with the Espenlaub brothers in Düsseldorf.”

Both these items show that Winkler and VfR membership were understandably quite ignorant of the real progress of Goddard's rocket work – he was merely trying to develop basic workable liquid propellant rocket propulsion hardware, and was not at all working towards constructing, much less launching a "space rocket"; nor did they have (or were ever able to get) any technical details at all on any of his accomplishments but the same could also be said for Goddard's own countrymen. Again, this was due to his secrecy. (His flight of 17 July - not 18 July 1929 - incidentally, was his fourth flight of a liquid propellant rocket and the flight reached 90 ft. (27 m). However, it did not explode although was “bright and noisy” and attracted unwanted public attention to Goddard that forced him to seek another, more remote test site and as far away from the public as possible.) As for the von Opel and Valier rocket airplane efforts, in no way could these be equated with the Goddard flight and, as mentioned, did not genuinely advance the state-of-the-art of rocket technology and were not connected to the movement towards the attainment of spaceflight.[14]

August 1929

The 15 August 1929 issue of Die Rakete repeated the “Help Create the Spaceship!” plea by the Society, as did other issues. But a small although important item also appeared that announced the “establishment of a business office of the Society of Spaceflight e.V. In Berlin.” This was really the office of the patent attorney and diploma engineer (“Dipl. Ing.”) Erich Wurm at Berlin SW 11, Bernburger Strasse 24/25. His telephone number was also provided. According to Ley, Wurm had volunteered the use of his office although in all likelihood; Ley had been involved in the arrangement and was now becoming more active in the VfR. For instance, another small item mentioned that Ley, at Berlin NW 40, Sharnhorststrasse 24, was to be the editor of a special “Entertainment Supplement” to Die Rakete. By this curious title, as we will see, Ley was to cover any “news” about the new big “space film” soon to be released, “Frau im Mond.” (It will also be seen below that the importance of Wurm is understated by Ley and others and for a time, he turned out to be more of a business manager of the VfR.)

There appears another small item that was later to have great personal significance to Winkler. This was titled “News Agency” (i.e. a German newspaper press release), with the sub-title “Rear Thrusters Attempt in Dessau.” It spoke about attempts by the famous Junkers airplane works in Dessau to use solid-propellant rockets for lifting up (boosting) up their Bremen-Type seaplanes for shortening the lengths required for take-offs of these planes, that is, the earliest known commercial use of JATOs (Jet-Assisted-Take-Off rockets).[15]

On the other hand, this close study of Die Rakete itself reveals that by this time the individual issues of the journal were becoming “thinner,” and that the “Critics Corner” now dominated the entire publication. Every issue from June to December 1929 carried the “Critic's Corner.” From July to December carried a critical exchange between the same two individuals: Oberth and von Hoefft. Apart from this, the exchanges became increasingly heated. In short, the journal was rapidly deteriorating in both coverage and quality. It is evident too, that Winkler was becoming more involved in his experimentation; perhaps he now paid less attention to gathering material for the Die Rakete. There was now a waning of genuine material found in Die Rakete.[16].

September 1929

A remarkable statement in the September issue of the journal by Winkler, titled “Preparations,” is given as the first item, (after the now customary “Help Create the Spaceship!” plea), it dramatically explains the situation and change of mood: “From various statements of our members can be seen that some of the eternal waiting (for developments towards the attainment of spaceflight) has become a little tired. Others do not speak about it, but you realize it, e.g. the fact that contributions for the current year to be paid...have not yet been received to date, that the interest and enthusiasm is not as vivid as in the previous years. Our members should now know, however, from the journal that the work is by no means silent and not subject to such depression...On the contrary, while experiments could until recently, only be done part-time and with very modest tools, (I am) now working full time at two points on a rocket with liquid fuels. We can therefore expect that the work will go forward rapidly...”[17]

Meanwhile, an exceptionally bright youngster named Wernher von Braun joined as one of the junior members of the VfR. He had been so captivated with the “rocket fad” and its stunts by the likes of von Opel, that he built and rode a rocket car of his own (and was roundly scolded by his father for foolishly doing so), although he also gave a donation to the VfR as shown by the “Higher Contributions and Donations” section in Die Rakete for September 1929. The listing is simply recorded as: “v. Braun – Spiekeroog 6 RM” and shows he donated 6 Reichmarks and the money was sent from Spiekeroog. Von Braun, then 17, was attending the newly opened Lietz School on Spikeroog, a remote island on the North Sea and a few kilometers west of Bremerhaven. Von Braun's connection with the VfR, as seen below, was to be of profound importance towards the overall technological development of the rocket and extended towards its development in its application in the exploration of space.[18]

October 1929

The final full issues of Die Rakete did not contain much “news.” In the October issue, besides the familiar “Help Create the Spaceship!” fixture and the ever-fierce Oberth-von Hoefft debate in the “Critic's Corner,” there was mention of a talk given in Berlin by Oberth on 5 October, titled “The Rocket in the Past and Future,” there was a piece (probably by Winkler) hailing “A New Epoch in the Development of Spaceflight Plans,” but it was nothing more than a glorification of the von Opel rocket-propelled glider flights.[19].

But there were also two small items on “Frau im Mond.” The first, titled “Ufa Reports,” after Ufa, the abbreviated name of the studio that produced the film, the Universum Film-Aktien Gesellschaft (Universum Film-Stock Company). “After a thorough consultation with the experts in question in the Reichsmarineamt (the German Empire Marine Office), “ reads the first report, “the test rocket by Prof. Oberth will be launched in October near the Griefswalder Oie. Meanwhile, there will be a preliminary test, known to be financed by the Ufa with Fritz Lang (the producer and director of the film).”

Mention is also made of negotiations by Ufa with the Reichsverkehrsminiserium (the German Transportation Ministry), for the final approval of a rocket shoot that would require “necessary (safety) barricades” to be set up at the Griefswalder Oie ("Greifswald's Isle") a small island in the Baltic Sea, located east of Rügen on the German coast. In other words, Oberth was serving as far more than a scientific advisor. Lang had been convinced to let him construct and launch a rocket at Griefswalder Oie by October, as essentially a publicity stunt to coincide with the premier of the film. In fact, the other item reported that the world premiere of the film would be held on 15 October at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo, one of the most glamorous theatres in Berlin. (Frau im Mond also turned out to be the last big German silent, as “talkies had now arrived.)[20]

As later related in detail by Ley and others, Oberth was a brilliant theoretician but no engineer and his attempt to build and launch the rocket for Fritz Lang proved disastrous. In his efforts, Oberth had hired an assistant, Rudolf Nebel, and then another assistant, the Russian Alexander Borrisovitch Shershevsky, but both were incompetent and no rocket was launched, although Oberth did attend the premier of the film.[21]

November/December 1929

The final full issue of Die Rakete was actually a combined November/December number. At this point, the usually calm and diplomatic Winkler had his fill of the fierce and constant Oberth-von Hoefft dispute and felt compelled to step in and write an “Editor's Note to the Critical Corner” that “I call your attention to the fact that in the future I shall refuse contributions that do not preserve an academic tone, no matter who is the author.” But he went beyond this. Winkler ceased to be the editor and Die Rakete ended publication, although no public announcement was made in the journal. [22]

This final full-publication of the journal also saw the last public account of his experimentation, titled “Rocket Motor Technology Progress in (Answering) Propulsion Questions in the Year 1929.” Included are two drawings of very long combustion chambers. In a number of histories covering this phase of the VfR, it is usually simply stated, by Ley for instance, that Winkler left the VfR for “personal reasons” and at the same time the Society decided to devote their financial resources to experimentation. Baker, as another example, says the VfR found it “necessary to dispense with the printing costs demanded by the journal and conserve funds for rocket construction and test(s).” Similarly, Peterson in his 2005 doctoral dissertation, “Engineering Consent: Peenemünde, National Socialism, and the V-2 Missile,” (available on line), says: "The VfR ceased publishing Die Rakete in order to devote more of its meager resources to experimental activities..." But as seen above as well as facts given below, the overall situation was far more complicated and these explanations do not reflect the true and full picture.

As noted in his “Preparations” statement in the September 1929 Die Rakete, Winkler had already observed a wane in enthusiasm among the membership by that time; his “Editor's Note to the Critical Corner” in the November/December issue further shows he was exasperated by diminishment of academic tone between two of the leaders of the spaceflight movement (and in fact, two normally esteemed Board members of the Society) and may well have felt responsible for that state-of-affairs. These were all strong concerns. There is no question he was also now almost entirely preoccupied with his experimentation, which he felt was very promising. But closer examination now shows that the true reason he resigned from the VfR was due to him finding a position with the Junkers Airplane Company away from Breslau, in Dessau, as given in more detail below.

On the other hand, it may not have been the job itself, but as Pendray surprisingly revealed in an article in May 1931 in the Bulletin of the American Interplanetary Society, his (new) employers, the Junkers Airplane Works “objected to his connection with such visionary schemes as rocket flights and interplanetary speculation, and he was forced to resign.” This, at least, is how Pendray understood the situation, keeping in mind there is no evidence Pendray ever contacted Winkler directly; Pendray may have simply picked up his information by hearsay, or misunderstanding. So whatever happened, his true “personal reason” for leaving was assuredly connected in some way with his new, if temporary position with Junkers. Ley, in his “The End of the Rocket Society” article, offers his own brief explanation that Winkler “had taken another job of which he told nothing at the time. He only stated that it was confidential and that it would be inopportune for him to continue as president of the VfR. The members should elect Professor Oberth.” For certain, nothing is recorded in Die Rakete that even hints the Society was then (by late 1929) preparing to undertake its own experimental program, much less any decision to abandon the publication of the journal. However, there is yet another, hitherto unknown possibility as to why Winkler was forced to cease the publication of Die Rakete. This is found in the unpublished paper, “Spaceflight Projects as I Saw Them Nearly 50 Years Ago,” originally written during the late 1920s up to probably ca. 1930 by Rolf Engel who had retyped it into English in the 1960s and is now located in the files of the National Air and Space Museum.

Buried in this manuscript is a lengthy description of Winkler's character “as a man,” written by Engel who then worked with him very closely. “Concerning his attitude in commercial matters,” the then young Engel observed, “one has to be very careful with him. An example of this is the legal action which the printer of his journal Die Rakete has taken against the VfR, and which is still not settled.” Unfortunately, Engel does not elaborate on this matter. But since the Engel manuscript was started in the late 1920s, it is very likely that this financial dispute with the printer of Die Rakete may have been the real cause for the journal to suddenly cease at the end of 1929 (probably in November, since the final issue is curiously for November-December and prior to this time, there had never been combined month issues.) Then, coupled with this, Winkler was either already working for, or about to obtain, his position with Junkers and his leaving the VfR (or, at least, stepping down as the President) probably was a separate issue matter entirely that was connected with his Junkers appointment.[23]

But before continuing an account of the next phase of the history of the VfR, as well as a brief mention of Winkler's later rocketry activities, there was another, although briefer aspect to the history of Die Rakete we will now review. This concerns the so-called “Entertainment Supplement” to Die Rakete. There were seven altogether, lasting from May to November/December 1929. Continue to part four.

Return to Part Two

Return to the start

Footnotes

  1. ^ Cover, Die Rakete, 15 September 1928; (Probably Johannes Winkler), “Raketenmotor mit flüssiger Luft,” Die Rakete, 15 September 1928, p. 130; Engel, “A Man of the First Hour,” p. 272.
  2. ^ Cover picture, Die Rakete, 15 November 1928; (Undoubtedly Johannes Winkler), “Einfürhrung in das Raumnfahrtproblem,” Die Rakete, 15 November 1928, pp. 162-171; Cover picture, Die Rakete, 15 December 1928.
  3. ^ Guido von Pirquet, “Fahrtrouten - Die Jupiterreise,” Die Rakete, 15 December 1928, pp. 183-190.
  4. ^ (Probably Johannes Winkler), “Zum Jahreswechsel,” Die Rakete, 15 January 1929, pp. 3-4; (Probably Johannes Winkler), “Die Kosten des Raketenantriebs,” Die Rakete, 15 January 1929, pp. 5-7; Guido von Pirquet, “Fahrtrouten - Die Jupiterreise,” Die Rakete, 15 January 1929, pp. 14; (Herman Noordung (i.e. Hermann Potočnik)), “Probekapitel aus Noordung: Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums,” Die Rakete, 15 January 1929, pp. 7-9; “Robert Esnault-Pelterie,” Die Rakete, 15 January 1929, p. 15.
  5. ^ “Quittungen,” Die Rakete, (Donation from Potočnik ), 15 April 1929, p. 63. The work of Noordung ( Potočnik) was translated, with numerous modern editorial commentaries, into English as Herman Noordung, The Problem of Space Travel – The Rocket Motor, edited by Ernst Stuhlinger and J.D. Hunley with Jennifer Garland - The NASA History Series NASA SP-4026 (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Office: Washington, D.C., 1995).
  6. ^ “Quittungen,” Die Rakete, 15 January 1929, p. 16.
  7. ^ Johannes Winkler, “Versuche zur Frage des Wärmeübergangs bei frei schwebenden Tröpfschen,” Die Rakete, 15 February 1929, pp. 19-23; Esther C. Goddard and G. Edward Pendray, eds., The Papers of Robert H. Goddard (McGraw-Hall Book Co.: New York, 1970), Vol. III, p. 1662; (Walter Vollmer), “Probekapitel aus `Flug in die Sterne' con Walter Vollmer,” Die Rakete, 15 February 1929, pp. 27-30.
  8. ^ Johannes Winkler, “Die Mimensionen des Verbrennungsraumes bei der Rakete für flüssige Treibstoffe,” Die Rakete, 15 March 1929, pp. 35-39; (Untitled, with drawing titled “Explosionsgefahr!”), Die Rakete, 15 March 1929, p. 45; “Kleine Nachrichten,” Die Rakete, 15 March 1929, p. 45; Willy Ley, “Eight Days in the Story of Rocketry,” Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 10, December 1937, p. 60; “Zusammenkünfte in Breslau,” Die Rakete, 15 March 1929, p. 45.
  9. ^ Johannes Winkler, “Die Berechnung der Störungen in der Bahn eines Raumschiffes,” Die Rakete, 15 April 1929, pp. 51-54; (Probably Johannes Winkler), “Wie kann ich als Mitglied die Arbeit am Raumfahrtproblem fördern?” Die Rakete, 15 April 1929, pp. 62-63; Advertisement, (Johannes Winkler), “Vorträge über Raumschiffahrt,” Die Rakete, 15 April 1929, p. 64; Advertisement, Gutsman & Winkler, Die Rakete, 15 August 1928, p. 127.
  10. ^ Johannes Winkler, “Die Kohlensäure-Rakete,” Die Rakete, 15 May 1929, pp. 67-69.
  11. ^ “Der REP.-Hirsch-Preis Professor Hermann Oberth zuerkannt,” Die Rakete, 15 June 1929, p. 75. For a complete history of the prize, consult, Frank H. Winter, “The Birth and Early Rise of `Astronautics' - The REP-Hirsch Astronautical Prize 1928-1940,” Quest, Vol. 14 (2007), pp. 35-41.
  12. ^ Johannes Winkler, “Die Rakete für flüssige Triebstoffe mit Verbrennung,” Die Rakete, 15 June 1929, pp. 75-76; H. Oberth, “Kritish Ecke - Brauchen wir eine kritish Ecke?” Die Rakete, 15 June 1929, pp. 76-79; Ley, Rockets, Missiles, pp. 118-119, 122; Hermann Oberth, “My Contributions to Astronautics,” in Durant and James, First Steps Toward Space, p. 137; Willy Ley, “Eight Days,” pp. 59-60. For the original exchange of the earlier printed criticisms between Lorenz and Oberth, see H. Lorenz, “Die Möglichkeit der Weltraumfahrt,” Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure, Vol. 71, 7 May 1927, pp. 651-657, and following issues of this journal up to the issue of 15 December 1927, pp. 163-166.
  13. ^ “Helft das Raumschiff schaffen!” Die Rakete, 15 July 1929, p. 82.
  14. ^ Johannes Winkler, “Die Rakete für flüssige Triebstoffe - Darstellung im Wärmediagramm,”Die Rakete, 15 July 1929, pp. 83-85; “Kritische Ecke - Antwort Dr. v. Hoeffts,” pp. 86-88 and in the same column, Prof. H. Oberth, “Dr. Franz v. Hoefft,” pp. 88-95; Extra =Blatt der Zeitshrift Die Rakete, July 1929, no title; Goddard and Pendray, The Papers, op. cit.
  15. ^ “Errichtung einer Geschäftstelle des Veriens für Raumschiffahrt E.V. In Berlin,” Die Rakete, 15 August 1929, p. 99; Ley, Rockets, Missiles, p. 131; “Readaktion der Unterhaltungsbeilage,” Die Rakete, 15 August 1929, p. 99; “Nachrichtendienst – Rückstosser-Versuch in Dessau,” Die Rakete, 15 August 1929, p. 99.
  16. ^ “Kritische Ecke,” Prof. H. Oberth, “Dr. Franze v. Hoefft,” Die Rakete, 15 August 1929, pp. 100-104; “Kritische Ecke,” Prof. H. Oberth, “Dr. Franz v. Hoefft,” Die Rakete, 15 September 1929, pp. 110-112; “Kritische Ecke,” Prof. H. Oberth, “Dr. Franz v. Hoefft,” Die Rakete, 15 October 1929, pp. 118-120; “Kritische Ecke,” Prof. H. Oberth, “Dr. Franz v. Hoefft,” Die Rakete, 15 November-December 1929, pp. 124-126; “Dr. Franz Hoefft, “Antwort an Herrn Prof. Oberth,” Die Rakete, 15 November-December 1929, pp. 126-128. The Junkers experiments were also reported in the New York Times, as “Rockets Lift Plane From German River,” in the issue of 10 August 1929, p. 14.
  17. ^ (Johannes Winkler), “Vorereitungen,” Die Rakete, 15 September 1929, p. 107.
  18. ^ “Höhere Beiträge und Spenden,” Die Rakete, 15 September 1929, p. 112; Michael J. Neufeld, Von Braun - Dreamer of Space Engineer of War (Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2007), pp. 28, 30-35.
  19. ^ “Helft das Raumschiff schaffen!” Die Rakete, 15 October 1929, p. 114; (Probably Johannes Winkler), “Eine neue Epoche in der Entwicklung des Raumfarhtgedaknes,” Die Rakete, 15 October 1929, pp. 115-116; “Kritische Ecke,” H. Oberth, “Dr. Franz v. Hoefft,” Die Rakete, 15 October 1929, pp. 118-120; “Nachrichtendienst,” Die Rakete, 15 October 1929, p. 116.
  20. ^ “Nachrichtendienst,” Die Rakete, 15 October 1929, pp. 116-117.
  21. ^ Ley, Rockets, Missiles, pp. 124-130.
  22. ^ (Johannes Winkler), “Bemerkung des Herausgebers zur kritischen Ecke,” Die Rakete, 15 November-December 1929, p. 128.
  23. ^ (Johannes Winkler), “Der motorentechnische Fortschritte in der Rückkstoßerfrage im Jahre 1929,” Die Rakete, 15 November-December 1929, pp. 123-124; Ley, Rockets, Missiles, p. 131; David Baker, The Rocket - The History and Development of Rocket & Missiles Technology (Crown Publishers, Inc.: New York, 1978), p. 28; Michael Brian Peterson, doctoral dissertation, “Engineering Consent: Peenemünde, National Socialism, and the V-2 Missile,” University of Maryland, 2005, p. 38, available on line; G. Edward Pendray, “The German Rockets,” Bulletin, American Interplanetary Society, No. 17, May 1931, p. 5; Rolf Engel, “Spaceflight-Projects (sic.) as I saw them Nearly 50 Years Ago,” undated typed manuscript, originally written from late 1920s and probably up to ca. 1930, with introductory note of ca. 1960s, partial copy in “Johannes Winkler” file, NASM, p. 25; Ley, “The End of the Rocket Society,” p. 70.
Retrieved from "http://www.thespacelibrary.com/mediawiki/index.php/German_Rocket_Society_-_Verein_f%C3%BCr_Raumschiffahrt_by_Frank_H._Winter_-_Part_3"