3.4 Early Astronautical Societies and Historical Merits
129
The rocket’s combustion chamber was connected in parallel with a slender nozzle,
with the designed flight altitude of 5000 m. In October 1932, the launch test of HW-2
rocket was carried out from East Prussia, on the coast of the Baltic Sea. However, due
to the leakage of propellant, the rocket exploded after igniting and rising only 3 m,
which hit Winkler hard. Since then, Winkler returned to his old job at the Junkers
Aircraft Company in silence and broke away from the VfR informally. During the
Second World War, he worked for the government at an Aeronautical Research
Institute. Although he designed a number of Jet-assisted takeoff units and sounding
rockets, none were ever put into production. On 27 December 1947, Winkler died in
Braunschweig-Querum, Germany.
Furthermore, under the guidance of Hermann Oberth, the research team,
composed of some key members of the VfR, such as Willy Ley, Wernher von Braun,
Klaus Riedel and Rudolph Nebel, had been devoted to the research of small liquid
rockets. In the autumn of 1929, Oberth conducted a static firing of his first liquidfueled rocket engine named Kegeldüse, which was built by Klaus Riedel and von
Braun in workshop space provided by the Reich Institution of Chemical Technology.
The engine used liquid oxygen and gasoline as fuels, and despite lacking a cooling
system, it could run briefly. In July 1930, Nebel arranged a demonstration on the
static firing tests of the Kegeldüse for the director of the National Chemical Institute
in an attempt to secure financial support. In the demonstration, the engine worked
for 90 s, generated a thrust of 7 kgf, and consumed the liquid oxygen of 6 kg and
the gasoline of 1 kg. Nevertheless, all rocket flight tests based on the engine ended
in failure until 1931. For this reason, the rocket engine was redesigned, in which
high-pressure nitrogen was injected and a better fuel valve was installed; the liquidoxygen tank and the gasoline tank were connected in series, four stabilizers were
installed at the tail of the rocket body, and parachutes and timing-opening devices
were installed; the top engine was connected with four conduits, and a stabilizer bar
was installed at the center of the rocket to guide. The research team also named the
new rocket “Propeller” and developed four types of rocket series. At the end of 1931,
the flight test of the Propeller rocket reached an altitude of 1650 m, and the liquid
rocket experiment achieved great success, winning the reputation for the VfR, highly
praised by the American Interplanetary Society.
With the gradual growth of the Nazi Party in Germany, most of the VfR’s members
lost their enthusiasm for rocket research and began to look for their own ways. Willy
Ley went to Britain alone, while Wernher von Braun, Rudolph Nebel, Klaus Riedel
and Walter Riedel were recruited to join the Research and Development Department
of the German Army Artillery Bureau. By 1933, the German Society for Space Flight
basically died out. During just 5 years, the Society had done a lot of pioneering works,
holding 23 rocketry and astronautic exhibitions and carrying out 270 rocket engine
ignition tests and 87 launch tests, which lay a technical foundation for the successful
development of the German V-2 rockets.
129
The rocket’s combustion chamber was connected in parallel with a slender nozzle,
with the designed flight altitude of 5000 m. In October 1932, the launch test of HW-2
rocket was carried out from East Prussia, on the coast of the Baltic Sea. However, due
to the leakage of propellant, the rocket exploded after igniting and rising only 3 m,
which hit Winkler hard. Since then, Winkler returned to his old job at the Junkers
Aircraft Company in silence and broke away from the VfR informally. During the
Second World War, he worked for the government at an Aeronautical Research
Institute. Although he designed a number of Jet-assisted takeoff units and sounding
rockets, none were ever put into production. On 27 December 1947, Winkler died in
Braunschweig-Querum, Germany.
Furthermore, under the guidance of Hermann Oberth, the research team,
composed of some key members of the VfR, such as Willy Ley, Wernher von Braun,
Klaus Riedel and Rudolph Nebel, had been devoted to the research of small liquid
rockets. In the autumn of 1929, Oberth conducted a static firing of his first liquidfueled rocket engine named Kegeldüse, which was built by Klaus Riedel and von
Braun in workshop space provided by the Reich Institution of Chemical Technology.
The engine used liquid oxygen and gasoline as fuels, and despite lacking a cooling
system, it could run briefly. In July 1930, Nebel arranged a demonstration on the
static firing tests of the Kegeldüse for the director of the National Chemical Institute
in an attempt to secure financial support. In the demonstration, the engine worked
for 90 s, generated a thrust of 7 kgf, and consumed the liquid oxygen of 6 kg and
the gasoline of 1 kg. Nevertheless, all rocket flight tests based on the engine ended
in failure until 1931. For this reason, the rocket engine was redesigned, in which
high-pressure nitrogen was injected and a better fuel valve was installed; the liquidoxygen tank and the gasoline tank were connected in series, four stabilizers were
installed at the tail of the rocket body, and parachutes and timing-opening devices
were installed; the top engine was connected with four conduits, and a stabilizer bar
was installed at the center of the rocket to guide. The research team also named the
new rocket “Propeller” and developed four types of rocket series. At the end of 1931,
the flight test of the Propeller rocket reached an altitude of 1650 m, and the liquid
rocket experiment achieved great success, winning the reputation for the VfR, highly
praised by the American Interplanetary Society.
With the gradual growth of the Nazi Party in Germany, most of the VfR’s members
lost their enthusiasm for rocket research and began to look for their own ways. Willy
Ley went to Britain alone, while Wernher von Braun, Rudolph Nebel, Klaus Riedel
and Walter Riedel were recruited to join the Research and Development Department
of the German Army Artillery Bureau. By 1933, the German Society for Space Flight
basically died out. During just 5 years, the Society had done a lot of pioneering works,
holding 23 rocketry and astronautic exhibitions and carrying out 270 rocket engine
ignition tests and 87 launch tests, which lay a technical foundation for the successful
development of the German V-2 rockets.