Paul Ehmayr, Klaus Riedel, Wernher von Braun

Paul Ehmayr (born October 28, 1909 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, † 1993 in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

; sometimes incorrectly spelled as Ehmayer, Ehmeier or Ehmeyer) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

engineer. He was a

precision mechanic Precision mechanics (also "fine mechanics") is an engineering discipline that deals with the design and construction of smaller precision machines, often including measuring and control mechanisms of different kinds. The study may be further defi ...

. His masterpiece was a

barometer A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...

. Due to the high level of unemployment in

, Ehmayr went to

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

in 1927, then to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. There he worked from 1930 as part of the engineering team around

Hermann Oberth Hermann Julius Oberth (; 25 June 1894 – 28 December 1989) was an Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and engineer. He is considered one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics, along with Robert Esnault-Pelterie, Konstantin Ts ...

Rudolf Nebel Rudolf Nebel (21 March 1894 – 18 September 1978) was a spaceflight advocate active in Germany's amateur rocket group, the ''Verein für Raumschiffahrt'' (VfR – "Spaceflight Society") in the 1930s and in rebuilding German rocketry following Wor ...

and

Klaus Riedel Klaus Riedel (2 August 1907 – 4 August 1944) was a German rocket pioneer. He was involved in many early liquid-fuelled rocket experiments, and eventually worked on the V-2 missile programme at Peenemünde Army Research Center. History Ried ...

(together with

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...

, , Hans Bermüller, Hans Hüter, Kurt Heinisch and Helmuth Zoike) in the development, especially in the construction and experiments with the first

s powered by

liquid gas Liquefied gas (sometimes referred to as liquid gas) is a gas that has been turned into a liquid by cooling or compressing it. Examples of liquefied gases include liquid air, liquefied natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas. Liquid air At the ...

. Development and tests initially took place in the Chemisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, financially supported by the Army Weapons Office. When

returned to Romania, the team continued its activities in the newly founded Berlin-Reinickendorf rocket airfield where they reused the rocket stand featured in the movie "

Woman in the Moon ''Woman in the Moon'' (German language, German ''Frau im Mond'') is a German science fiction silent film that premiered 15 October 1929 at the UFA-Palast am Zoo cinema in Berlin to an audience of 2,000. It is often considered to be one of the f ...

". The jointly developed rockets included the Oberth cone nozzle ("Kegeldüse"), different versions of the Repulsor, the I-III and the Magdeburg pilot rocket (10-L) The activities of the Verein für Raumschifffahrt and at Raketenflugplatz Berlin have been under strict surveillance. since the

National Socialists Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

came to power in the spring of 1933. After the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

confiscated all documents in the same year, the organization and the rocket airfield were finally closed in June 1934 Since then, private rocket attempts have been prohibited. - all activities have now been continued under the patronage of the German Wehrmacht in the Kummersdorf Army Research Center, later in the

Peenemünde Army Research Center The Peenemünde Army Research Center (german: Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde, HVP) was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the German Army Weapons Office (''Heereswaffenamt''). Several German guided missiles and ...

From then on Ehmayr worked in various companies as a technical employee until he returned to Austria together with his wife and son at the end of the war. There he lived first in

Wels Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the eighth largest city in Austria. Geography Wels is in the H ...

, then until his death in 1993 in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehmayr, Paul 1909 births 1993 deaths German spaceflight pioneers Rocket scientists Scientists from Vienna 20th-century Austrian scientists Austrian expatriates in Germany