Siegfried Günter (8 December 1899 – 20 June 1969) and Walter Günter (8 December 1899 – 21 September 1937) were German twin brothers and pioneering aircraft designers. Walter was responsible for the world's first rocket-powered and turbojet airframes, projects funded by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

."The jet race and the Second World War"
Sterling Michael Pavelec. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, p. 5. , . Siegfried was the father of the "thrust modulation theory".

Early life

Siegfried and Walter Günter were born on 8 December 1899 in

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

."Aeronautical research in Germany: from Lilienthal until today, Volume 147"
Ernst-Heinrich Hirschel, Horst Prem, Gero Madelung. Springer, 2004, pp. 66, 69, 379. , 9783540406457. Avid flight enthusiasts, at 16 they had developed their own propeller theories. Both served in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, where they were captured by the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and each became a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. The brothers would be educated in mechanical engineering at the Institute of Technology Hannover, specializing in aircraft design and aerodynamics. It was there that Siegfried designed his first aircraft with fellow students Walter Mertens and Werner Meyer-Cassel, the glider H 6. Their talents were first recognised by Paul Bäumer who was impressed by the performance of the H 6 when he saw it being flown at Wasserkuppe. Bäumer offered the brothers, Mertens, and Meyer-Cassel jobs with his company Bäumer Aero in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. There they began designing motor gliders and then increasingly fast sports planes. By 1925 Siegfried had designed first B II "Sausewind" ("Buzzing Wind") airplane for the Deutscher Rundflug 1925 competition, which featured the first elliptic design based on Prandtl's 1918 theory.

Heinkel Flugzeugwerke

On 16 January 1931, Ernst Heinkel recruited Siegfried Günter to work for his

Heinkel Heinkel Flugzeugwerke () was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, wit ...

company in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

, and Walter joined the company on 31 July 1931, where he was in charge of developing low and high-speed

wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

s.Regnat 2004, p. 5. There they were to design some of the most important and famous designs associated with the company, including the Heinkel He 51, He 70, He 112, He 100, and the He 111. Walter designed the first ever retractable landing gear in Germany for the He 70, an aircraft mainly designed by Siegfried. Through their introduction of the

elliptical wing An elliptical wing is a wing planform whose leading and trailing edges each approximate two segments of an ellipse. It is not to be confused with annular wings, which may be elliptically shaped. Relatively few aircraft have adopted the elliptic ...

- planform, their designs set officially recognized speed records. Lufthansa purchased the He 70, nicknaming it the Heinkel-Blitz (''blitz'' means "lightning"), and instituted "blitz" air-routes between Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, and Frankfurt comparable to today's travel time for the same routes. During this time Walter submitted airframe designs for what would become the He 178, an experimental

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

aircraft, and the experimental He 176

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

plane, in coordination with

Hans von Ohain Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain (14 December 191113 March 1998) was a German physicist, engineer, and the designer of the first aircraft to use a turbojet engine. Together with Frank Whittle and Anselm Franz, he has been described as the co-invent ...

. As chief project designer by 1937, Siegfried and his team introduced the He 100D-1 on 25 May 1937. Siegfried would later contribute to the design of the He 219, as well as other prototypes, including the

He 177 The Heinkel He 177 ''Greif'' (Griffin) was a long-range heavy bomber flown by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. The introduction of the He 177 to combat operations was significantly delayed by problems both with the development of its ...

and He 162.

Death of Walter

Walter was killed in a car accident on 21 September 1937.

Postwar

Soviet Union

After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Siegfried worked in Berlin in the car shop of his father-in-law. He approached the Allies offering his expertise, which was refused along with his request for asylum, forcing him to return to the Soviet sector. In 1948 he was taken to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

by USSR agents where he worked on Soviet aircraft designs.Luftwaffe secret projects: strategic bombers 1935-1945, Dieter Herwig, Heinz Rode. Midland Publishing, 2000, p. 70. , .

East Germany

In July 1954 Siegfried returned to

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

West Germany

In 1957 Siegfried went to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, where he again joined the Heinkel works. He was involved in the construction of the EWR VJ 101, the world's first supersonic

V/STOL A vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft is an airplane able to takeoff and landing, take-off or land vertically or on short runways. VTOL, Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft are a subset of V/STOL craft that do ...

aircraft, and the

transport aircraft . Both were experimental designs and never saw serial production.

Death of Siegfried

Siegfried died in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

on 20 June 1969.

References

Sources

* Regnat, Karl-Heinz. ''Black Cross Volume 4: Heinkel He 111''. Midland Publishers, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunter, Siegfried And Walter Aircraft designers German aerospace engineers German twins German military personnel of World War I German prisoners of war in World War I World War I prisoners of war held by the United Kingdom Engineers from Thuringia