Fritz von Opel
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Fritz Adam Hermann von Opel (4 May 1899 – 8 April 1971) was a German rocket technology pioneer and automotive executive, nicknamed "Rocket-Fritz". He is remembered mostly for his spectacular demonstrations of
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 entir ...
propulsion that earned him an important place in the history of aviation and spaceflight as head of the world's first large-scale rocket program, Opel-RAK. Fritz von Opel, known as Fritz Adam Hermann Opel until his father was ennobled in 1917, was the only son of
Wilhelm von Opel Wilhelm von Opel (15 May 1871 – 2 May 1948), known as Wilhelm Opel before being ennobled in 1917, was one of the founders of the German automobile manufacturer Opel. He introduced the assembly line to the German automobile industry. His father ...
and a grandson of
Adam Opel Adam Opel (9 May 1837 – 8 September 1895) was the founder of the German automobile company Adam Opel AG. Biography Adam Opel was born on 9 May 1837 to Wilhelm, a locksmith, and his wife in Rüsselsheim. Opel studied with his father unti ...
, founder of the
Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...
company.


Life and career

Opel was born in Rüsselsheim. He studied at the
Technische Universität Darmstadt The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmstadt ...
and received his
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
from the university. After graduation, he was made director of testing for the Opel company and also put in charge of publicity. Fritz von Opel was a grandson of Adam Opel and son of Wilhelm von Opel. His sister was Elinor von Opel, a cousin Georg von Opel. When his father Wilhelm was raised to hereditary nobility in 1917, his descendants were also ennobled. In 1929 he married his first wife Margot Löwenstein (also known as Sellnik), an actress and one of Germany's first female aviators, and after the divorce eventually his second wife in 1947, Emita Herrán Olozaga, daughter of the diplomat Rafael Bernando Herrán Echeverri and his wife Lucia Olozaga. This marriage resulted in two children, Frederick von Opel, called Rikky (* 1947), and Marie Christine von Opel, called Putzi (1951-2006). Until 1928 he was a partner in the Adam Opel company, until then a family limited partnership. In Dec. 1928, the company was converted into a stock corporation, but already in March 1929, 80% of the shares were sold to General Motors Corporation of the US. The Opel heirs received 120 million Reichsmarks in return. A few years later, Adam Opel AG was completely owned by General Motors. Fritz von Opel invested part of his large fortune in the USA, where it was confiscated during the war. Von Opel was highly successful in different kinds of motorsports, inter alia he won the inaugural race on Berlin's
AVUS The Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße ('Automobile traffic and training road'), known as AVUS, is a public road in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1921, it was also used as a motor racing circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern p ...
race track on 24 September 1921 on an Opel 8/25 hp racing car with a 2.3 litre four-cylinder engine, with an average speed 128.84 km/h and also was setting the lap record of the first racing weekend with 8 min 14 s. Two years later, on 24 June 1923 he won at the AVUS track on a Opel 346 cc motorbike the race organized by the German Motorcyclists' Association DMV with an average speed of 87 km/h. Fritz von Opel was also active in motorboat racing where he e.g. dominated with his "Opel II", equipped with two
Maybach Maybach (, ) is a German luxury car brand that exists today as a part of Mercedes-Benz. The original company was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach, originally as a subsidiary of ''Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH'', and ...
Mb IVa engines of each 260 hp, the July 1927 series of events on the
Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/ Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributa ...
in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
. He was winning the "Coupe de France", the "Prize of the French Naval Minister" and finally the "Trophée de Paris". In Germany he continued his winning spree in 1927 with the "Blue Band of the Rhine", the
ADAC ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest motoring association. ADAC is the largest club (Verein) in Germany with around 21 million members. It would be more aptly described today as an individual mo ...
regatta on Lake Starnberg and was eventually crowned German Champion at the ADAC Motorboat Championship on Templiner See. Fritz von Opel was instrumental in popularizing rockets as means of propulsion for vehicles. In the 1920s, he initiated together with
Max Valier Max Valier (9 February 1895 – 17 May 1930) was an Austrian rocketry pioneer. He was a leading figure in the world's first large-scale rocket program, Opel-RAK, and helped found the German ''Verein für Raumschiffahrt'' (VfR – "Spacefligh ...
, co-founder of the "Verein für Raumschiffahrt", and
Friedrich Wilhelm Sander '' Friedrich Wilhelm Sander (25 August 1885 in Glatz (Kłodzko) – 15 September 1938) was a German pyrotechnics and rocket technology engineer as well as manufacturer remembered for his contributions to rocket-powered flight as key protagonist of ...
the world's first rocket program, Opel-RAK, leading to speed records for automobiles, rail vehicles and the first public manned rocket-powered flight in September 1929. Months earlier in 1928, one of his rocket-powered prototypes, the Opel RAK2, reached piloted by von Opel himself at the AVUS speedway in Berlin a record speed of 238 km/h, watched by 3000 spectators and world media, among them
Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
, director of ''
Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big ci ...
'' and ''
Woman in the Moon ''Woman in the Moon'' ( 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 first "serious" ...
'', world boxing champion Max Schmeling and many more sports and show business celebrities. A world record for rail vehicles was reached with RAK3 and a top speed of 256 km/h. After these successes, von Opel piloted the world's first public rocket-powered flight using Opel RAK.1, a rocket plane designed by
Julius Hatry Julius Hatry (30 December 1906 – 7 November 2000) was a German aircraft designer and builder. He is remembered for his contributions to sailplane development in the early twentieth century and for building the world's first purpose-built ro ...
. Fritz von Opel ignited two 40-centimeter-long, 6.5-kilogram rockets at Frankfurt-Rebstock Airport, accelerating the aircraft to a good 100 kilometers per hour. On 30 September 1929, at exactly 3:30 p.m., the plane took off. Two more propellants provided additional thrust totaling 96 kilograms, enabling the plane to climb. At an altitude of 20 to 30 meters, the aircraft reached a top speed of 150 km/h and covered a distance of just under two kilometers. When attempting to ignite further rockets, the mechanism failed - Fritz von Opel had a hard landing on the ground after 80 seconds in the air, but remained unharmed. For the first time, a pilot had succeeded before a large audience in taking off using only rocket power and transitioning to a climb followed by a cross-country flight. World media reported on these efforts inter alia as "The first human rocket", including
Universal Newsreel Universal Newsreel (sometimes known as Universal-International Newsreel or just U-I Newsreel) was a series of 7- to 10-minute newsreels that were released twice a week between 1929 and 1967 by Universal Studios. A Universal publicity official, S ...
of the US, causing as "Raketen-Rummel" or "Rocket Rumble" immense global public excitement, and in particular in Germany, where inter alia
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 ...
was highly influenced: 16-year old Wernher was so enthusiastic about the public Opel RAK demonstrations, that he constructed his own homemade rocket car, nearly killing himself in the process, and causing a major disruption in a crowded street by detonating the toy wagon to which he had attached fireworks. He was taken into custody by the local police until his father came to get him released.


Timeline

* On 15 March 1928, Opel tested his first rocket-powered car, the Opel RAK.1, and achieved a top speed of 75 km/h (47 mph) in it, proving the feasibility of the concept of rocket propulsion. Less than two months later, he reached a speed of 230 km/h (143 mph) in the RAK.2, driven by 24 solid-fuel rockets. * Later that same year, he purchased a
sailplane A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding (also called soaring). This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailpla ...
named the "
Lippisch Ente The Ente (german: duck) was the world's first full-sized rocket-powered aircraft. It was designed by Alexander Lippisch as a sailplane and first flown under power on June 11, 1928, piloted by Fritz Stamer as part of the Opel-RAK rocket progra ...
" (''Ente'' is "duck" in German) from Alexander Lippisch and attached rocket motors to it, creating the world's first rocket plane on 11 June. The aircraft exploded on its second test flight, before Opel had had a chance to pilot it himself, so he commissioned a new aircraft, also called the RAK.1, from
Julius Hatry Julius Hatry (30 December 1906 – 7 November 2000) was a German aircraft designer and builder. He is remembered for his contributions to sailplane development in the early twentieth century and for building the world's first purpose-built ro ...
, and flew it at Frankfurt-am-Main on 30 September 1929. In the meantime, another mishap had claimed the RAK.3, a rocket-powered railway car powered by 30 solid-fuel rockets which had reached a speed of 254 km/h (157 mph). * Also in 1928, Opel built and test ran a rocket-powered
motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
called the Monster.


Liquid-fuel rocket development, test launches and break-up of Opel RAK

Opel and Sander also worked on the design of a liquid-fuel rocket engine. This put them in competition with research groups led by Professor Hermann Oberth,
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 ...
,
Johannes Winkler Johannes Winkler (29 May 1897 – 27 December 1947) was a German rocket pioneer who co-founded with Max Valier of Opel RAK the first German rocket society "Verein für Raumschiffahrt" and launched, after Friedrich Wilhelm Sander's successful Ope ...
and
Arthur Rudolph Arthur Louis Hugo Rudolph (November 9, 1906 – January 1, 1996) was a German rocket engineer who was a leader of the effort to develop the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany. After World War II, the United States Government's Office of Strategic Ser ...
, who eventually became known as key rocket pioneers. As early as April 1929, they tested two rockets in which a "reaction engine" powered by liquid fuels provides enormous thrust. The result was a rocket engine that developed a continuous thrust of around 300 kilograms over a burn time of according to Sander nearly 45 minutes. The pioneers eventually transplanted an engine of this type into a light aircraft. However, Fritz von Opel's originally planned flight across the
English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
never took place: The Opel rocket tests ended in the fall of 1929. Fritz von Opel had to discontinue his work because the Great Depression was taking its toll on the one hand and the new majority owner General Motors wanted to concentrate on the automotive business on the other. The future of the industry in Germany had appeared uncertain, and competition from imports of automobiles from the USA had increased. Fritz von Opel and other family members had rejected a larger merger of German automobile companies, which the Association of the German Automobile Industry (RdA), Deutsche Bank and DANAT-Bank proposed in 1927/28. In October 1928 a purchase option was negotiated with GM. A stock corporation, registered on 3 December 1928 was founded as "Adam Opel AG " with a share capital of 60 million Reichsmark. In March 1929 the contracts were signed by Fritz von Opel, his father Wilhelm and his uncle Fritz on the part of the Opel family, the name "Opel" was retained. GM initially took over 80% of the shares representing a nominal value of 48 million Reichsmarks, and GM acquired the remaining 20% in October 1931.


Life after Opel RAK break-up

After the end of the Opel-RAK collaboration with Opel and Sander, Max Valier continued the efforts. Also switching from solid-fuel to liquid-fuel rockets, he died while testing and is considered the first fatality of the dawning space age. The impact of Opel RAK was both immediate and long-lasting on later spaceflight pioneers. Opel, Sander, Valier and Hatry had engaged in a program that led directly to use of jet-assisted takeoff for heavily laden aircraft. The German Reich was first to test the approach in August 1929 when a battery of solid rocket propellants supported a Junkers Ju-33 seaplane to get airborne. The Opel RAK experiments had a tremendous influence on Lippisch, whose experience with the rocket-powered "Ente" eventually paved the way to the Messerschmitt Me-163, the first operational rocket fighter craft. The Opel RAK experiments excited also the interest of the German military, which provided funding for further development of rockets as a replacement for artillery. This led to an array of military applications, among them Germany's
V-2 The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develope ...
terror weapon, the world's first ballistic missile. After World War II, these German rocket and missile scientists and engineers would have an immense impact on missile and space programs by the United States of America. Walter J. Boyne, director of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, concluded "Working together, von Opel, Valier, and Sander had thrown a big rock of publicity into the mill pond of science. The ripples have not yet ceased to spread." Von Opel left Germany before 1930, first to the US and eventually to France and Switzerland where he died. He was present at the Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933 when German industrialists decided to support Adolf Hitler, but did not contribute personally to the donations. His sister Elinor von Opel had to flee Germany in 1935 with her sons, Ernst Wilhelm Sachs von Opel and
Gunter Sachs Fritz Gunter Sachs (14 November 1932 – 7 May 2011, also Gunter Sachs von Opel) was a German photographer, author, Rosenberg student, industrialist, and latterly head of an institute that researched claims of astrology. As a young man he bec ...
von Opel, due a legal battle on her divorce and because of her public aversion to Nazi leadership, friends of her former husband Willy Sachs. Elinor's German assets were blocked and confiscated by the German Reich government. On 25 April 1940, Fritz von Opel was taken off the Italian liner ''Conte di Savoia'' by the British authorities at Gibraltar. After being detained at Gibraltar for 16 days, he was allowed to proceed to the United States, arriving in May on the Italian liner ''Rex''. He was arrested by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
in February 1942, as a "potentially dangerous alien", although he was subsequently released. In 1947, Opel married Emita Herrán Olózaga (1913–1967) and became the father of
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
driver
Rikky von Opel Frederick "Rikky" von Opel (born October 14, 1947) is a former racing driver who represented Liechtenstein in the Formula One World Championship, the only driver to have done so. He won the Lombard North British Formula 3 Championship in 1972. He ...
(Frederick von Opel), who was born later the same year. He died at
Samedan Samedan (, ) is a town and municipality in the Maloja Region in the Swiss canton of Grisons. It is served by Samedan railway station on the Rhaetian Railway network and by the Samedan Airport. History Samedan is first mentioned in 1139 as '' ...
in Switzerland in 1971.


''Weltraumschiff I'' movie featuring Opel RAK pioneers

The 1937 German film ''Weltraumschiff I startet –Eine technische Fantasie–'', is a short movie made by Anton Kutter in 1937 about the fictitious launch of a space rocket that lands back on earth after orbiting the moon in an Apollo-8-style mission: In front of representatives of the press, the director of the Friedrichshafen airship yard announced the first manned rocket flight to the moon. In an introduction he describes the history of rocket technology and the technical details of space travel. Immediately before take-off, reporters interviewed the commander of the spaceship via video radio, which then flies over a kilometer-long ski jump into space and returns safely to earth after orbiting the moon. The movie features impressive visual effects and has short clips of various RAK vehicles: 11 seconds at 436 feet (approximately 04:47) igniters being wired to the Rak.2 car; 2 seconds at 447 feet (approximately 04:58)
Max Valier Max Valier (9 February 1895 – 17 May 1930) was an Austrian rocketry pioneer. He was a leading figure in the world's first large-scale rocket program, Opel-RAK, and helped found the German ''Verein für Raumschiffahrt'' (VfR – "Spacefligh ...
seated in a RAK.2 car labeled "Rückstoss Versuchs Wagen"; 2 seconds at 451 feet (approximately 05:00) Fritz von Opel seated in a RAK.2 car; 11 seconds at 460 feet (approximately 05:06) Fritz Von Opel drives the RAK.2 car on 1928 May 23 at the Avus Track in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
; 2 seconds at 472 feet (05:14) Opel RAK.3 rocket car on 1928 June 23 running on railway tracks; 19 seconds at 475 feet (05:16 to 05:35) Opel RAK.1 rocket glider in 1928 September, preparation and launch; 6 seconds at 536 feet (05:57 to 06:03) Max Valier sitting and talking in a RAK.6 car.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Opel, Fritz Von 1899 births 1971 deaths People from Rüsselsheim Engineers from Hesse People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Fritz Fritz originated as a German nickname for Friedrich, or Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick III, German Emperor) as well as for similar names including Fridolin a ...
German automotive pioneers German spaceflight pioneers Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni