Running head: EARLY YEARS OF WERNER VON BRAUN
Early Years of Wernher von Braun
Faylynn Meyer
Salt Lake Community College
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Wernher Magnus Maximilian von Braun was born on March 23, 1912 in Wirsitz,
Germany, which is now Wyzysk, Poland. He was the middle child of the three sons born
to Baron Magnus von Braun, a prosperous farmer and local councilor, and Emmy von
Quistorp.
When Wernher was confirmed a member of the Lutheran Church, Emmy gave
him a telescope as a gift. This sparked his interest in space and astronomy. As a youth
Wernher enjoyed music, science and science fiction books too. At the age of eleven he
attended Franzosisches Gymnasium, for school. He did not excel in school, especially
in physics and math, until he was inspired by the book Dre Rakete zu den
Planetenraumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space) by Herman Oberth, a rocket
innovator. After reading this book and realizing that he needed to understand math and
physics in order to understand the concepts, Wernher started trying harder in school
and eventually was at the top of his class. At a very young age Wernher was
experimenting with propulsion and rockets. When he was sixteen he “strapped a cluster
of solid rocket motors to a wagon and shot it down a crowded street” (Dungan, 2013, p.
1). Fortunately for Wernher no one was injured so the police released him to his father’s
custody.
In 1930, at the age of eighteen, Wernher started school at the Berlin Institute of
Technology in Charlottenburg, Berlin. His attraction to space travel and astronomy kept
growing as he got older. Wernher signed up for the German Society for Space Travel
right after starting school. While he was a student he helped: Hermann Oberth,
astronautics leader, Willy Ley, Space flight promoter, Rudollph Nebel and Johannes
Winkler, two rocket experimenters, with experiments on liquid-fueled rocket motors.
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These experiments took place near Reinickendorf on an empty army proving ground
called Raketenflogplatz. In 1931 the German Society for Space Travel, including von
Braun, started tests on their new rockets. The first one they launched was the second
successful launch of a liquid-fueled rocket. The Repulsor-1 and Repulsor-2 reached
heights of 200 feet. Looking to get funding from the German Army so that they could
continue their experiments, the German Society for Space Travel set up rocket
demonstrations for the army. The only thing that the army was interested in was
Wernher von Braun. Wernher graduated from the Berlin Institute of Technology in 1932
with a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.
When Adolf Hitler came into power he banned all rocketry testing and the
discussion of rockets except within the military. So, von Braun had to join the military
effort with rockets instead of trying to voyage into space. Captain Walter R. Dornberger
of the German Army saw von Braun’s potential and the potential of the liquid-fuel
rockets that he had been working on, to the military. With Dornberger’s help von Braun
got an army grant to go to the University of Berlin where he would get his Ph.D. in
physics two years later. Dornberger also got von Braun a research grant for rocketry.
Von Braun then signed a contract with the army. His job was to research and develop
rockets that the military could use as weapons. Von Braun moved his research to
Kummersdorf Army Proving Grounds next to Dornberg’s solid-fuel rocket testing area, in
Berlin. Before he graduated in 1934 he was already testing his first rockets there.
While doing tests in Kummersdorf, von Braun was joined by some of his old
colleagues from the German Society for Space Travel. They worked on the Aggregate
series of rockets together. The A-series of rockets lead to the development of the V-2
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rocket. The A-1 rocket was built, but it exploded during its test run and was considered
unstable. Out of the A-1 evolved into the A-2 rocket. Two A-2 rockets, called Max and
Moritz, were successfully launched about 6,500 feet into the air in December 1934.
These A-2 rockets developed into the much larger A-3 rockets. All of the launch
attempts with the A-3s failed. So, they redesigned the rocket and built the A-4, which
later became known as the V-2 through propaganda. The A-4 rocket was launched with
success on October 3, 1942. It took two more years for it the A-4/V-2 rocket to be
launched successfully in an operation.
Von Braun’s team had grown to eighty members by 1935 and they were
successfully firing liquid-fueled rockets on a regular basis. They were rapidly outgrowing
the space at Kummersdorf. Von Braun’s mother suggested that they look into the village
of Peenemunde, an isolated and secure part of Germany, on the island of Usedom. A
huge amount of money was put into the development of Peenemunde. The German
Army and Air force footed the bill. The massive facility had buildings for housing, testing,
manufacturing and development. This “site would eventually be home to over 2,000
scientists and 4,000 other personnel” (Dungan, 2013, p. 1) to give you an idea of its
enormous size. The A-4/V-2 rockets previously mentioned were built in and tested from
this new facility.
Von Braun was in charge of technical development on the A-4/V-2 rocket.
During these fast moving early development stages of Peenemunde’s growth the
multitude of German scientists and engineers were well served by the young and
resourceful von Braun. His ability to put the right personnel in key positions, the
ability to streamline research efforts, head off disputes, secure materials and von
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Braun’s own exuberance for the A-4 project was key in Peenemunde’s
success.(Dungan, 2013, p. 1)
The technology put into the rockets and missiles that were developed here were years
ahead of their time.
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References
Wernher von Braun- Hunt for Nazi Scientists. (2008). Retrieved from PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/features/hunt-for-nazi-scientists/wernher-vonbraun/101/
Dungan, T. (2013). Wernher von Braun. Retrieved from V2ROCKET:
http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/vonbraun.html
A1. (n.d.). Retrieved from Encyclopedia Astronautica:
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/a1.htm
A2. (n.d.). Retrieved from Encyclopedia Astronautica:
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/a2.htm
A3. (n.d.). Retrieved from Encyclopedia Astronautica:
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/a3.htm
Wernher von Braun: Early Life. (n.d.). Retrieved from Encyclopedia Britanica:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/78018/Wernher-von-Braun
Redd, N. T. (n.d.). Wernher von Braun, Rocket Pioneer: Biography and Quotes.
Retrieved from SPACE: http://www.space.com/20122-wernher-von-braun.html