2. Thiel, “Empirische und theoretische Grundlagen zur Neuberechnung von Öfen und Versuchsdaten,” c. 7.37, DM, GD634.190.8; Reisig, “Peenemünder Aggregaten’,” 44–46. This chapter is greatly influenced by Reisig’s article and my 1989 oral history interview with him.
3. WD, V-2, 50, 53, 149, 151; Minutes of meeting of Navy, Wa Prw.11, Walter, Electrochem. Werke München, and the CTR, 16.10.35, in NASM, FE724/b; WvB to Schumann, 31.1.36, in NASM, FE752; Wa Prw.11 (Thiel) to WD, 28.2.36, in NASM, FE727/a; Thiel–Seifert report on Seifert dissertation, 8.2.37, NASM, FE403.
4. Thiel to WD, 12.2.37, in NASM, FE746; Thiel(?), “Forschungsarbeiten über Materialfragen,” etc., 8.4.37, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1260; Thiel to WD, Kummersdorf and Peenemünde, 1.10.37, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1352; WvB to Busemann, 4.4.35, in NASM, FE727/a; WvB to Vogelpohl, 4.6.35, and Thiel to Hase/TH Hannover, 11.12.36, in NASM, FE727/c; Ordnance documents on Hase, 6.8.37–29.10.38, in NASM, FE737; WD, “German V-2,” 403.
5. WD, V-2, 51; Thiel to WD, 12.2.37, in NASM, FE746; Thiel, “Empirische und theoretische Grundlagen,” c. 7.37, DM, GD634.190.8; Thiel to WD, 2.8.37, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1351; WvB, “Das Aggregat III,” 15, 29.11.37, DM, (FE1120); Reisig, “Peenemünder ‘Aggregaten’,” 44–46.
6. Thiel, “Empirische und theoretische Grundlagen,” c. 7.37, DM, GD634.190.8; Thiel to WD, 2.8.37, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1351; Reisig, “Peenemünder ‘Aggregaten’,” 45–46.
7. Thiel, “Empirische und theoretische Grundlagen,” c. 7.37, DM, GD634.190.8; Thiel to WD, 2.8.37, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1351; Thiel to WD, Kummersdorf and Peenemünde, 1.10.37, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1352; Thiel to WD, 26.8.38, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1204; Casper minutes of meeting at Schmidding, with 25-ton engine drawings, 22.9.38, NASM, FE752; Reisig, “Peenemünder ‘Aggregaten’,” 44–46.
8. Thiel, “Empirische und theoretische Grundlagen,” c. 7.37, DM, GD634.190.8; Thiel to WD, 2.8.37, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1351; Thiel to WD, Kummersdorf and Peenemünde, 1.10.37, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1352; Thiel to WD, 26.8.38, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1204; Thiel to WD, 16.1.39, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1205; Reisig, “Peenemünder ‘Aggregaten’,” 46.
9. Thiel–Schluricke patent application, 7.1.39 (English trans., 12.2.46), RSIC, FE196; Thiel to WD, 16.1.39, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1203; Schubert chronicle, 27–29.4.39, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1206; WD to HVP and Kummersdorf, 3.10.39, in SRCH, Tschinkel Papers; Reisig, “Peenemünder ‘Aggregaten’,” 45–46; WD, V-2, 52; Dannenberg OHI, 18–21.
10. Thiel film-cooling memo, 2.10.39, in SRCH, Tschinkel Papers; Thiel to Zanssen, 15.7.42, in NASM, FE171; WD, V-2, 52; Reisig, “Peenemünder ‘Aggregaten,’ 46–47; Dannenberg OHI, 21–27.
11. Dannenberg OHI, 21–28.
12. Hackh–Schluricke tungsten-molybdenum vane reports, 28.3.38 and 9.4.38, in NASM file “Peenemünde #2”; Thiel to WD, 26.8.38, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1204; WD, V-2, 58; WvB to von Horstig, 23.11.35, in NASM, FE727/a; M. Schilling, “The Development of the V-2 Rocket Engine,” in Benecke and Quick, History, 289–91; Winter, Rockets, 49; Reisig, “Peenemünder ‘Aggregaten’,” 47.
13. Ordnance patent, 1.5.36, NASM, FE189, WvB to H. Walter, 12.3.36, in NASM, FE724/c; Ordnance-Walter corn, 2.4.36–30.9.36, in NASM, FE724/b; Schilling, “Development,” in Benecke and Quick, History, 289–91; Reisig, “Peenemünder ‘Aggregaten’,” 47; WvB to LC II 2e, 5.2.38, and Dellmeier report, 2.8.38, in NASM, FE746; WvB development status report, 1.8.39, DM, (FE720).
14. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 24a, SRCH, WvB Papers; WD, “German V-2,” 403; WD, V-2, 63; von Brauchitsch (WD) order, 5.9.39, in NASM, FE342; WD to HVP and Kummersdorf, 3.10.39, in SRCH, Tschinkel Papers; Hölsken, V-Waffen, 20–21.
15. Ebert and Rupieper, “Technische Wissenschaft”; Ludwig, Technik, 216–31; Mehrtens, “Die Naturwissenschaften”; Trischler, Luft- und Raumfahrtforschung, 174–283.
16. Walker, German National Socialism, 17–20; Ludwig, Technik, 220, 230–31, 288–89; Trischler, Luft- und Raumfahrtforschung, 241–45.
17. Stegmaier minutes of 14.9.39 meeting at TH Dresden, and Thiel memo on 28.9.39 Kummersdorf meeting, in NASM file “Peenemünde #2”; WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 24a, SRCH, WvB Papers.
18. WD to Schumann, 19.9.39, in NASM file “Peenemünde #2.”
19. Thiel to WD, 8.7.40, and list of university propulsion contracts, 1.2.41, in NASM, FE728/e; WD to Kummersdorf, 19.7.40, in NASM file “Peenemünde #2”; WvB estimate, 27.3.42, in NASM, FE692/f; Schilling, “Development,” in Benecke and Quick, eds., History, 284–87; Reisig, “Peenemünder ‘Aggregaten’, 46–47, 73–77.
20. Thiel, “Empirische und theoretische Grundlagen,” c. 7.37, DM, GD634.190.8; Thiel, “Unterlagen über die Grenzen der Leistungssteigerung durch Ofendruckerhöhung,” 7.2.39, DM, GD634.19.2; Thiel memo on 1939–40 program, 2.6.39., in NASM, FE171; WvB dev. status report, 24.4.41, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1260; Thiel, “Vorschläge zur Triebwerksvereinfachung des A 4,” 4.9.41, in DM, (FE1068); final report on eighteen-pot engine dev., 15.9.41, NASM, Arch. 81/10.
21. H. H. Kurzweg, “The Aerodynamic Development of the V-2,” in Benecke and Quick, History, 53; WD, “German V-2,” 399; Reisig OHI, 1989, 16–17. American designers similarly used the .50 caliber machine gun bullet’s shape for the fuselage of the X-1 rocket plane, which in 1947 became the first aircraft to break the sound barrier.
22. Constant, Origins, 108–9, 154–57; Hallion, Supersonic Flight, 11–12.
23. Zanssen and WvB report, 26.3.35, in DM, (FE722); WvB to Busemann, 4.4.35, and Ordnance-TH Aachen corr., 15.1.36–19.1.37, in NASM, FE727/a; WvB to Vogelpohl, 4.6.35, in NASM, FE727/c; WvB to Lorenz/RLM, 3.11.35, in NASM, FE746; Kurzweg, “Aerodynamic Development,” in Benecke and Quick, History, 55; Hermann, “Supersonic Wind Tunnel,” 435–36.
24. WD, V-2, 53; Trischler, Luft- und Raumfahrtforschung, 202–3, 262–64; Hermann et al, “Denkschrift,” 1.6.39, NASM, Arch. 66/11.
25. WD, V-2, 53–54; Hermann et al, “Denkschrift,” 1.6.39, NASM, Arch. 66/11.
26. WD, V-2, 114; H. Kurzweg FOIA release, INSCOM; Hermann, “Supersonic Wind Tunnel,” 436–38; Smelt, “Critical Review,” 903.
27. Hermann, “Supersonic Wind Tunnel,” 436–38; Hermann et al, “Denkschrift,” 1.6.39, NASM, Arch. 66/11; WD, V-2, 115.
28. Hermann, “Supersonic Wind Tunnel,” 438–40; Kurzweg, “Aerodynamic Development,” in Benecke and Quick, History, 51–52, 58; Kurzweg interview by Neufeld, 1990; Aerodynamische Hauptabt., “Jahresbericht 1940,” 10.1.41, NASM, FE346.
29. Kurzweg, “Aerodynamic Development,” in Benecke and Quick, History, 53–56. It is often asserted that the A-5’s design was based on the A-4, but in 1936–37 the A-4’s shape and internal layout could only have been modeled on the A-3.
30. Ibid.; Kurzweg FOIA release, INSCOM; Kurzweg interview; WD, V-2, 56–57; Schröder to KWI f. Strömungsforschung/Göttingen and LZ, 10.3.38, in NASM, FE727/c; Zanssen (WvB) to WD, 13.10.39, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1260.
31. “Leuchtfeuer II” documents, 9–18.8.38, in NASM, FE747; Aerodyn. Abteilung, A-5 model report, 11.3.39, NASM, Arch. 66/6; Hermann et al, “Denkschrift,” 1.6.39, NASM, Arch. 66/11; WD, V-2, 58–59; Aerodyn. Hauptabt., “Jahresbericht 1940,” 10.1.41, NASM, FE346.