Walter Riedel

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Walter J H "Papa" Riedel

Born 1902
Died 1968
Fields Aerospace engineering
Institutions Heylandt Works
Peenemünde
North American Aviation
Not to be confused with Klaus Riedel or Walther Riedel, who were also Peenemünde engineers.

Walter J H "Papa" Riedel was a German engineer who was the head of the Design Office of the Army Research Center Peenemünde and the chief designer of the V-2 rocket.[1]. The crater Riedel on the Moon was co-named for him and the German rocket pioneer Klaus Riedel.

[edit] Biography

First employed by Heylandt, in 1931, Riedel collaborated with Arthur Riedel[citation needed] to build a 20 kgf liquid propellant engine. In January 1934, Walter "Papa" Riedel was hired for rocketry work at Kummersdorf.[2]:33 In March 1936,[3]:47 Wernher von Braun and Walter Riedel began thinking about a much bigger rocket than the A-3 and,[4] along with Walter Dornberger, began studying plans for Peenemünde.[3]:47 After the August 1943 Operation Hydra bombing that killed Walther Riedel,2 in mid-September Walter Riedel and two others surveyed the Austrian Alps for a new facility2 to transfer Peenemünde rocket development[2]:204. On March 13, 1944,[5] Riedel, Wernher and Magnus von Braun, and Helmut Gröttrup were arrested for "protective custody"[2]:217and detained at the Stettin Gestapo prison (Polizei Präsidium), but were later released. In 1945 after being captured by the American military, Riedel (along with Peenemünde's Walter Wiesman) received "rough treatment" at Leutenberg.[4]:303

Post-war, after being taken to Britain,[2]:269 Riedel moved to Trauen where he joined the British Saenger facility and worked on rocket engine tests completed on June 16, 1946.[6] Walter Riedel became director of rocket engine research at North American Aviation Corporation (NAA).[7] Riedel also organized civilian investigations of UFOs with the group Civilian Saucer Intelligence (CSI):[8] "I am completely convinced that [flying saucers] have an out-of-world basis" (Riedel, 1952).[9]

[edit] References

Note 1: On 2 January 1947, Walther Johannes Riedel was identified as at Fort Bliss.[10]
Note 2: The planned development facility Code named Zement was started at Traunsee near Gmunden in the beginning of 1944,[11] and V-2 production was transferred to the Mittelwerk.
  1. ^ Kraemer, Robert S.; Wheelock, Vince (2005) (html—Google books). Rocketdyne: Powering Humans Into Space. North American Rockwell Corporation. p. 10. ISBN 1563477548. http://books.google.com/books?id=7m7Uq-B6RbYC. Retrieved 2009-05-15. 
  2. ^ a b c d Neufeld, Michael J (1995). The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. New York: The Free Press. p. 204,269. ISBN 0-02-922895-6. 
  3. ^ a b Dornberger, Walter (1952 -- US translation V-2 Viking Press:New York, 1954). V2--Der Schuss ins Weltall. Esslingan: Bechtle Verlag. p. 47. 
  4. ^ a b Ordway, Frederick I, III; Sharpe, Mitchell R (1979). The Rocket Team. Apogee Books Space Series 36. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. p. 32. ISBN 1894959000. 
  5. ^ McGovern, J (1964). Crossbow and Overcast. New York: W. Morrow. p. 52. 
  6. ^ Wade, Mark (2007). "Riedel Walter". Encyclopedia Astronautica. http://www.astronautix.com/astros/riealter.htm. Retrieved 2006-08-10. 
  7. ^ Frederick I. Ordway et al. (2007). "A memoir: From peenemünde to USA: A classic case of technology transfer". Acta Astronautica 60 (1): 24–47. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2006.05.003. 
  8. ^ Pryor, Ruby C. (January 1, 2007). "Meeting Minutes, Civilian Saucer Investigation". Knoll Aircraft Corporation. http://www.pknoll.net/knoll_aircraft/bluebook.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-19. 
  9. ^ "Have We Visitors From Space?" Darrach, H. B. and Robert Ginna. Life Magazine. 07 April 1952
  10. ^ "Objective List of German and Austrian Scientists" (Microsoft Word). Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency. http://www.scientistsandfriends.com. Retrieved 2007-04-10. 
  11. ^ Klee, Ernst; Merk, Otto (1965—English translation origyear=1963). The Birth of the Missile:The Secrets of Peenemünde. Hamburg: Gerhard Stalling Verlag. p. 109. 
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