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In April 1933Gerhard Zucker
launched a mail rocket, which was to fly from Duhnen to the island
of Neuwerk, but which fell
to Earth after flying a few meters.
During World War
II some test flights of F1-103 (V1) rockets were flown from the
military camp of Altenwalde. In 1945, Kurt Debus was ordered to install a launch
pad for testing A4-rockets in the area of Cuxhaven, as a
replacement for Stand VII in Peenemünde; however, the project could not
be completed due to the military situation towards the end of the
war. Nevertheless, in October 1945, these works supplied a basis
for "Operation Backfire", a
demonstration of three A4-rocket launches to military
representatives of the Allied Occupation Forces. One launch pad and
two concrete shelters were built for "Operation Backfire", near the
road between Arensch and Sahlenburg, where some
remnants still exist today.
1950s
In 1952 in Hespenbusch, Karl
Poggensee began to develop and launch small solid-propellant
rockets. In the same year a Rocket/Technical Society was created,
initially known as DAFRA, then as the German Rocket Society
(Deutsche Raketengesellschaft) or DRG, and finally as the
Hermann Oberth Society (Hermann-Oberth-Gesellschaft) or
HOG.
After a short time, this society built rockets with maximum
altitudes of several kilometres, but the available area in
Hespenbush was too small for their purpose, so a new launch area
had to be found. On the recommendation of Cuxhaven town-councilor
Geveke, who had worked during the war on the development of
missiles, the coastal area of Cuxhaven was selected. This area was
considered to be the most suitable, not only because of the
"Operation Backfire" launches, but also because to the north and
west of Cuxhaven was open sea, an ideal firing range.
On August 24, 1957, the first rocket launches took place. Seven
"oilspray" rockets with a range of 100 to 300 m were fired,
followed by a launch of several small model rockets which reached
up to 2 km of altitude. Then came a delta-winged rocket built by
Koschmieder which reached 3 km. A prototype 20 kg meteorological
rocket using a new solid propellant developed by Deutsche Dynamit
AG produced 1500 kgf (15 kN), reaching a speed of
Mach 1.5, and a height of 4 km. A test of
the first of Ernst
Mohr's large rockets had been planned, but was canceled due to
bad weather.
The launch point of these rockets was close to the building
yard of Arensch. In contrast to "Operation Backfire", there was no
firm launch pad, however the control post was installed in a former
World War II German Navy shelter.
On June 8, 1958, the first attempted launches of Ernst Mohr's
large meteorological rockets were made. The rockets had been so far
improved that they could, theoretically, reach heights of 50 km,
but there were problems with flight stability, and each of the
three rockets fell.
On September 14, 1958, the first successful flights of Ernst Mohr's rockets
took place, with the payload dart reaching a height of 50 km.
On May 16, 1959, the first mail-rockets were launched. These
rockets carried 5000 postcards over a distance of 3 km. The letters
transported with these rockets received special stamps which are
nowadays greatly coveted by philatelists. The mail-rocket launches were
also used to finance the rocket experiments.
On November 1, 1959, the first launch of a Kumulus
rocket took place. It reached a height of 15 km, however the
on-board transmitter failed.
1960s
Cirrus rocket on display in Hermann-Oberth-Museum, Feucht,
Germany
Kumulus rocket on display in Hermann-Oberth-Museum, Feucht,
Germany
On February 11 and February 12, 1961, the first launches of
Kumulus rockets with scientific experiments succeeded, and it was
possible to follow their progress by radio-tracking.
In May and June 1961, mail was
transported with rockets, for the first time, over a larger
distance from the mainland to the islands of Neuwerk and Scharhörn.
On September 16, 1961, two Kumulus rockets transporting
biological experiments were launched. On board one of these rockets
was a salamander
called Max, and on board the other there was a goldfish called Lotte. Lotte landed safely
after the flight, while Max did not survive a hard landing caused
by a parachute failure. On the same day the first flight of the
sounding rockets Cirrus I and II took place. These
rockets reached maximum altitudes of 35 and 50 km,
respectively.
In 1961, the rocket engineer
Berthold
Seliger founded his rocket construction company Berthold-Seliger-Forschungs-
und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, hereafter referred to as
BSFEG, and began by launching his self-constructed
rockets: the first rockets were only reproductions of the Kumulus, but
on November 19, 1962, he launched his first self-developed rockets.
These rockets were three single-stage rockets with a length of 3.4
m and a maximum altitude of 40 km. The signals from their on-board
transmitters were received from the Bochum observatory. These rockets were
completely re-usable, returning to earth after flight by
parachute.
On February 7, 1963, the first flight of Berthold Seliger's
two-stage rocket took place. This 6 metre-long rocket reached an
altitude of 80 km. Like its single-stage forerunner, its signals
could be received at the Bochum observatory. Before it was
launched, a single-stage BSFEG rocket was sent up to examine wind
conditions in the upper atmosphere.
On May 2, 1963, Berthold Seliger launched his self-developed
three-stage rocket, which reached a maximum height of 110 km, using
a reduced amount of propellant.
From 1957 to 1963, all rocket experiments in the area of
Cuxhaven had been purely civilian in nature: however, after their
successes, BSFEG began developing rockets with military capability.
On December 5, 1963 BSFEG gave a flight demonstration of their
products to military representatives from non-NATO states. Although
none of these rockets represented a ready for use weapon, and all
landed by parachute after their flights, the maximum flight
altitude of the rockets had been set to 30 m in conformance with
Allied laws concerning the development of military rockets in
Germany. Nevertheless there were some diplomatic tensions,
especially with the Soviet Union, which feared a development
of military rockets in Germany, contrary to Allied regulations.
These fears were not unreasonable: the rockets demonstrated on
December 5, 1963 could reach as far as 160 km, if they were
launched with the maximum amount of fuel.
Despite these doubts, rocket launches in the area of Cuxhaven
continued, and on March 22, 1964, HOG launched ten supply rockets,
some of which glided down to a landing.
On May 7, 1964, during a rocket demonstration by Gerhard Zucker in
Braunlage, a deadly
accident occurred as one of his mail rockets exploded shortly after
its launch and debris fell into the crowd of spectators, who had
been allowed too close to the launch pad. Although Gerhard Zucker
was not a collaborator with either HOG or BSFEG, all rocket
launches with flight altitudes of over 100 meters were forbidden in
the area of Cuxhaven after this accident. In contrast to Gerhard
Zucker's rockets, which had already caused problems several times
before, there had never been any accidents or injuries connected
with HOG or BSFEF rocket launches.
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