|
|
| |
|
| Lot # 345 WALTER DORENBERGER COLLECTION! - Document 268179 |
|
|
IN 1958, FROM HIS OFFICE AT BELL AIRCRAFT, ROCKET ENGINEER WALTER
DORNBERGER,WHO DEVELOPED THE V-2 ROCKET FOR GERMANY IN WORLD WAR II, SENDS A
COLLECTOR A SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF HIM IN HIS UNIFORM AS A NAZI GENERAL IN 1944
WHICH HE JUST HAPPENS TO HAVE IN HIS DESK!
WALTER DORNBERGER. Collection: (1) Typed Letter signed: "Walter
R. Dornberger" (as Technical Assistant to the President of Bell Aircraft),
1p, 8x11. Buffalo, N. Y., February 24 [1958]. To Mr. H. Schiller,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina. On letterhead of Bell Aircraft Corporation. In
full: "I received your letter of February 20 wherein no sketch was
enclosed. However, I happened to have a similar sketch in my desk so I
autographed it and am enclosing it with this letter, and it is hoped that
you will accept it as a suitable substitute." Lightly creased. Otherwise,
fine condition. (2) Illustration inscribed and signed: "Dr. Walter
Dornberger/Major General (ret)/Buffalo, Feb 24, 1958". B/w, 4x6. Pencil note
on verso (unknown hand): "Sketch of Walter Dornberger made in 1944". The sketch
shows Dornberger in a German Army uniform. Fine condition. Dornberger
(1895-1980) was a German rocket engineer who developed the infamous V-2
rocket for Germany during World War II. A German army veteran of World War
I, Dornberger studied physics in the 1920s, becoming an engineer while remaining
in military service. In 1932, he was approached by the German Spaceflight
Society, attending an unsuccessful launch of a liquid fuel rocket they had
designed. Through this organization, Dornberger met Wernher von Braun, whom
he recruited to work on a secret rocket project for the German army. By
1937, Dornberger and von Braun needed more space for their rocket experiments,
acquiring the test site of Peenemunde. A V-2 rocket was successfully test fired
there (1942). In late 1944, control of rocket research was transferred to the
SS, and Dornberger was reassigned. This may have saved his life. While a
prisoner in Britain (1945-1947), Dornberger convinced his captors that he had
never intended for the V-2 to target civilians, and that it was an SS
decision to fire the weapon at London. He thus avoided trial as a war criminal.
There was no doubt another reason for sparing Dornberger: his technical skills
were now valued in the West. In 1947, he came to the U.S. as an advisor to
the U.S. Air Force. From 1950-1965, he worked for Bell Aircraft. While his
former colleague von Braun continued to work on ballistic rocket design,
Dornberger shifted his efforts to the Dyna-Soar project, which eventually
evolved into the Space Shuttle. He retired in 1965, living his remaining
years in Germany. Two items.
|
SEE IF DOCUMENT 268179 IS FOR SALE RIGHT NOW!!
This document was available for sale in a previous
auction. It may or may not be currently available for sale. It is also highly likely that
we have more of this personality available for sale either in our archives or on our direct
purchase website www.historyforsale.com.
For direct purchase information, call 1-800-GALLERY (1-800-425-5379)
Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm Pacific Time or email inquires
to sales@galleryofhistory.com.
RIGHT NOW YOU CAN BID ON A SIMILAR ITEM IN OUR
CURRENT AUCTION!
|
|
|
|
|
|
