Gottlob Espenlaub - Projects & Prototypes

" .... Arndt existed, but ~20 years ago he was propping up ... psychic blond chicks using their long hair as antennae to talk to aliens."

What?
My blonde ex-wife tried talking with aliens.
Hah!
Hah!
Rigerrob, please be more careful when editing quotes. The psychic blond chicks part was posted by Scott (#30), not by me.
Such mis-attributions are not welcome.
 
Here is British Pathe newsreel footage, erroneously described as, "Fritz von Opel . . . test[ing] the RAK 1, a rocket-powered plane, in Germany." This actually appears to be footage of Gottlob Espenlaub flying his black powder rocket-powered glider (there's even footage of fire damage to the tail) and one of his tailless aircraft, which has "LF 5 Goldenloff" [sp?] emblazoned on the nose.

YouTube: British Pathé - "Early rocket airplanes in trials" (1929)
 
... one of his tailless aircraft, which has "LF 5 Goldenloff" [sp?] emblazoned on the nose...

The LF 5 is sometimes referred to as the Soldenhoff/Espenlaub LF5 - the design being by Swiss artist Alexander Leo Soldenhoff. So that'd be the name on the nose.
 
... one of his tailless aircraft, which has "LF 5 Goldenloff" [sp?] emblazoned on the nose...

The LF 5 is sometimes referred to as the Soldenhoff/Espenlaub LF5 - the design being by Swiss artist Alexander Leo Soldenhoff. So that'd be the name on the nose.
Great! Thank you for the clarification and correction.
 
Here is British Pathe newsreel footage, erroneously described as, "Fritz von Opel . . . test[ing] the RAK 1, a rocket-powered plane, in Germany." This actually appears to be footage of Gottlob Espenlaub flying his black powder rocket-powered glider (there's even footage of fire damage to the tail) and one of his tailless aircraft, which has "LF 5 Goldenloff" [sp?] emblazoned on the nose.

YouTube: British Pathé - "Early rocket airplanes in trials" (1929)
You are right. it's certainly not Fritz Opel, who I think was a plump little guy with spectacles, and it's not RAK1 either. That was not an aeroplane but a car that achieved a speed of 47 mph. Fritz went on to build RAK2. See replica in the museum at Speyer below RAK2b.JPG .

RAK2c-1.jpg
RAK2a.jpeg

Fritz drove RAK2 at 147 mph in front of a massive crowd, sold Opel to General Motors and went to Switzerland where he lived happily ever after. The only aeronautical interest is the wings, which were not altogether satisfactory. He quit at 147 mph with some of his rocket tubes unfired because the car was threatening to become airborne.
 
Here is British Pathe newsreel footage, erroneously described as, "Fritz von Opel . . . test[ing] the RAK 1, a rocket-powered plane, in Germany." This actually appears to be footage of Gottlob Espenlaub flying his black powder rocket-powered glider (there's even footage of fire damage to the tail) and one of his tailless aircraft, which has "LF 5 Goldenloff" [sp?] emblazoned on the nose.

YouTube: British Pathé - "Early rocket airplanes in trials" (1929)
obviosly with the rocket plane he was quite a chickgetter...
 
You are right. it's certainly not Fritz Opel, who I think was a plump little guy with spectacles, and it's not RAK1 either. That was not an aeroplane but a car ... He quit at 147 mph with some of his rocket tubes unfired because the car was threatening to become airborne.

Indeed, as Boxman said, that was Gottlob Espenlaub in the front cockpit of the {i]Cherub[/i]-powered 'all wing' Soldenhoff LF 5 after its repair by Espenlaub-Flugzeugbau at Düsseldorf. That same aircraft was illustrated in Reply #36 - while losing its nose wheel in August 1929 with Espenlaub at the controls.

Just for the record, the aircraft illustrated in Reply #35 is another Alexander Soldenhoff design - the So A/5.

As for the RAK2, interesting to speculate what would have happened had Opel inverted those wings ...

BTW: We do have a thread for Alexander Soldenhoff designs:
-- https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/soldenhoff-real-aircraft-and-projects.21624/

There is also a good webpage covering Alexander Soldenhoff's aircraft designs and his encounters with 'Espe' Espenlaub:
-- https://flughafenbb.com/1919-1945/flugpionier-soldenhoff/
 
You are right. it's certainly not Fritz Opel, who I think was a plump little guy with spectacles, and it's not RAK1 either. That was not an aeroplane but a car ... He quit at 147 mph with some of his rocket tubes unfired because the car was threatening to become airborne.

Indeed, as Boxman said, that was Gottlob Espenlaub in the front cockpit of the {i]Cherub[/i]-powered 'all wing' Soldenhoff LF 5 after its repair by Espenlaub-Flugzeugbau at Düsseldorf. That same aircraft was illustrated in Reply #36 - while losing its nose wheel in August 1929 with Espenlaub at the controls.

Just for the record, the aircraft illustrated in Reply #35 is another Alexander Soldenhoff design - the So A/5.

As for the RAK2, interesting to speculate what would have happened had Opel inverted those wings ...

BTW: We do have a thread for Alexander Soldenhoff designs:
-- https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/soldenhoff-real-aircraft-and-projects.21624/

There is also a good webpage covering Alexander Soldenhoff's aircraft designs and his encounters with 'Espe' Espenlaub:
-- https://flughafenbb.com/1919-1945/flugpionier-soldenhoff/
When I saw those RAK2 wings I too wondered whether they would generate more lift than downforce. They might have worked better upside down.
 
The RAK2 as inspiration later gave birth to the SE 1910.
 

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The RAK2 as inspiration later gave birth to the SE 1910.
Or possibly RAK3 and RAK4. They both ran on rails. Unfortunately they both blew up.
The SE 1910 wings look a lot more likely to provide consistent downforce than the ones on RAK2
 
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