Oberth Rocket Project with wood-burning jet unit.1945

[klem]

During the war years, there were some proposals for rockets designed by Hermann Oberth. Why these proposals never came to fruition compared to the other proposals, there are surely reasons for this which remain to be discovered by historians in the archives of the Peenemünde period. In a report of 1945, it is question of an anti-aircraft rocket and a long-range projectile with a rather particular propulsion device, a wood-burning jet unit, an idea of a section chief of WASAG, Dr. von Holt, the text of the report is very readable but the copies of the drawings are of poor quality.

https://sova.si.edu/details/NASM.XX...ivision+(T-2)&s=0&n=10&t=A&q=CGD+1&i=3#ref508

 

[T. A. Gardner]

This ranks up there with that plan to run the Lippisch P-13 ramjet fighter on coal:



The idea here was a basket full of pulverized coal would be lit and as the heat source for the ramjet engine. Of course, this was completely insane given Germany's lack of high temperature metals for one, and just trying to get the heat produced to be even not to mention having no real good idea how long the coal would take to burn...

 

[publiusr]

Dieselpunk fodder at least

 

[T. A. Gardner]

Dieselpunk fodder at least

It'd be better if it were coal fired and used steam...

 

[robunos]

This ranks up there with that plan to run the Lippisch P-13 ramjet fighter on coal:

View attachment 673775

The idea here was a basket full of pulverized coal would be lit and as the heat source for the ramjet engine. Of course, this was completely insane given Germany's lack of high temperature metals for one, and just trying to get the heat produced to be even not to mention having no real good idea how long the coal would take to burn...

I need to find the reference, but from memory, the coal-containing basket was to rotate on a vertical axis, to ensure even combustion. You can see the axle in the image . . .

cheers,
Robin.

 

[T. A. Gardner]

This ranks up there with that plan to run the Lippisch P-13 ramjet fighter on coal:

View attachment 673775

The idea here was a basket full of pulverized coal would be lit and as the heat source for the ramjet engine. Of course, this was completely insane given Germany's lack of high temperature metals for one, and just trying to get the heat produced to be even not to mention having no real good idea how long the coal would take to burn...

I need to find the reference, but from memory, the coal-containing basket was to rotate on a vertical axis, to ensure even combustion. You can see the axle in the image . . .

cheers,
Robin.

Cool! The engineers should have included room for a stoker and a coal bunker though...

 

[Nicknick]

They should have grill for Nuremberger sausages...

 

[T. A. Gardner]

They should have grill for Nuremberger sausages...

That's why the basket rotates. Rotisserie BBQ slow cooked over briquettes. Barbeque sauce is optional.

 

[Sherman Tank]

I remember from John D. Clark's Ignition! that Oberth was hired by Fritz Lang as technical advisor for his sci-fi film Frau in Mond:

The adventures of Oberth with the movie industry—and vice versa—are a notable contribution to the theater of the absurd (they have been described elsewhere, in hilarious detail), but they led to one interesting, if abortive, contribution to propellant technology. Foiled in his efforts to get a gasoline-oxygen rocket flying in time for the premiere of the movie (the time available was ridiculously short) Oberth designed a rocket which, he hoped, could be developed in a hurry. It consisted of a long vertical aluminum tube with several rods of carbon in the center, surrounded by liquid oxygen. The idea was that the carbon rods were to burn down from the top and the same rate as the oxygen was to be consumed, while the combustion gasses were ejected through a set of nozzles at the top (forward) end of the rocket. He was never able to get it going, which was probably just as well, as it would infallibly have exploded. But—it was the first recorded design of a hybrid rocket—one with a solid fuel and a liquid oxidizer.

 

[Nicknick]

That’s correct, this film also featured the first countdown for a rocket start in history. I haven’t seen it, but as much as I know, the first halve must be much more scientific than the second halve of the movie. Oberth is one of the very early rocket pioneers which wrote a ground-breaking book in 1923 which became the basis for the following German rocket developing.

 

[klem]

Oberth also did not fully agree with the idea of the device suggested by Dr. von Holt for many reasons, which is why he made other modifying proposals for a possible good functioning of the principle as mentioned in his report.