The Aerospace History Blog - Page 06
Post 037
The world’s first anti-ship-missile Henschel Hs 293. Three examples have been restored by the Berlin group Daedalus for the Luftwaffe museum at Berlin-Gatow until 2011. One Henschel belongs to the museum but is currently not exihibited. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
Surprise discoveries during construction of a pipeline A large pipeline for natural gas from Russia to Germany was completed in 2021. It runs on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Before the pipes are laid on the seabed, divers and robots examine the route. Many shipwrecks and historical objects have been discovered in recent years. During a visit to the museum of the rocket test center in Peenemunde in autumn 2021, I was told of amazing discoveries. Several missiles have been discovered on the sea floor off the Peenemunde peninsula. These are anti-ship missiles Henschel Hs 293. The pipeline runs through a target area in which the Hs 293 was tested. None of the Hs 293s has been completely found; of some only fragments have been recovered. All wrecks are heavily overgrown with mussels and are corroded. It is currently being examined which variant of the Hs 293 the recovered parts belong to. However, no photos of the finds have been published yet. Two warheads of the Hs 293 that were recovered from the Baltic Sea years ago are already in the current museums exhibition. The Daedalus working group restored three Henschel Hs 293s for the Luftwaffe Museum in Berlin-Gatow until 2011. The encounter with the Henschel Hs 293 was a special experience for me, as my grandfather spent several months building the 293-missile during the war.
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Posted by Uwe W. Jack
6 Photos: Uwe W. Jack
After a successful restoration, some projects of the Daedalus group had been presented in a large tent in front of Gatows exhibition hangar in 2011. Uwe W. Jack of Daedalus here provides scale for the rocket system of the Henschel Hs 293. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
One of the two warheads of a Henschel missile at the Peenemunde museum in northern Germany at the Baltic coast. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
The second Henschel warhead at the Peenemunde museum. Please compare the size and position of the anti-ship ring at the front of the warhead of the three examples presented here. This ring prevents the bomb from bouncing back in the air after hitting the deck of a ship. The wall thickness of the warhead is 12 Millimeter. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
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Post 036
The first Henschel trainees graduated in 1936. They are standing with director Walter Hormel at the center in front of his office - the large window in the first floor. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
Henschel Aviation: Administration Buildings today The Henschel Aviation Company at Schoenefeld, south of Berlin, is a not so much known german aircraft builder of the 1930s/40s. Henschel developed some ground attack planes, very innovative high flying reconnaissance aircraft and the world’s first operational anti-shipping missile Hs 293. My grandfather, Willi Jack, was a trainee there and graduated in 1937. All trainees at Schoenefeld sice then, until today, are photographed on the steps in front of the directors office. The picture below is the class of 1936, unfortunately no picture of the class of 1937 is available to me. All production facilities of Henschel were transported to the USSR until the Red Army captured Schoenefeld in April 1945. But the Henschel administration buildings are still existing and the director’s office of of the today’s airport company is the one used by Henschel’s director Walter Hormel.
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Posted by Uwe W. Jack
7 Photos: Uwe W. Jack Photo: Horst Materna ollection
The administration building as it looks in 2021. It is still in use for the Berlin Airport Organisation. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
Inside the building: The lobby at left. At the wall, now fitted with three monitors, in 1936 a slogan by Adolf Hitler had been presented to the visitors. At right, the stairs leading to the director’s office. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
The administration complex is shaped like the character U seen from above. The director’s office is at the other end of the larger wing on the left side. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
Director Hormel was living only 100 Meters from his office in this house. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
The row of offices seen from inside the U-shaped building. Director Hormel’s home is about 150 Meters to the right. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
Post 039
This company brochure from MBB presents all aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt (Click to download the brochure)
An overview over all Messerschmitt Aircraft After the war the Messerschmitt company merged with the Blohm & Voss company and the company of Ludwig Bolkow, a former Messerschmitt engineer to form the company Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB). Since Messerschmitt was a famous name, the new company published an overview of all aircraft built by Messerschmitt. The most important technical data of all Messerschmitt aircraft are summarized here.
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Posted by Uwe W. Jack
picture: Uwe W. Jack collection
Post 038
This is what you see when approaching Terminal 1 of the Berlin airport BER. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
Mystery at Berlin Airport BER Just a few years ago, Berlin had three perfectly functioning airports: Tempelhof, Tegel and Schonefeld. As the German capital, the city should get a new, modern airport. Even the start was exemplary. A huge amount of money was spent on advertising for an airport that was supposed to be called BBI. Unfortunately, the name BBI was already assigned to another airport (Biju Patnaik Airport in India). So all brochures and letterhead etc. had to be destroyed. BER was chosen as the new name. Construction began in 2006 and should be finished in 2012. The invitations for the opening party had been sent and until two weeks before the opening the managers claimed that everything was in perfect order. Then so many shortcomings became known that the opening was canceled a few days before the party. It then took eight years to correct these shortcomings. The opening was on October 31, 2020. Until then, 7.1 billion euros had been spent, the plan was 2 billion. And now the airport needs billions more to operate. The reports of breakdowns and malfunctions at Berlin Airport BER do not stop. Here I show a small example of how the management of BER works. There is a P1 car park next to Terminal 1. The access to it is clearly signposted. But the corresponding road does not lead to the parking garage, but away from the airport site. Drivers who have been misled can only change the street over obstacles in order to get to the car park P1. Awkward!
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Posted by Uwe W. Jack
2 photos: Uwe W. Jack
If you follow the sign you will not end up in P1 but on the road away from the airport. So you have to find your own way. (Click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)
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