In 1943, on orders from the German Air Ministry, young physicist Peter P. Wegener left the Russian front and reported to the Baltic village of Peenemünde. His assignment was to work at the supersonic wind tunnels of the rocket laboratories of the German Army. Here Wernher von Braun led a team that developed the V-2, the world's first large rocket-powered guided missile, and laid much of the groundwork for postwar rocket development. In this fascinating book, Wegener recounts his experiences during Hitler's time, World War II, and his years at Peenemünde. He tells how he was working one night in August 1943 when the Allies bombed the laboratories, but left the wind tunnels undamaged. The tunnels were moved to Bavaria, and Wegener was ordered to follow in 1944. After the war, the tunnels were moved again--this time to the United States, accompanied by the author and other German scientists. Shortly before the end of the war, Wegener visited Germany's underground V-2 production plant to retrieve archival material on aerodynamics that had been stored in caves for safekeeping. He describes the appalling history of the concentration camps where SS guards watched over inmates who toiled underground in inhuman conditions and often did not survive. A photoessay enhances this remarkable memoir.

From the pioneering glider flights of Otto Lilienthal (1891) to the advanced avionics of today’s Airbus passenger jets, aeronautical research in Germany has been at the forefront of the birth and advancement of aeronautics. On the occasion of the centennial commemoration of the Wright Brother’s first powered flight (December 1903), this English-language edition of Aeronautical Research in Germany recounts and celebrates the considerable contributions made in Germany to the invention and ongoing development of aircraft. Featuring hundreds of historic photos and non-technical language, this comprehensive and scholarly account will interest historians, engineers, and, also, all serious airplane devotees. Through individual contributions by 35 aeronautical experts, it covers in fascinating detail the milestones of the first 100 years of aeronautical research in Germany, within the broader context of the scientific, political, and industrial milieus. This richly illustrated and authoritative volume constitutes a most timely and substantial overview of the crucial contributions to the foundation and advancement of aeronautics made by German scientists and engineers.

Schlieren and shadowgraph techniques are basic and valuable tools in various scientific and engineering disciplines. They allow us to see the invisible: the optical inhomogeneities in transparent media like air, water, and glass that otherwise cause only ghostly distortions of our normal vision. These techniques are discussed briefly in many books and papers, but there is no up-to-date complete treatment of the subject before now. The book is intended as a practical guide for those who want to use these methods, as well as a resource for a broad range of disciplines where scientific visualization is important. The colorful 400-year history of these methods is covered in an extensive introductory chapter accessible to all readers.

This is the story and details of Peenemünde, the German military rocket developement and test siteduring World War II. It was one of the most modern technological facilities in the world in the years between 1936 and 1945. The first launch of a missile into space took place here in October 1942. In the nearby air force testing area, rocket engineers tested numerous flight objects equipped with revolutionary technology. From the start this research was directed toward one goal only: achieving military superiority through advanced technology. Slave laborers, concentration camp inmates and prisoners of war provided the work that enabled the construction of the test sites and the later serial production of the rockets, which the Nazi propaganda referred to as "Vergeltungswaffe 2" (or "Vengeance Weapon 2"), in so short a period of time. Both the inhumane labor conditions and the attacks on Belgian, British and French cities using the supposed "wonder weapon" claimed thousands of lives.

At the close of World War II, Allied forces faced frightening new German secret weapons—buzz bombs, V-2's, and the first jet fighters. When Hitler's war machine began to collapse, the race was on to snatch these secrets before the Soviet Red Army found them. The last battle of World War II, then, was not for military victory but for the technology of the Third Reich. In American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe's Secrets, Wolfgang W. E. Samuel assembles from official Air Force records and survivors' interviews the largely untold stories of the disarmament of the once mighty Luftwaffe and of Operation Lusty—the hunt for Nazi technologies. In April 1945 American armies were on the brink of winning their greatest military victory, yet America's technological backwardness was shocking when measured against that of the retreating enemy. Senior officers, including the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces Henry Harley “Hap” Arnold, knew all too well the seemingly overwhelming victory was less than it appeared. There was just too much luck involved in its outcome. Two intrepid American Army Air Forces colonels set out to regain America's technological edge. One, Harold E. Watson, went after the German jets; the other, Donald L. Putt, went after the Nazis' intellectual capital—their world-class scientists. With the help of German and American pilots, Watson brought the jets to America; Putt persevered as well and succeeded in bringing the German scientists to the Army Air Forces' aircraft test and evaluation center at Wright Field. A young P-38 fighter pilot, Lloyd Wenzel, a Texan of German descent, then turned these enemy aliens into productive American citizens—men who built the rockets that took America to the moon, conquered the sound barrier, and laid the foundation for America's civil and military aviation of the future. American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe's Secrets details the contest won, a triumph that shaped America's victories in the Cold War.

Wind Tunnel Test Techniques: Design and Use at Low and High Speeds with Statistical Engineering Applications provides an up-to-date treatment of the topic. Beginning with a brief history of wind tunnels and its types and uses, the book goes on to cover subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnel design and construction, calibration, boundary corrections, flow quality assessment, pressure surveys, and dynamic testing. It also focuses on wind tunnel facilities, making it useful for both the designer and operator. Engineers and graduate students in aerospace, automotive and similar programs will find this book useful in their work with experimental aerodynamics, gas dynamics, facility design and performance. - Deals with a broad range of flow speeds in wind tunnels, from low speed to high speed - Provides a discussion of similarity laws as well as material on statistical analysis - Includes coverage on facility-to-facility and facility-to-CFD correlation - Presents advanced topics such as cryogenic wind tunnels, ground simulation in automotive testing, and propulsion testing

When one hears the noun "Peenemünde" recalled immediately is the "Herr's Versuchsanstalt", Peenemünde or the German Army Ordinance's experimental rocket missile research center on a peninsula bordering the Baltic Sea in northeast Germany. It existed for only nine years...1936-1945. Read the story (part 1) and view the photos in parts upcoming. Read about what really happened in Dr Myhra's latest historical account of The German Army Ordinances' experimental rocket research center, "Peenemünde"!

When one hears the noun "Peenemünde" recalled immediately is the "Heeres Versuchsanstalt", Peenemünde or the German Army Ordinance=s experimental rocket missile research center on a peninsula bordering the Baltic Sea in northeast Germany. It existed for only nine years...1936-1945. Read the story (part 1) and view the photos in future volumes. Read about what really happened in Dr Myhra's latest historical account of The German Army Ordinances' experimental rocket research center, "Peenemunde"! Enjoy this, Part 2 Volume 2, photographs, drawings, Images and maps, of a multi-part informative series. Look for future volumes soon!

This unique and encyclopedic reference work describes the evolution of the physics of modern shock wave and detonation from the earlier and classical percussion. The history of this complex process is first reviewed in a general survey. Subsequently, the subject is treated in more detail and the book is richly illustrated in the form of a picture gallery. This book is ideal for everyone professionally interested in shock wave phenomena.

Rainer Eisfeld’s book highlights the merits of socio-historical research into topics infrequently covered by mainstream political science. Directing attention to the need for carefully scrutinizing the convenient “truths” of established - post-Nazi, post-Communist - political narratives, its chapters encourage reflection of the discipline’s history and state of the art. A companion volume to the 2012 book entitled Radical Approaches to Political Science: Roads Less Traveled (also published by Barbara Budrich), this collection is likewise based on an approach to political science informed by a theory of participatory pluralism and grounded in history. The chapters focus on the discipline’s fragmentation and its retreat from public debate; on the varying roles of political science and international relations as champions of more or less democracy; on normative and analytical concepts developed by Hannah Arendt, Klaus von Beyme, and Robert A. Dahl; on the deconstruction of the “Peenemünde Legend” about the unspoiled rule of science at the Third Reich’s missile development center; on reasons for the Peenemünde engineers’ actual complicity in the exploitation of concentration camp labor to mass-produce their V-2 missile. “Rainer Eisfeld’s leadership in the fields of pluralism and analysis of the discipline in the International Political Science Association means that he has quite a background to share with us in this, his most recent, collection of essays.” John Trent