Kummersdorf

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kummersdorf is the name of an estate near Luckenwalde at 52°05′N, 13°20′E, around 25km south of Berlin, in the Brandenburg region of Germany. Until 1945 Kummersdorf hosted the weapon office of the German Army which ran a development centre for future weapons as well as an artillery range.

An Army research group established in Kummersdorf in 1932 under the direction of Walter Dornberger developed the liquid propellant rockets type A1, A2 and A3 there. On 16 July 1934, Dr. Kurt Wahmke and 2 assistants were killed and another assistant injured during a fuel test of a premixed hydrogen peroxide/alcohol propellant when the fuel tank exploded.

The facility was too limited for advanced motor and flight testing, so in 1936-1937 the group (now also supported by the Luftwaffe) moved to a site at Peenemünde on the island of Usedom on the Baltic coast which offered much greater space and secrecy. After 1938 Kummersdorf was used for nuclear research.

[edit] See also

• Walter Dornberger
• Peenemünde
• Usedom

[edit] External links

• Kummersdorf entry in "The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight"
• http://members.aol.com/kummersdrf/kummer0.htm
• http://www.astronautix.com/sites/kumsdorf.htm