Max Kramer

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Dr. Max Kramer was a German scientist who worked for the Ruhrstahl AG steel and armaments corporation. He was responsible for the construction of the Fritz X and the Ruhrstahl X-4 missile (1943-1945), among others.

Dr. Kramer had a wide range of interests. The best known was his development of the Fritz-X, one of the first missiles used in World War II. He was also involved with automobiles, gliders, propeller noise, acoustic missile and wake tracking, and overcoat, an underwater coating. His reports were excellent including a dozen patents.

Three men with guns and motorcycles smuggled him to England 6 months before the war ended. Only those scientists who had equipment stayed in their own fields so his was acoustics. He easily adapted Reynolds numbers to acoustics and the switch from anemometers to hot wire microphones. In Germany they had 0.5 mil tungsten. About 10% of the energy in a plane is acoustic, 30% in wake. The project became classified after he designed an unclassifiable porous wall wind tunnel.

On crossing the Atlantic he noticed dolphins have a shape implying laminar flow. After ten years he realized a turntable would not have the turbulence of the usual boat testing tanks. The 1/4" dolphin skin had a structure that could dampen the turbulent tendencies. He showed a 30% reduction in drag. The Navy wasn't interested, so he patented it. Later the FBI claimed he sold it to the Russians. Submarines now have an equivalent which also quiets them.