Lehesten

For Lehesten in the district Saale-Holzland, see Lehesten, Saale-Holzland.
Lehesten

Coat of arms
Lehesten

Coordinates: 50°28′32″N 11°26′53″E / 50.47556°N 11.44806°ECoordinates: 50°28′32″N 11°26′53″E / 50.47556°N 11.44806°E
Country Germany
State Thuringia
District Saalfeld-Rudolstadt
Municipal assoc. Schiefergebirge
Government
 • Mayor Helmut Färber (SPD)
Area
 • Total 35.96 km2 (13.88 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)[1]
 • Total 1,795
 • Density 50/km2 (130/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 07349
Dialling codes 036653
Vehicle registration SLF
Website www.lehesten.de

Lehesten is a town in the Thuringian Forest, 20 km southeast of Saalfeld.

World War II V-2 facility

After an August 1944 explosion at the Redl-Zipf V-2 liquid oxygen plant at Schlier stopped production, the third V-2 liquid oxygen plant (5000 tons/month)[2] was built at a slate quarry at Lehesten at the Thuringia-Bavarian border[3] near Nordhausen (acceptance testing of combustion chamber was also performed at the Lehesten plant).[2] Dr Martin Schilling (the head of testing at Peenemünde)[4] located the Lehesten site,[2] and 400 engineers were moved from Peenemünde to Lehesten, which eventually had 16 liquid oxygen production plants.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden, erfüllenden Gemeinden und Verwaltungsgemeinschaften nach Geschlecht in Thüringen". Thüringer Landesamt für Statistik (in German). 13 July 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ordway, Frederick I, III; Sharpe, Mitchell R (1979). The Rocket Team. Apogee Books Space Series 36. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. p. 99. ISBN 1-894959-00-0.
  3. ↑ Neufeld, Michael J (1995). The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. New York: The Free Press. p. 207.
  4. ↑ McGovern, J (1964). Crossbow and Overcast. New York: W. Morrow. p. 198.
  5. ↑ Heike, Hasenaur (October 2008). "Space Pioneers" (PDF). United States Army. p. 6. Retrieved 2008-10-22.