Jump to content

英文维基 | 中文维基 | 日文维基 | 草榴社区

Bernhard Tessmann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kurt Lindner (no article)Wilhelm Jungert (no article)Kurt H. DebusEduard Fischel (no article)Hans Gruene (no article)William MrazekHelmut Schlitt (no article)Herbert Axster (no article)Theodor Vowe (no article)Rudolf Beichel (no article)Bruno Helm (no article)Oscar HoldererRudolf Minning (no article)Hans Friedrich (no article)Guenther Haukohl (no article)Friedrich Dhom (no article)Bernhard TessmannKarl HeimburgErnst GeisslerFriedrich Duerr (no article)Hans Milde (no article)Hannes Lührsen (no article)Kurt Patt (no article)Otto Eisenhardt (no article)Johann Tschinkel (no article)Gerhard Drawe (no article)Gerhard Heller (no article)Josef Maria Boehm (no article)Joachim Mühlner (no article)Arthur RudolphWilhelm Angele (no article)Erich Ball (no article)Bruno Heusinger (no article)Max Nowak (no article)Fritz MuellerAlfred Finzel (no article)Herbert Fuhrmann (no article)Ernst StuhlingerHerbert Guendel (no article)Hans FichtnerKarl Hager (no article)Werner KuersHans Maus (no article)Herbert Bergeler (no article)Walter Hans Schwidetzky (no article)Rudolf Hoelker (no article)Erich Kaschig (no article)Werner Rosinski (no article)Heinz Schnarowski (no article)Fritz Vandersee (no article)Arthur Urbanski (no article)Werner Tiller (no article)Hugo Woerdemann (no article)Martin Schilling (no article)Albert Schuler (no article)Hans Lindenmayer (no article)Helmut Zolke (no article)Hans Paul (no article)Heinrich Rothe (no article)Ludwig RothErnst SteinhoffGerhard ReisigErnst Klaus (no article)Hermann Weidner (no article)Hermann Lange (no article)Robert Paetz (no article)Helmut Merk (no article)Walter JacobiDieter GrauFriedrich Schwarz (no article)Wernher von BraunAlbin Wittmann (no article)Otto Hoberg (no article)Wilhelm Schulze (no article)Adolf ThielWalter Wiesemann (no article)Theodor Buchhold (no article)Eberhard ReesOtto Heinrich Hirschler (no article)Theodor Poppel (no article)Werner Voss (no article)Gustav Kroll (no article)Anton Beier (no article)Albert Zeiler (no article)Rudolf Schlidt (no article)Wolfgang Steurer (no article)Gerd De Beek (no article)Heinz Millinger (no article)Konrad DannenbergHans Palaoro (no article)Erich Neubert (no article)Werner Sieber (no article)Emil Hellebrandt (no article)Hans Henning Hosenthien (no article)Oscar Bauschinger (no article)Joseph Michel (no article)Klaus Scheufelen (no article)Walter Burose (no article)Karl Fleischer (no article)Werner Gengelbach (no article)Hermann Beduerftig (no article)Guenther Hintze (no article)
Operation Paperclip Team at Fort Bliss, Texas, August 1946. (pointing the mouse will show the name)

Bernhard Robert Tessmann (August 15, 1912 in Zingst – December 19, 1998) was a German expert in guided missiles during World War II, and later worked for the United States Army and NASA.

Life

[edit]

Tessmann first met rocket expert Wernher von Braun in 1935. He had little interest in spaceflight, even though he had seen the sets of the film Frau im Mond since his father worked at Universum Film AG studios. Tessmann was involved in the basic planning for Army Research Center Peenemünde, moving there in late 1936 to supervise construction and conduct first engine testing there at Test Stand I. Tessmann worked on wind tunnels, then on thrust measuring systems for V-2 engines.

He was evacuated after the bombing in August 1943 to Koelpinsee where he designed ground equipment for V-2 mobile units and was involved in the planning for the "Projekt Zement" underground V-2 facilities at Ebensee, Austria, and test facilities near Lehesten.[1]

Tessmann was a key man in securing the V-2 legacy at the end of the war. Once von Braun became afraid the SS would follow the Führer's "scorched earth" policy and destroy the tons of precious V-2 documents and blueprints, he instructed his personal aide, Dieter Huzel, and Bernhard Tessmann, chief designer of the Peenemünde test facilities, to hide the documents in a safe place.[2]

It took three Opel trucks to carry the 14 tons of papers.[3] The little convoy headed north on April 3, 1945 toward the nearby Harz Mountains. By the end of the day Tessmann and Huzel found an abandoned iron mine in the isolated village of Dornten, which was managed by a loyal Nazi Herr Nebelung.[4] Thirty-six hours later, all of the documents had been hauled by a small locomotive into the heart of the mine and hand-carried into the powder magazine.

Eventually, von Braun and his leading V-2 engineers and scientists voluntarily surrendered to the U.S. 44th Division. Almost as important was the recovery of the 14 tons of V-2 documents hidden by Tessman and Huzel in the Dornten iron mine.

Tessmann was transferred to the United States at the end of the war via the Operation Paperclip, and as of January 1947, was working at Fort Bliss, Texas. Thereafter he worked his entire life with the rocket team, at Fort Bliss, White Sands Missile Range, and then at Huntsville. As of 1960, he was a Deputy Director of Test Division at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

He died in Huntsville, Alabama. The Ilse and Bernhard Tessmann Music, and Foreign Language Scholarship, are awarded at the University of Alabama, Huntsville.[5]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Oertelsbruch - Rotbutt (Laura)". Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  2. ^ Michael J. Neufeld (2008). Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War. Random House, Inc. ISBN 978-0-307-38937-4. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  3. ^ The history of German space policy: ideas, influences and interdependence, 1923-2002. Translated by Barry Smerin; Barbara Wilson. Editions Beauchesne. 2007. ISBN 978-2-7010-1512-5. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  4. ^ Jacobsen, Annie (2014). Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America. Little, Brown and Company. p. 36. ISBN 978-0316221047.
  5. ^ "University of Alabama in Huntsville Scholarships". MeritAid.com. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
[edit]