Fritz von Opel

Adam Hermann Friedrich "Fritz" Opel (from 1917 by Opel, born May 4, 1899 in Rüsselsheim, † March 8, 1971 in Samedan, Switzerland ) was a German industrialist, rocket pioneer and motor sports. His nickname was " Rocket Fritz".

Life

He was a grandson of Adam Opel, and son of Wilhelm von Opel. His sister was Elinor of Opel, a cousin Georg von Opel. When Fritz Opel's father William was raised in 1917 in the hereditary nobility, so that his descendants were ennobled and entitled to bear the title of nobility.

Fritz von Opel studied at the TH Darmstadt and was first test head of Adam Opel AG. In 1930 he married his first wife Margot Lowenstein, after the divorce his second wife in 1947 Emita Herrán Olozaga, daughter of diplomats Rafael Bernardo Herrán Echeverri and his wife Lucia Olozaga. From this marriage two children were born, Frederick von Opel, called Rikky ( b. 1947 ), and Marie Christine von Opel, called Putzi ( 1951-2006 ).

He built together with Max Valier and Friedrich Wilhelm Sander a race car with powder rocket engine ( Opel - Sander- Rakwagen 1), reaching on 11 April 1928, this vehicle has a speed of 138 km / h with the Opel - Sander- Rakwagen 2 at 23 Mai. in the year, 235 km / h On June 23, the unmanned RAK 3 unscrewed the speed record for rail vehicles on a dead-straight railway track, the "rabbit car" at Castle fronds, to 254 km / h

Fritz von Opel financed the first manned rocket flight on 11 June 1928 Lippisch a duck, which was fitted with solid fuel rockets. Based on Opel undertook on September 30, 1929 on the Frankfurt Rebstock airfield another manned rocket flight. The aircraft designer Julius Hatry developed for a high-wing monoplane with a double tail. This is the world of the first purpose-built for rocket propulsion aircraft. The rocket plane Opel - Sander RAK.1 reached a height of 20 to 30 meters and put in 80 seconds back almost two kilometers. However, there was a crash landing, the Fritz von Opel but without prejudice survived. Other rockets Try it did not come then.

Opel also wrote poetry. In 1968 he published a volume of poetry, Between Shadow and Light in the limit -Verlag.