Gerhard Zucker (1908–1985) was a German businessman and rocket engineer.

Biography

Born in

Hasselfelde Hasselfelde is a town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is in the eastern Harz, approximately 17 km south of Wernigerode. Since 1 January 2010 it has been part of the town of Oberharz am Brocken. Its population is 1,941 ( ...

, he first came to public notice in 1931, when he began to work on the problem of transporting mail by rocket. In 1933 he performed several experiments in the

Harz The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' der ...

and at

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is a town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint o ...

. In 1934, he emigrated to the UK, where he attempted to interest the British government in his rocket. After a failed rocket demonstration for officials of the British

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

on 31 July 1934, he was deported to Germany, where he was arrested on suspicion of cooperating with the British. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served in the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

. After World War II, he moved across the border to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, to the part of the

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, where he became a furniture dealer. He continued his rocket experiments until, at a rocket demonstration on 7 May 1964 on the

Hasselkopf Hasselkopf is a mountain on the southern periphery of Braunlage, Germany. It is 612 m high. The hill is mostly covered in grass and undeveloped, but its northern slope has a short ski lift and can be used for downhill skiing Skiing is ...

Mountain near

Braunlage Braunlage () is a town and health resort in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony in Germany. Situated within the Harz mountain range, south of the Brocken massif, Braunlage's main business is tourism, particularly skiing. Nearby ski resorts inclu ...

, an accident occurred which killed three people. This accident led to a ban on civilian rocket research in

, ending the rocket experiments of the Hermann-Oberth-Gesellschaft (Hermann Oberth Society) and the Berthold Seliger Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (Berhold Seliger Research and Development Society). In the 1970s Gerhard Zucker once again began launching mail rockets.

Zucker in popular culture

A film based on Zucker's attempts with mail rockets at Scarp was released in 2004, called

The Rocket Post ''The Rocket Post'' is a 2004 British drama film directed by Stephen Whittaker and starring Ulrich Thomsen, Shauna Macdonald, Kevin McKidd and Patrick Malahide. It is set on a remote Scottish island during the late 1930s. The arrival of Germa ...

, starring

Ulrich Thomsen Ulrich Thomsen (born 6 December 1963) is a Danish actor and filmmaker, known for his role of Christian in the 1998 film '' The Celebration'' and for the role of Kai Proctor in the Cinemax original series ''Banshee'' (2013–2016). Early and per ...

as Zucker. In October 2011, Canadian Wilfred Ashley McIsaac resurrected the Zucker legacy in eastern Ontario, Canada after launching a scale solid fuel ARCAS rocket with Gerhard Zucker 'First Canadian Rocket-Flight' stamps on board. Zucker himself produced the postal stamps for a May 1936 exhibit in New York City. The stamps were never used until McIsaac launched them 75 years later on41 October 2011.

External links

Encyclopedia Astronautica - Gerhard Zucker

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zucker, Gerhard 1908 births 1985 deaths People from Oberharz am Brocken German aerospace engineers German spaceflight pioneers Businesspeople from Saxony-Anhalt Engineers from Saxony-Anhalt