Rudolf Nebel (21 March 1894 – 18 September 1978) was a spaceflight advocate active in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

's amateur rocket group, the ''

Verein für Raumschiffahrt The Verein für Raumschiffahrt ("''VfR''", ) was a German amateur rocket association prior to World War II that included members outside Germany. The first successful VfR test firing with liquid fuel (five minutes) was conducted by Max Valier a ...

'' (VfR – "Spaceflight Society") in the 1930s and in rebuilding German rocketry following

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 ...

Early life and involvement in World War I

Nebel was born in Weißenburg. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he served in the ''

Luftstreitkräfte The ''Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte'' (, German Air Combat Forces)known before October 1916 as (The Imperial German Air Service, lit. "The flying troops of the German Kaiser’s Reich")was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-langu ...

'' as a fighter pilot with

Jagdstaffel 5 History Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 5, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 5, was created on 21 January 1916, and mobilized on 21 August 1916, as one of the first fighter units of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army ...

, pioneering the use of unguided air-launched signal rockets as offensive armament from German fighter aircraft in the Luftstreitkräfte while flying the Halberstadt D.II and Albatros D.III in early 1916, even forcing down two British aircraft with the improvised armament. In his autobiography, he claimed that his controversial approach was internally called "Nebelwerfer". Following the war, the former ''Leutnant'' Nebel earned a degree in

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

at the Technical Hochschule of Munich..

Activities in civilian rocketry and politics before the Second World War

He was an early member of the German Society for Space Travel ( VfR), working closely together with persons such as

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...

, Rolf Engel,

Hermann Oberth Hermann Julius Oberth (; 25 June 1894 – 28 December 1989) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and rocket pioneer of Transylvanian Saxons, Transylvanian Saxon descent. Oberth supported Nazi Germany's war effort and re ...

or Paul Ehmayr and assisted with the failed

publicity stunt In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utiliz ...

to launch a rocket at the premiere of

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...

's film '' Frau im Mond'' (''Woman in the Moon''). Despite this failure, Nebel continued to seek sponsorship from the

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' (; ) was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first two years of Nazi Germany. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...

as well as individuals as diverse as

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

. Nebel acted very much as the group's spokesperson, organising the donation of materials from various local businesses, and negotiating with the

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municipal council for the use of a disused ammunition dump for the VfR's launch site or '' Raketenflugplatz''. He later talked the

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

council into funding the launch of a rocket with a human passenger on board ( Magdeburger Startgerät). His right-wing politics and affiliation with the paramilitary veterans' organization '' Der Stahlhelm'' sat easily with his promotion of the possible military uses of rockets. Despite this, he had a difficult relationship with Karl Becker of the Army Weapons Office. Becker distrusted Nebel's showmanship and publicity seeking and by May 1931 had temporarily cut off official contact with him. In April 1932, Becker accepted a proposal from Nebel for army funding of a rocket launch on the condition that certain criteria were met. The launch on 22 June of that year was a failure and Nebel and his crew received no payment for the attempt. When Becker offered to bring the team into a strictly controlled army rocketry project, Nebel refused, saying that he and his colleagues had invented the technology and that the army would "choke us with their red tape". Conversely,

and others accepted the offer. Von Braun later tried again during the war to have him join, but by now the SS regarded Nebel as untrustworthy and had von Braun cease his attempts.

Post-war career

After

, Nebel was quick to encourage Germany to recommence rocket research. He participated in the first meetings of the

International Astronautical Federation The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is an international space advocacy organization based in Paris, and founded in 1951 as a non-governmental organization to establish a dialogue between scientists around the world and to lay t ...

and held a public lecture in

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 1951 that set in motion a chain of events that led to the old military base being re-opened for rocket launching until the mid-1960s. He fought in vain for compensation and recognition and was a scientific employee of the Society for Space Research in Bad Godesberg from 1963 to 1965. In 1972, he published his self-centered autobiography ''Die Narren von Tegel'' (The Jesters of Tegel), telling his story of the Raketenflugplatz in Berlin-Tegel. In 1978, he died in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and was buried in Weißenburg, Bavaria. Nebel, whose name means "fog" in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, is often incorrectly named as the inventor of the ''

Nebelwerfer The () was a World War II Nazi Germany, German series of weapons. They were initially developed by and assigned to the German Army (Wehrmacht), Army's . Initially, two different mortars were fielded before they were replaced by a variety of roc ...

'' ("fog launcher") system of rocket artillery used by the ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

'' (German army) in World War II. This secret weapon was given its name as a

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

strategy designed to lead spies into thinking that it was merely a device for creating a

smoke screen A smoke screen is smoke released to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, or ships. Smoke screens are commonly deployed either by a canister (such as a grenade) or generated by a vehicle (such as ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nebel, Rudolf 1894 births 1978 deaths People from Weißenburg in Bayern Scientists from the Kingdom of Bavaria German rocket scientists German spaceflight pioneers Early spaceflight scientists Technical University of Munich alumni Luftstreitkräfte personnel Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German World War I pilots Military personnel from Bavaria