Sänger 'Silverbird' Orbital Bomber

[DemolitionMan]

By Grey Falcon

In June 1935 and February 1936, Dr. Eugen Sänger published articles in the Austrian aviation publication "Flug" on rocket-powered aircraft.
This led to his being asked by the German High Command to build a secret aerospace research institute in Trauen to research and build his 'Silverbird', a manned, winged vehicle that could reach orbit.Dr. Sänger had been working on this concept for several years, and in fact he had began developing liquid-fuel rocket engines.
From 1930 to 1935, he perfected (through countless static tests) a 'regeneratively cooled' liquid-fueled rocket engine that was cooled by its own fuel, which circulated around the combustion chamber.This engine produced an astounding 3048 meters/second (10000 feet/second) exhaust velocity, as compared to the later V-2 rocket's 2000 meters/second (6560 feet/second). Dr. Sänger, along with his staff, continued work at Trauen on the 'Silverbird' under the Amerika Bomber program.

http://greyfalcon.us/Sanger.htm


www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVGsJIc5I8U

[DemolitionMan]

Very revolutional for its time.

[Joe Wooten]

It was also the basis for the DynaSoar spaceplane that McNamara cancelled just as it was getting ready for drop testing in 1964.

[sneakypete]

It was also the basis for the DynaSoar spaceplane that McNamara cancelled just as it was getting ready for drop testing in 1964.

@Joe Wooten

Any insights as to why it was dropped?

[endicom]

@Joe Wooten

Any insights as to why it was dropped?

Nixon put the nail in the coffin. This thread, http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php?topic=282868.new#new , links to a story of the project.

Here's the Boeing short story: http://www.boeing.com/history/products/x-20-dyna-soar.page

Boeing used to have a page saying that the cancellation was a big mistake. That was probably carried over from McDonnell-Douglas and is now not to be found on the Boeing website.

[sneakypete]

Nixon put the nail in the coffin. This thread, http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php?topic=282868.new#new , links to a story of the project.

@endicom

Thanks!

[DemolitionMan]

@Joe Wooten

Any insights as to why it was dropped?

The project was cancelled after Germany found itself hopelessly tangled with an enemy much closer than distant America: the Soviet Union. And while Soviet weaponry was far from being in the same ballpark as Germany’s balls-out prototypes, Joseph Stalin had a point with quantity being a quality all its own.


https://jalopnik.com/5582511/the-nazi-rocket-plane-to-nuke-new-york-from-orbit

[Joe Wooten]

@Joe Wooten

Any insights as to why it was dropped?

@sneakypete

McNamara said the Air Force did not have a definite mission for it, so he cancelled it in 1963 (Kennedy admin) and replaced it with the MOL spy station using the Gemini capsule as a return vehicle. MOL in turn was cancelled by the Nixon admin when it turned out to be much cheaper to have unmanned spysats.

More here     http://astronautix.com/d/dynasoar.html

[Joe Wooten]

Nixon put the nail in the coffin. This thread, http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php?topic=282868.new#new , links to a story of the project.

Here's the Boeing short story: http://www.boeing.com/history/products/x-20-dyna-soar.page

Boeing used to have a page saying that the cancellation was a big mistake. That was probably carried over from McDonnell-Douglas and is now not to be found on the Boeing website.

Boeing built the DynaSoar, not McDonnell-Douglas. I think it was a mistake to cancel it, but that's the way it is. I have heard about computer simulations that calculated the active re-entry heat removal system would have been inadequate. The plane did not use a burn-off material like capsules or the fragile tiles like the shuttle. It was made from Rene41 steel with a water wall supplied by a tank. The water would boil and carry away the heat as steam.

Nixon did not cancel DynaSoar, he cancelled the MOL. DynaSoar was cancelled in 1963 by Kennedy's Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara.

[Joe Wooten]

The project was cancelled after Germany found itself hopelessly tangled with an enemy much closer than distant America: the Soviet Union. And while Soviet weaponry was far from being in the same ballpark as Germany’s balls-out prototypes, Joseph Stalin had a point with quantity being a quality all its own.


https://jalopnik.com/5582511/the-nazi-rocket-plane-to-nuke-new-york-from-orbit

Germany was not even close to having the technology to build a space plane like that. Even Sanger knew it was many many years away. Bell Aircraft spent a lot of research time on designing one, but when the time came for the Air Force to let a contract, Boeing won it to Bell's great disappointment.

[DemolitionMan]

Germany was not even close to having the technology to build a space plane like that. Even Sanger knew it was many many years away. Bell Aircraft spent a lot of research time on designing one, but when the time came for the Air Force to let a contract, Boeing won it to Bell's great disappointment.

After the war ended, Sänger worked for the French government and in 1949 founded the Fédération Astronautique. Whilst in France, he was the subject of a botched attempt by Soviet agents to win him over. Joseph Stalin had become intrigued by reports of the Silbervogel design and sent his son, Vasily, and scientist Grigori Tokaty to convince him to come to the Soviet Union, but they failed to do so. It has also been reported that Stalin instructed the NKVD to kidnap him.By 1954, Sänger had returned to Germany and three years later was directing a jet propulsion research institute in Stuttgart. Between 1961 and 1963 he acted as a consultant for Junkers in designing a ramjet-powered space-plane that never left the drawing board. Sänger's other theoretical innovations during this period were proposing means of using photons for interplanetary and interstellar spacecraft propulsion prefiguring the concept of laser propulsion and the solar sail. He was also caught making missiles for Egypt(Page 3 on CIA attachment).

https://web.archive.org/web/20101105164414/http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0001173825/DOC_0001173825.pdf