- Julius Hatry
Julius Hatry (
December 30 1906 -November 7 2000 ) was a Germanaircraft designer and builder. He is remembered for his contributions tosailplane development in the early twentieth century and for building the world's first purpose-built rocket plane, the Opel RAK.1.Hatry was born in
Mannheim and developed an early interest in aviation, joining the Mannheim flying club in 1922. With the club, he became a frequent visitor to the annualgliding competitions held at theWasserkuppe during the 1920s. Between 1927 and 1928 he assisted in the construction of the "Kakadu" (then the largest sailplane ever built) with theMunich Akafleig (student flying) group.References from
Alexander Lippisch andOskar Ursinus helped him gain his first design contract, for amotor glider which never actually flew due to problems with its powerplant. His association with Lippisch also allowed him to participate in the 1928 rocketry experiments carried out forFritz von Opel . This led to von Opel commissioning him to build him a rocket plane for a public demonstration the following year.He worked in civil engineering as
Germany was rebuilt after the devastation ofWorld War II .From 1982 until his death, he was active in the "
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft und Raumfahrt " (German Society for Air and Spaceflight - DGLR), an aerospace research and advocacy group.
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