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Nazis in Space? A projected documentary

The space race was one of the more exciting elements of the cold war between the United States and Soviet Russia. It was a duel of scientific accomplishments to see which nation could dominate space. The first to launch a satellite was the USSR and they were the first to place a man into space, Soviet test pilot Yuri Gagarin. Not long after his orbital flight an elderly man came forward with a bizarre story.

He declared that the Soviet Cosmonaut wasn’t the first to orbit. The feat was done decades before and not by the USA or the USSR. What other nation had trumped the two superpowers in space? According to Herr Raul Streicher, Nazi Germany sent up a man in February of 1945! He knew this because he was the Nazi astronaut. At first people saw this as an old man’s fantasy. How could the Germans do such a thing without advanced computers or complex rockets? It sounds too insane to be fact.

It wasn’t till the year 2000 that the prestigious German Magazine Der Stern investigated the claim and re-interviewed an 85 year old Raul Streicher. They began to put the pieces together and the more they researched the question the more evidence came forward that it just might be true.

The program came as a result of Adolph Hitler’s desire to bomb the United States of America. He believed that a rocket could go into space fly over the US, drop a bomb or bombs, and continue on to land in Japan, then part of the Axis Alliance. This wasn’t a quest for new science or prestige but a desire for revenge. The vehicle was a large two stage rocket called an A-10. It was a beefed up version of the infamous A-4 that is better known to the world as the V-2. The craft had large swept back wings and it was designed to slowly fly back to earth as an airplane.

100 of Germany’s finest Luftwaffe Aces were selected to be part of Projektil Amerika. Adolph Hitler himself oversaw the operation making the final cut from 100 pilots to just two. He used horoscopes to pick his astronauts rather than skill or background.
Because of the shortage of materials, the project was delayed. A large space launch center was developed in the forests outside of Wowelsburg. Raul Streicher and Martin von Dulen were the selected as the first to go into space. On the flip of a coin, Dulen, would go first.

He was set in the pressurized and sealed cabin. It had complete life support and an ejection system. A radio beacon was all that was carried on this ground breaking flight, this was to trace its path across the heavens. On February 18, 1945, the A-10 was launched. The main rockets fired successfully but, three minutes into the flight something went terribly wrong and the rocket exploded, killing Martin von Dulen.
An investigation was launched as a second A-10 was readied. The problems with the engine pumps was solved and Raul Streicher readied himself for the historic flight. On February 24, 1945 he took his place in the rocket cockpit and was blasted off. This time everything worked as planned, he flew into weightless space and circled half the globe, it is believed he flew over the United States, across the Pacific Ocean and splashed down in the sea of Japan. He ejected from the pod as the landing system had yet to be developed. He was recovered by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The test of the system was a success.

Raul Streicher was then placed in a large four engine German plane and flown back to German, over the North Pole, to receive a medal from Hitler and plan for the next, and more destructive flight. Only German reversals on the battlefield ended the plan to bombard New York. The flight wasn’t really an orbital one but more of a sub-orbital skip into space. Still, if true, this would have been a monumental undertaking. Could this story have any merit?

It is known that the Germans were thinking of space travel as far back as the 1930s. It is known that a Dr. Eugen Sangor did design an orbital space bomber that could reach a projected speed of 1,000 miles per hour. The silver bird, was his designation for the craft, and it had many of the same capabilities as the A-10. We know that drawings of the large A-10 did exist and there were four tests of a winged V-2 that might have been linked to the project. The A-10 plans indicated that it was to be a manned weapon where the pilot would set the controls and be ejected. The pilot could be rescued by Nazi Agents or U-boats for another attack. Still, could this be real or a fantasy of an old man?

A Documentary film could be made of this story. It would take more research to see if it is even possible. Maybe a team could go to Wowelsberg, Germany and see if there is any evidence of a space launch site. Maybe the records of the Imperial Japanese Navy might have an account of a German pilot picked up from the Sea of Japan in 1945. Perhaps the elderly German could submit to a lie detector test? The plans for the A-10 do exist; the specifications could be run though a NASA computer to see if it could make such a flight and take the stress of re-entry? The lives of Streicher and Dulen could be researched. Were they Aces? Were they even in the German air force? The A-4 was tested with large wings and footage of those tests do exist. Computer graphics could be used to re-enact the possible Nazi trip into space. It is possible that this flight (if it even happened) would have taken photographs to be of use on future missions. Do these images exist in German archives? Hitler did hint at wonder weapons coming in the last months of the war. Most chalk such talk as propaganda only but what if it was true? Did American Radar pick up anything odd in February of 1945? Perhaps the flight went from west to east, flying over the Soviet Union. Maybe there is some record in Russian files. Maybe a search of Nazi records might uncover other hints at such a space mission.
Fact or fantasy, it is a good yarn and one that would make a good documentary for History and Discovery Channel.