Friedrich Wilhelm Sander

Friedrich Wilhelm Sander (August 25, 1885 in Glatz (Kłodzko) – September 15, 1938) was a German pyrotechnics engineer and manufacturer remembered for his contributions to rocket-powered flight as key protagonist of the Opel-RAK program.[1]

Friedrich Sander (left) and Fritz von Opel (right) in front of Opel RAK 1 rocket-powered aircraft. Rebstock, Frankfurt. 30 September 1929

In 1923, Sander purchased the H. G. Cordes company in Bremerhaven, which had been manufacturing black powder charges to power whaling harpoons since the mid nineteenth century. Sander soon expanded the factory's products to include signal rockets. In 1928, he was approached by Max Valier, on behalf of Fritz von Opel to provide rockets to propel cars and aircraft as a means of popularizing the use of rockets for propulsion and for promoting the Opel company. Their joint projects within Opel-RAK, the world's first large-scale rocket program, involved the creation of the world's first rocket car, the Opel RAK.1 and the first rocket plane, the Ente.[2]

From 1930, Sander (with other pyrotechnics factories) began secretly manufacturing rockets for military purposes, at the direction of Walter Dornberger. Without warning, Sander was arrested by the Gestapo on January 31, 1935. His company was subordinated to a trustee of the military, so it was expropriated and all documents were confiscated. After three months in custody, Sander was released, only to be arrested again in November 1935. After a year in custody, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison and a fine for treason. Sander had also sold his missiles to Italy and England. Since these were older versions of his powder rockets, he did not consider this to be forbidden. Sander speculated that the Army Weapons Office ("Heereswaffenamt") wanted to develop and manufacture the missile weapons itself. His company was run as Donar GmbH für Apparatebau without him. He died while in custody.[3]

He was married to Cäcilie Sander and had three boys: Hans HW (1918-1998), Bruno (1918-1983) and Herbert (1920-?).

Further reading
  • Projekt RAK – Das Raketenzeitalter begann in Rüsselsheim, a documentation from Klaus F. Filthaut, München 1999.

References
  1. "Das RAK-Protokoll", a 25 minutes documentary on the Opel RAK program https://opel-tv-footage.com/v/The%20RAK%20Protocoll?p=4&c=86&l=1
  2. "The Rocket Men".
  3. Filthaut, Projekt RAK, pp. 197 ff.
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