Reinhold Tiling
Encyclopedia
Reinhold Tiling was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

, pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

 and a rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...

 pioneer.

Biography

Tiling was born in Absberg
Absberg
Absberg is a municipality in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany.The Absberg family was named by this place and had their home castle there....

, Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...

, as the son of a pastor. Shortly after he began the study of mechanical engineering and electro-technology he found himself in war service at the beginning of the First World War. In 1915 he volunteered as a fighter pilot in the new created German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

.
In 1926 Tiling became flight controller of Osnabrück airport. He began to explore rocket technology during this period, probably inspired by Hermann Oberth
Hermann Oberth
Hermann Julius Oberth was an Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and engineer. He is considered one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics.- Early life :...

's book "Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen" (By Rocket into Planetary Space); he started his first experiments in 1928.

Tiling developed re-usable rocket planes, which start as a rocket and land with swinging out wings. This principle is used until today by NASA for flights of the space shuttle. His innovation also allowed him to develop rockets which had the necessary thrust and burning duration for flight.

In 1929 Gisbert Freiherr von Ledebur (1899-1980) allowed Tiling the use of a workshop in Ahrenshorst. In June 1929 some successful demonstrations were completed during which missiles reached a height of 1,000 metres.

On March 13, 1931 Tiling and his coworker Karl Poggensee succeeded in the launch of a solid-propellant rocket. The rocket flew for 11 seconds, and reached a height of 1,800 metres. Further rocket launches were undertaken in the following weeks.

The break-through experiment occurred on April 15, 1931 when Tiling demonstrated a post office rocket, which carried 188 postcards reliably. Further tests showed the efficiency and reliability of the his rockets. The rockets became famous in Germany, and attracted large public interest. This also attracted the attention of the German Navy who had been developing rockets for military use since 1929.

Despite the support of friends and sponsors, Tiling's work was beset by financial difficulties. On October 10, 1933, the overheating of the powder needed to power the rocket created an explosion in Tiling's workshop in Ahrenshorst; Tiling, his assistant Angela Buddenboehmer and his mechanic Friedrich Kuhr suffered heavy burns. They succumbed to these injuries on the following day, with Tiling dying in Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...

.

A crater on the backside of the moon is named after Reinhold Tiling, located at coordinates 53° 06' S
132° 36' W.

External links

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