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Transcription: [00:00:03]
{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
So we were just talking about the Nachtbau --

{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
Right, I just want to identify this: This is interview of Konrad Dannenberg, by Michael Neufeld -- Tape 2 Side 1.

[00:00:19]
Right, so we were just trying to straighten out the whole story with Nachtbau and the production drawings. And --

[00:00:26]
-- I'd never heard this story before, that you said that - that under - under Stahlknecht and Walter Riedel I they had gone out and tried to produce parts based on --

[00:00:38]
{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
They wanted to simplify the entire V-2 design. And of course it is a very complicated design, it certainly can probably be even simplified in many areas.

[00:00:50]
But if you go into these kind of problems we discussed earlier, and if you change these kind of designs, you easily run into trouble. And that happened quite frequently with valves, --

[00:01:02]
-- with, well all moving parts really, ja? As soon as they had been re-designed they didn't work anymore. And so then finally it was decided, well, to still let these people participate, --

[00:01:14]
-- but give them only tasks where they cannot hurt too many things. Where they cannot do any damage.

[00:01:21]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
Um, did you test the - did these parts fail just in test stand type tests or did you -- ?

[00:01:29]
{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
Also many in the laboratory, already. Many of them were tested in the lab and they just didn't perform -- in the labs the way they were supposed to perform.

[00:01:39]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
Where were they manufactured? These, these --

[00:01:42]
{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
Well, the intent again, of making these production drawings was so that you could go out and could have them manufactured all over the world.

[00:01:50]
So you should have complete information, and then anyone should have been able to produce them.

[00:01:56]
Now one of the problems is many of these things were only built by specialists. And they may never have even documented on their drawings all the little tricks of the trade, --

[00:02:06]
-- and I think that was one of Papa Riedel's problems, ja? He didn't really have all the information he should have had. So many of the production drawings, as they initially were called, --

[00:02:17]
-- were really not up to par. They really didn't permit any manufacturer to build a part, which then really does the kind of thing it is supposed to do.

[00:02:27]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
And so some of these - some of these sort of first run attempts at producing production parts were --

[00:02:36]
-- contracts sent out to other - to manufacturers?

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
To almost any manufacturer.

{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
Right, and you got the parts back to see what kind of quality --

[00:02:45]
-- and this whole thing didn't work very well.

[00:02:47]
This was when? In late '42, early '43 ? -- something like that?

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
Well it really should have basically in the '43 area, ja? When the production really got underway.

[00:02:57]
And as you said, there was initially an attempt to also produce large numbers of V-2s in Peenemünde, -- and that's what Rudolph was supposed to do. But after the bomb raid, of course, that was also something that went out the window.

[00:03:11]
It was immediately decided not to set up any production in Peenemünde. We still built a few handmade V-2s so to speak, ja? For research and development purposes.

[00:03:22]
But, the real production took then only place in Mittelwerke.

[00:03:27]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
So you were assigned to working on the production drawings for the, for the power -- for the engine.

[00:03:35]
Including the -- turbo pumps and the whole system, or, and the -- [[cross talk]] -- the steam generator ?

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
Right and at that time I was in charge of all the drawings. Although, I never knew too much about the electronics drawings, but they were part of the overall set.

[00:03:53]
And I also had to get these drawings out of the electrical people, and that was a real big job. To really make them put down on paper all the things they wanted to have done. And then deliver them again to Mittelwerke for the manufacture.

[00:04:08]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
Ok, so who were - where was your location then?

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
I was located in Peenemünde.

[00:04:13]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
No, no, I meant organizationally. Where were you in the -- ?

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
Well I was Riedel's deputy. Riedel III's deputy.

[00:04:22]
And he was the head of research and development, and as I said he finally really also took over the production.

[00:04:30]
Because it didn't work with making new production drawings. And Riedel was probably the one who convinced von Braun not to make a new set, --

[00:04:38]
-- but use the old drawings. And of course there was also very strong drive on to get the drawings out - to get the drawings to production people.

[00:04:47]
So that they could really start the production. And then of course, parallel to all these efforts we also made still, research and development firings.

[00:04:58]
We found out many problems which still had to be solved. And the Army also got into the act. And the Army shot about hundred or so V-2s in Heidelager,--

[00:05:09]
-- you may have heard about Heidelager, ja? And at that time we found out that many of the V-2s didn't come down the way they were supposed to come down --

[00:05:18]
-- head first, or at least tangentally to the trajectory. But many of them came down this way.

[00:05:25]
And when that happened we had the air bursts. And the missiles broke up, and that was one of the biggest problems towards the end --

[00:05:33]
-- and there was quite an effort. People finally insulated the fuel tank and the LOX tank. And they use glass fiber.

[00:05:42]
Long fiber, glass fiber, and shorter fiberglass, fiber which could be easily - easy obtained, ja? And I don't think scientifically it was ever demonstrated that either one of the two solved the problem.

[00:05:56]
But we had to make a decision. And so it was finally decided, let's insulate them all with long fiberglass wool.

[00:06:03]
And that finally, of course, went also into the production drawings.

[00:06:08]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
Um, so you worked for Walter Riedel III.

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
Right, I was his deputy.

{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
For the rest of the war pretty much?

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
Practically for the rest of the war.

[00:06:19]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
Can you describe him as a personality? And what was he like?

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
Well he was certainly a very good engineer. And that's why von Braun, on the one side, picked him up.

[00:06:29]
He worked initially for the University of Berlin, and he came to Peenemünde and he finally spent practically all his time in Peenemünde.

[00:06:36]
So he was an excellent engineer, there is no question about it. He was very familiar with rocket propulsion problems.

[00:06:45]
And, in a way he was a very pleasant boss. He had some problems though with people like Walter Riedel I, ja?

[00:06:54]
And, so not everyone might agree with what I said right now, that everyone really liked him and went along with him.

[00:07:03]
He had very firm - his own firm opinion. And if you didn't agree with him, he didn't agree with you.

[00:07:12]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
I gather he pushed very hard.

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
Ja, he pushed very hard and I think he was a pretty good manager. After the bomb raid, the whole --

[00:07:20]
-- research and development agency was really distributed, not only over the island of Usedom, but also on the mainland.

[00:07:28]
Our valve lab, for example, was located on the mainland. And Riedel was also in charge of that, and he really could still put all these --

[00:07:38]
-- organizations together. So in that sense I think he was a pretty good manager. Besides being a good engineer.

[00:07:45]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
Do you think that dispersion had much of an effect on efficiency?

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
I'm sure it did. I cannot quote any numbers, any --

[00:07:55]
-- percentages of decrease in efficiency, but I'm sure that is not the best way to do it.

[00:08:02]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
Which brings up a related question:

[00:08:06]
The concept that seems to have evolved, right from the beginning in the late '30s, was of - a large, uh laboratory, with a big in-house capability.

[00:08:21]
That Dornberger - it seems to me now that Dornberger was probably the most influential person in that concept.

{SPEAKER name="KONRAD DANNENBERG"}
Right.

[00:08:29]
{SPEAKER name="MICHAEL NEUFELD"}
Um -- Did you -- uh -- ?