Klaus Riedel

Who was Klaus Riedel?

Klaus Riedel was a German rocket pioneer. He was involved in many early liquid-fuelled rocket experiments, and eventually worked on the V-2 missile programme at Peenemünde.

Riedel was born in Wilhelmshaven, the son of a naval officer. His mother died when he was twelve years old, and his father two years later. The orphaned Riedel was raised by his grandmother in Bernstadt. He went on to study as a machinist at the Technical University of Berlin and to work at Löwe. While in Berlin, he attended a public lecture on rocketry by Rudolf Nebel on behalf of Germany's amateur rocket group, the Verein für Raumschiffahrt and joined the group straight away, becoming very active in its efforts to build a working rocket that resulted in the Mirak and Repulsor rockets, providing his family's farm as a testing ground.

After the VfR disbanded in 1933, Riedel was invited by Wernher von Braun to join him in the army's rocket programme. He accepted, and worked from Peenemünde when the team moved there. Riedel's position was "Head of the Test Laboratory" and his work seems to have been mostly concerned with developing the mobile support equipment for the V-2.