Peter Riedel

Who was Peter Riedel?

Peter Riedel was a German gliding champion, and was Air Attaché for the Nazi government before and during World War II. Between 1977 and 1985 he published the definitive history of the German gliding movement prior to the war.

Riedel was born in Dehlitz, Saxony, his father a Lutheran pastor and his mother a professor of theology at the University of Halle. His father suffered bouts of mental illness, and his mother committed suicide, meaning that Riedel was raised for some time by an uncle.

In 1920, at the age of 15, Riedel attended the first gliding championship held at the Wasserkuppe, taking with him a half-built glider of his own design, which he completed and flew with the help of other attendees at the meet. From then on, he became a regular participant at the competitions. With the assistance of philanthropist Karl Kotzenberg, who had taken an interest in the gliding movement, Riedel was able to attend the Darmstadt University of Technology, where he studied engineering. After graduation, he trained as a commercial pilot, but could not find work, and instead spent six years working under Walter Georgii at the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug. In the meantime, he continued competitive gliding, setting a world distance record of 229 km in 1933 and winning the Hindenburg Cup at the Wasserkuppe competition the same year. In 1934, he accompanied Georgii on a tour of Brazil and Argentina to help promote the sport in Latin America. Hanna Reitsch also went, and the two became good friends.