Hellmuth Walter

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Hellmuth Walter
Hellmuth Walter
Born(1900-08-26)26 August 1900
Wedel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Died16 December 1980(1980-12-16) (aged 80)
Upper Montclair, New Jersey, United States
NationalityGerman
Alma materTechnische Universität Berlin
Known forWalter engine [de]
Scientific career
FieldsEngineering

Hellmuth Walter (26 August 1900 – 16 December 1980) was a German

Bachem Ba 349 interceptor aircraft, so-called Starthilfe jettisonable rocket propulsion units used for a variety of Luftwaffe aircraft during World War II, and a revolutionary new propulsion system for submarines known as air-independent propulsion
(AIP).

Early life

Walter began training as a

atmosphere or from tanks). This would have obvious advantages for powering submarines and torpedoes
.

Research suggested that

catalyst it would break down into oxygen and steam at high temperature. The heat of the reaction would cause the oxygen and steam to expand, and this could be used as a source of pressure. Walter also realised that another fuel could be injected into this hot mixture of gases to provide combustion and therefore more power. He patented
this idea in 1925.

Entrepreneur

After working for some time at the

German Type XVII submarines
were built using this engine, and none saw combat.

Rocket engines

At the same time that Walter was developing submarine engines, he was also applying his ideas to rocketry. The high-pressure gas mixture created by the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide could not only be used in a

HWK 109-509
).

Another Walter engine was used to assist heavily laden aircraft to take off (

Walther HWK 109-500
).

In 1945, Walter was awarded the

30 Assault Unit, a unit of Royal Marines which had been established by James Bond author Ian Fleming
.

Post-war career

The end of the war saw all of his research materials confiscated by the British military and Walter and his colleagues taken to the

U-1407 was raised from where it had been scuttled and re-commissioned as HMS Meteorite. The Royal Navy constructed two more submarines using AIP engines before abandoning research in this direction in favour of nuclear power
.

Allowed to return to Germany in 1948, Walter worked for the Paul Seifert Engine Works. In 1950 he emigrated to the

Worthington Pump Corporation of Harrison, New Jersey, eventually becoming vice president of research and development. In 1956 he founded the company Hellmuth Walter GmbH in Kiel, and in 1967 constructed a civilian submarine, STINT, with Walter propulsion.[3]

See also

Notes

  1. ISBN 1-85367-262-9
    .
  2. ISBN 978-1-84901-297-3
    .
  3. ISBN 3-428-02715-9
    .

References
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