Rammstein and the Wright Brothers

Among Rammstein fans, the Aerodynamic Park in the Adlershof quarter of Berlin has become a popular place to visit ever since photos for their 2023 album, “Zeit” (“Time”), were shot at two unique landmark structures there. In this article you’ll learn more about the historic park site and the so-called Trudelturm test tower where the German musicians were photographed descending an exterior concrete stairway.

Beyond the technological architecture as a photo and motion-picture shooting location, you’ll also discover how this site played a significant role in aviation history. For instance, few Americans are aware that for a brief period Orville and Wilbur Wright manufactured and sold their pioneering Wright Flyer at Adlershof.

Adlershof and Johannisthal
The Aerodynamic Park, where the Trudelturm is located, is a historic, landmark-protected complex of three pioneering technical installations built in the 1930s. Later, several buildings in this area housed institutes that were part of the Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (GDR Academy of Sciences). Today the park is part of the Adlershof campus of Humboldt University, located in the Berlin borough of Treptow-Köpenick.

But the campus and the Aerodynamic Park are also located near the former site of what was once Berlin’s main Johannisthal Airport. (Tempelhof did not become the German capital’s main airport until 1923.) This helps explain why many street names in the area today are related to aviation and pioneering pilots, including Wrightallee (Wright Avenue) and Melli-Beese-Straße (for Dresden-born Amelie Hedwig Boutard-Beese, Germany’s first female pilot).

The airport was born in 1909, in the earliest days of motorized flight, as an airfield named Motorflugplatz Johannisthal-Adlershof, named for the area’s two adjoining rural communities that were then located outside of Berlin. Among the early aviators and aviation companies connected to the Johannisthal-Adlershof Airfield were the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville. In his efforts to promote Flugmaschine Wright GmbH, the German division of their aircraft manufacturing firm, Orville spent time in Germany and Europe. In 1909 Orville Wright met Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who invited the American to fly in a zeppelin in Frankfurt, which he did.

That same year Orville also flew his Wright Flyer at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airfield, and spent time at the Johannisthal Airfield, where the Wright GmbH hangar was located. But with the outbreak of war in 1914, Johannisthal would become one of Germany’s primary aviation centers, without the Wrights. The First World War would greatly speed up the development of motorized airplanes and aeronautical science.

The DVL and the Aerodynamic Park
The three aviation technical monuments that today comprise the Adlershof Aerodynamic Park are now under the care of a non-profit association founded in 1991: the Gesellschaft zur Bewahrung von Stätten deutscher Luftfahrtgeschichte e.V. (GBSL, Society for the Preservation of Sites of German Aviation History).

The GBSL is run by retired aviation specialists who have volunteered to help maintain the park’s test installations, to promote and record their history, and to interest young Germans and others in aviation – past, present, and future.

The former aerodynamic testing facilities present today were originally constructed in the 1930s, as part of the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt e.V. (DVL, German Aeronautical Test Facility), a not-for-profit association founded in Berlin on 20 April 1912. The DVL would become a pioneering force in German and global aviation.

The Society for the Preservation of Sites of German Aviation History (GBSL)
The authors wish to express their gratitude to the three GBSL volunteers who were kind enough to welcome our small group to the grounds of the former German Aeronautical Test Facility (DVL) at the Aerodynamic Park in Adlershof. Dipl.-Ing. Hans Dieter Tack, Norbert Reinkober, and Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Unger provided a warm welcome and shared the DVL’s interesting history with us. Thanks to them, we were able to tour and photograph, inside and outside, the three former test facilities at the park. My thanks also go out to Andrea and Peter Goldmann of Berlin-Köpenick, who arranged our tour and provided additional historical background related to the park and today’s Adlershof campus of Humboldt University.

With the advent of motorized aviation, the need for technological research, testing, and development soon became obvious. As early as 1909 Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin had growing concerns about Germany falling behind Britain and France in aviation technology. He was also aware of the recently established Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in Great Britain and the Institut Aéronautique< in France. On 28 September 1909, during a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Zeppelin called for the creation of a centralized aeronautical research and testing facility in Germany.

It was, however, not an entirely new concept in Germany. Already in 1907, Ludwig Prandtl (1875-1953), an engineer and physics professor at the University of Göttingen, had established and headed a facility for model studies of motorized airships called the Motorluftschiffmodell-Versuchsanstalt (MVA), later renamed the Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt (AVA).

The DVL at Johannisthal Airfield
By December 1909 the German Reichstag was considering the test agency proposal. Kaiser Wilhelm II, previously more interested in naval power, was now also an advocate for the new aviation test agency. With his support and the advocacy of numerous associations and organizations, the German Aeronautical Test Facility (DVL) was founded in April 1912 in Berlin. In June 1912, the DVL moved into its facilities at Johannisthal on a hectare (2.47 acres) of land, with an option for more, at the eastern end of the airfield. The new facility would help set the standards in Germany for aeronautical research and flight testing, using wind tunnels with aircraft and wing models. Also around this time, the Johannisthal airfield was attracting increased interest by the German military. In 1912 a German naval aviation station was added to the Johannisthal complex.

The military character of the DVL was also reflected in its 24 founding member agencies. In addition to the VDI (German Engineers Association), the founding members included the Prussian War Ministry and defense contractors. Dr. Friedrich Bendemann was named DVL’s director and the facility began its work, which was divided into three main departments: engines, aircraft, and carpentry/metalworking.

The DVL During and After the First World War
Only about two years after the DVL’s founding, the First World War began. Oddly, with the outbreak of war, Dr. Bendemann and his coworkers were drafted, and all research and testing ceased. It took the military until the second half of 1915 to realize that this idiotic move was a serious mistake. Bendemann and most of his key coworkers returned to Johannisthal to resume work for the DVL.

Fighting ended with the armistice of 11 November 1918. In the war’s aftermath, Germany’s “Weimar Republic,” a democratic federal republic under the Weimar Constitution, known formally as the German Reich, was established on 9 November 1918. Under the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, the German (Weimar) army, the Reichswehr, was limited to 100,000 men and the Reichsmarine (navy), to 15,000. The treaty prohibited an air force, submarines, large warships and armored vehicles.

The Weimar Republic was beset by internal and external problems that caused instability and discontent. Hyperinflation between 1921 and 1923 was just one of the most glaring problems. The political instability also led to uprisings and attempted coups, most notably Adolf Hitler’s failed “Beer Hall Putsch” in November 1923. His resulting eight-month prison sentence offered him the opportunity to write his infamous book: Mein Kampf. In the book Hitler fabricated the so-called “stab-in-the-back” myth that claimed Germany’s surrender in the First World War had been the act of traitors.

In 1920, the German Workers’ Party had become the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), or Nazi Party. Hitler proclaimed himself chairman of the NSDAP in July 1921. The Weimar Republic would last until March 1933, when Adolf Hitler was sworn in as chancellor. Nazi Germany soon began heading down the road to rearmament and militarization, either ignoring the Versailles Treaty or taking advantage of reduced limitations.

The DVL After 1945
Between 1933 and 1945, the DVL aviation test facilities were operated by the Nazi government, primarily with military goals in mind. During WWII, two protective air raid bunkers/towers for employees were located on the DVL grounds. And it should not be forgotten that much of the work done by DVL was aided by the use of forced labor and people confined in labor or concentration camps. This fact is something the Aerodynamic Park acknowledges on signs posted in the area, and is also mentioned in Humboldt University and GBSL publications related to the DVL.

In April 1945 the Soviet Red Army encircled and entered Berlin. Soon Russian forces controlled the German capital. On the exterior concrete wall of the Large Wind Tunnel, Russian writing is still visible. The words read “Checked – No mines.” (See photo above.) But Russian artillery fire destroyed the Medium Wind Tunnel (Mittlerer Windkanal) nearby.

For more about the DVL during the Cold War and the German Democratic Republic years (1949-1990), see “The DVL Becomes the DLR” below.

The Three Main Monument Installations

Visitors to the Adlershof Aerodynamic Park today can see three historical DVL test facilities from the 1930s that still remain standing (in chronological order by dates of construction):

• 1932-1934 | Large Wind Tunnel (Großer Windkanal)
• 1933-1935 | Sound Absorbing Engine Test Stand (Schallgedämpfter Motorensprüfstand)
• 1934-1936 | Spin Wind Tunnel (Trudelwindkanal/Trudelturm)

None of these test facilities is in use as such today. You need to wait for the special open house (Tag des offenen Denkmals) in September, or make special arrangements to see the interior spaces, but the exteriors are accessible to visitors at all times.

The first wind tunnel at Adlershof was built in 1913, but it was somewhat primitive compared to later facilities. Some of the newer test structures built in the 1930s were either dismantled or destroyed by Soviet troops in April 1945 when Berlin fell to Russian troops at the end of the Second World War in Europe. The Johannisthal airport never reopened because it was too close to the border with West Berlin. The three remaining facilities that can be visited today are described below.

1. Large Wind Tunnel (Großer Windkanal)
This structure is the largest of the three technical installations. It was built of reinforced concrete between 1932 and 1934. It was designed to measure the results of air flow as high as 200 km/h (125 mph). To create that air flow an electric motor rated at 2,000 kilowatts drove an eight-bladed turbine with a diameter of 8.5 meters (28 ft). Within the round tunnel (diameter varying between 8.5 meters (28 ft) and 12 m (39 ft) an air stream was directed into a measuring hall, where it flowed over full-sized aircraft components (wings, cowlings, tail works, etc.) in order to measure their air resistance. This information was used to improve the design of aircraft shapes and surfaces. The original turbines and interior measuring equipment are no longer present. A special feature of this wind tunnel was the unique concrete construction using the Zeiss-Dywidag process. The average thickness of the concrete hull is only 7 centimeters (2.75 in.).

2. Spin Wind Tunnel (Trudelwindkanal/Trudelturm)
This 20-meter (65 ft) tall egg-shaped concrete “spin tower” is the last of the three existing installations to be built for the DLV, between 1934 and 1936. It is also the most striking structure of the three. The exterior with its concrete staircase has been used for various motion picture and still photo shoots.

When it was built in the 1930s, the Trudelwindkanal was a true innovation. In order to measure vertical spin and aircraft stalling (trudeln = to spin, roll, flutter), the tower used a vertical air stream that flowed upward from the bottom to the top of the chamber – rather than horizontally, as in a conventional wind tunnel. To conduct the measurements, accurately scaled, precision-made aircraft models were used. The air stream could be regulated so that it matched the speed of the falling airplane model. In that way, the plane model remained at the height of the observation equipment and high-speed cameras. At the time, this was the only way to simulate the dangerous flight condition of spin/stall in a laboratory setting.

3. Sound Absorbing Engine Test Stand (Schallgedämpfter Motorensprüfstand)
Located in what is now an open field of the Aerodynamic Park, the former Sound Absorbing Engine Test Stand was constructed from 1933 to 1935. Marked by two distinctive round 15-meter tall towers at each end, the building in between those towers was once used to test aircraft engines and their propellers under extreme conditions that often led to them shattering. Tested at speeds far above their normal revolutions per minute (rpm), they often crashed into the interior concrete walls that were designed to withstand severe impacts.

The two towers contained wooden sound insulation as well as sound-dampening interior shapes and materials. The central space between the two towers is now a student-run snack bar and meeting center that is also open to the public during business hours. The occasional music and dance events held here disturb no one, since the loud sound is muffled by the facility.

Test Facilities That No Longer Exist
Today’s three existing test facilities in the Aerodynamic Park are what remains of a larger complex of aerodynamic test installations, that are no longer extant. These aeronautical test facilities were either shut down, relocated, repurposed, or destroyed.

• Small Wind Tunnel (Kleiner Windkanal) – Opened in 1932. Built as a 1:5 model of the planned Large Wind Tunnel that is still standing.
• Medium Wind Tunnel (Mittlerer Windkanal) – Went into service in 1937 after two years of construction. Destroyed by Red Army artillery fire on 23 April 1945.
• High-Speed Wind Tunnel (Hochgeschwindigkeits-Windkanal) – Went into service in 1938 after two years of construction. Wind speeds up to Mach 1.
• Propeller Test Hall (Luftschrauben-Prüfhalle) – The first DVL propeller test stand was built in 1914, and yet another in 1916, largely in response to increasing military demand. The latter could measure up to 1,700 rpm and 400 horsepower, compared to only 220 hp in 1914. As engines grew more powerful, and propeller materials were subjected to increased stress, a new special test hall was opened in December 1932.
• High-Altitude Engine Test Stand (Motorenhöhenprüfstand) – Built in the second half of the 1930s, this special test facility was used to determine the performance and endurance of aircraft engines at varying air temperatures and altitudes (up to 24 km/15 mi). The partial simulation of the actual conditions found at high altitudes (e.g., very cold and dry air) made it possible to better predict an engine’s consumption of air, fuel, and lubricants. This building is now home to working groups belonging to the university’s Physics Institute (Institut für Physik).

The DVL Becomes the DLR
With the advance of Soviet troops into Berlin in April 1945, the DVL, the German Aeronautical Test Facility, closed down its operations and for all practical purposes ceased to exist, However, in West Germany, along with several other aerospace agencies, the DVL lived on to become part of what is now the DLR. In 1969, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) combined several German aerospace agencies, including the DVL, to form the Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DFVLR). Twenty years later, in 1989, the DFVLR was renamed das Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, today’s DLR, known in English as the German Aerospace Center, based in Cologne. Today the DLR operates at 30 sites in Germany, with four more locations abroad.

Adlershof Artwork
In and around the Aerodynamic Park visitors can enjoy various works of art that reflect this science campus. “Air Borne” is a sound installation created and designed by Stephan Krüskemper. Air Borne was completed in October 2006 and consists of 15 red ellipsoids spread over a large area of the park, each projecting various sounds, sometimes mimicking propellers, voices, and other acoustic effects evocative of the site’s history. The sounds are emitted with time spans that vary from 24 to 1,260 hours, and a short duration of between two and 67 seconds. Because of this, the artist expects it could take several years for anyone to completely experience the full Air Borne audible program.

“Heads, Shifting” (“Kopfbewegung”), pictured above, is a more visual art project. The two moving, rotating heads sliced into horizontal sections were created by two artists from Berlin. With their unique sculptures, Josefine Günschel and Margund Smolka hope to make viewers of their work think about perspective and viewpoints – literally and figuratively. Depending on when you view them, the heads can appear as realistic heads or seem very abstract.

Visiting the Aerodynamic Park in Adlershof
If you’re in the Berlin area or plan to be, it is easy to get to the Aerodynamic Park via public transport or in your own car. The S-Bahn commuter rail lines S8 and S9 stop at the nearby Adlershof Station. The S9 line runs directly from the new BER airport directly to Adlershof. From the station, bus lines 162 and 164, as well as tram lines 61/63 go to the Aerodynamic Park. For more information, see Humboldt University’s How to Find Us page. (Note: The German version is more up to date.)

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AT THE GERMAN WAY

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