Magnus von Braun (engineer)

Magnus von Braun (second from right) with his brother Wernher von Braun (center)

Magnus Hans Alexander Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (born May 10, 1919 in Greifswald ; † June 21, 2003 in Phoenix , Arizona ) was a German chemical engineer and rocket designer.

Origin and education

Magnus von Braun came from the old Silesian noble family von Braun and was the third son of Magnus Freiherr von Braun . His older brothers were Sigismund and Wernher . Braun attended school in Berlin and the Hermann Lietz School in Spiekeroog . From 1937 he studied at the Technical University of Munich , where he earned his degree in organic chemistry and became Hans Fischer's assistant .

Second World War

During the Second World War , Braun became a night flight instructor in Copenhagen . In July 1943, at the request of his brother Wernher, he went to the Army Research Institute in Peenemünde . August was bombed in Operation Hydra . In March 1944, Magnus von Braun was imprisoned together with his brother Wernher, the rocket designers Klaus Riedel and Helmut Gröttrup and the architect Hannes Lührsen , but were soon released again. In the late summer of 1944 he was transferred to Mittelbau-Dora near the Thuringian town of Nordhausen , where he developed gyroscopes , servomotors and turbo pumps for the A4 rocket, now known as the "V2" . In his place, Dieter Huzel became Wernher's assistant. Braun was evacuated from Weilheim in Upper Bavaria when his brother Wernher arrived there from Oberammergau on April 14, 1945 . The next day he moved to Oberjoch . When they heard about Hitler's death on the radio on May 3rd, Magnus von Braun cycled to the Americans in Reutte and negotiated the handover for the group of rocket builders from Peenemünde.

Life and work in the USA

Braun was won over to continue work in the USA as part of Operation Overcast and finally went to the Fort Bliss rocket test facility in Texas in 1946 and later to the Redstone Arsenal test facility in Huntsville . In Fort Bliss and in Huntsville he worked under Karl Heimburg . In 1947 Braun was a witness in the Nordhausen trial against the camp administration of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp .

In 1950 Braun married Hildegard Buchhold, the marriage was divorced in 1955. In 1957 he married Nathalie Woodruff, with whom he had three children.

From 1955 Braun worked at Chrysler in Detroit , first in the missile department, then in the automotive sector. He later became head of Europe for Chrysler in London . He then worked as an insurance agent in Coventry, England . In the early 1970s, he moved to Sedona , Arizona , where he ran a wine and liquor store. In 1975 Braun retired and moved with his wife to Phoenix, where he died in 2003.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Achim von Quistorp: Dr. hc Dipl. Ing. chem. Magnus v. Braun (see 187th Q.) 1919-2003. (PDF; 23 kB) In: Contributions to the genealogy and history of the Quistorp family. 2006, accessed June 9, 2013 . 
2. ↑ Biographical mention: Karl Heimburg Visio, edition 1/2012, p. 38

Web links

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