My personal trip to Peenemünde facility (Nazi Bell/ German technology related)

Hello my fellow ATS people! Since I reached my 20+ posts I’m now able to open my own thread. As I mentioned in the introduction forum I’m from Germany and a long-time reader on ATS but decided to sign up finally I didn't want to post my thread in the UFO discussion forum since I think this topic is more about the facility in Peenemünde than UFO technology.

I want to give some insight on a “specific German” topic as I would call it: the mystery surrounding the rocket test facility in Peenemünde, die Glocke (a.ka. The Nazi Bell) and the “mystery” surrounding German technologies, tested in Peenemünde - just for all you folks that don't have a chance to travel to this place. Please excuse any bad English!

I would like to start this thread with a trip I took last summer to Peenemünde. I was always interested in UFO stuff so I was excited about any indications I may find there. I took some pictures, outside - and inside, and will share them later on in this post .

Peenemünde is a little town on the Baltic Sea island Usedom in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and has an expanse of 24,97 km² . Here you can see its geographical location:



But now let’s leave behind the common stuff and switch over to the good stuff

Peenemünde “came to fame” because of its “Heeresversuchsanstalt” (Peenemünde Army Research Facility). and “Erprobungsstelle der Luftwaffe” (Peenemünde Airfield). To quote the wikipedia article about it:

“In World War II, the village's docks were used for the ships which recovered V-2 wreckage from launches over the Baltic Sea, and the entire island was captured on May 5, 1945. The gas plant for the production of liquid oxygen still lies in ruins at the entrance to Peenemünde.”

So me and my friends wanted to trail the mystery of Peenemünde and maybe finding out some new facts. We’ve been on vacation at the Baltic Sea and made this one-day-trip to this little town called Peenemünde. Entering the town it looked like many other small towns, nothing special at all. We had to pass a little road among a forested area and arrived at the gates of the Historical Technical Museum Peenemünde. Here are some pictures we took after passing the main entrance and the obligatory gift shop:


- this is a train used to transport the personell over the huge area to their specific jobs everyday

I watched the UFO Hunters Episode 31 (season 3), Nazi UFOs, and the team also went to Peenemünde to investigate the alleged “contacting” via V2 rockets, which reached space. The guide in the Historical Museum told us that the V2 even weren’t supposed to fligh that high and that there are no documents supporting the fact that the Nazis ever intended to conatct any outer space life-form.


- this is me in front of a V2 rocket, so you get the dimensions!

Here's the sign in front of the V2:


- it reads: liquid-fuel rocket, aggregate 4. Build year 1942, Peenemünde. Replica with genuine parts. The first successful take off took place on 3rd of Oct. 1942. In a flight duration of about 4 mins 56 sec a firing range of 190,6 km with an absolute ceiling of 84,5 km has been reached. [specifications] Coloring of the rocket and the painting with the "Girl in the moon" comply with the original painting.

There are also life scale models (actually build with several parts found all over the area) of the V1 rocket (and their launch devices):


After the outside trip we headed over to the Command Center of the facility (you have to remember that A LOT was bombed and destroyed during the attacks in WWII):


As we headed inside one could "smell" the scent of time. I could only imagine how the personell rushed over the area and over the hallways in the inside... The next picture shows some broken rocket noses:


The next thing we encountered was a level just with switches (every level in the building was HUGE!!). The switches prepared any launches and controlled the electricity levels in the hangars - and for the testing of any exotic crafts as the guide told us (I'll get back to that later) :



A view out of the window on the "switch level":


The next level had some "windows" embedded in the ground and you could see some nice little mechanic gadgets There were several other windows (one with "millions of Reichs-bills", inflatonary money) and some windows indicated that there were additional underground levels:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/79c824f66cef.jpg[/atsimg]

Here, from another angle, in the same room:


The next room showed a huge map with interesting spots all over the place and you could see how big the facility must have been:


The next picture shows the "information room" and that's where it good exciting!!! As you enter you could read "Geheime Kommandosache" ("Secret Commando Affairs") in big letters painted on many folders:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/63d4bbef2231.jpg[/atsimg]

There were several exhibits of gadgets in this room. A true paradise for a technology freak like me :




The next thing I noticed was a glass case (sorry, my buddy René was in front of it ):


Operation Paperclip was mentioned A LOT and there was a glass case with experimental aircraft models which actually were built ans tested in the facility the guide told us. Here’s a picture I took:


As you can see there are some really innovative forms (being in the early 40's) of the aircrafts. I asked the guide if there were any documents or indications (at least in Peenemünde) which suggested that there had ever been a project called “Die Glocke” and he declined. He told us afterwards that they obviously tested a new fuel (which *may* found its usage in the Glocke, which I personally doubt) but that's all.


- me in front of another aggregate which was really big

Here you can see a little scale model of the launch facility:


The tour ended with seeing the ("a") factory hall and the incidence of light gave us a shiver, it was scary, can't describe it, atmosphere like in a Nazi videogame :



Back again outside we could enjoy our sunny day again :


Some other pics:



All in all I can say there was nothing special about the rocket test facility Peenemünde regarding any “Bell” technology. Of course there some great events in history took place and the technology was edge cutting at that time, but that’s just all. I hope you all liked my little report Feel free to ask questions if you have any!

- Steve

(I just noticed that content of many pictures is missing, if you're interested in seeing the entire pics, just visit my photo album )

Welcome Steve. Thanks for talking the time to post. I mean you could have went and said there was nothing there and forgot about it. I found it really interesting. I enjoyed the pictures. I will admit when I looked at the scale model of the launch facility there just seemed something ominous about it. I don't know, its just a model. Once again thank you. Some day we will all get to the bottom of this. As your country well knows and ours, US, will soon find out absolute power corrupts absolutely. Those in power wish to always remain in power and they do so with myth and illusions. I wish there were more of the good guys. Take care and best wishes.

reply to post by Dalbeck


That was a really interesting post. S&F for you. I think the pictures are just great. Gets my mind really thinking about crazy mad scientists. All the stuff they designed and produced is amazing, and then project paperclip just kind of keeps the ball right on rolling. I sure the Nazi Bell is somewhere waiting to be found, someone's personal museum no doubt. kept under lock and key.

What more can you tell us about the Bell? any links?

@sirjunglegun: Thank you for your kind words! It was really exciting being there, too bad the pics in this thread are oversized so you can’t see everything (especially the entire glass case with some really exotic crafts!!). Yeah you’re def. right about your statement concerning the persons in power of our countries!! The truth is unstoppable and hopefully will come out one day.

As for the scale model of the launch facility, yeah it seemed odd to me as well, the model continues on the other side of the room (sorry no photo) and there were some strange areas with some “Stonehenge like structures”- some people assumed them to be test areas for … the Bell? They showed such a structure in the episode of UFO Hunters!

@nrd101: Thank you too! Yeah it kind of makes you wonder if there is anywhere the real deal. There were a lot of shapes (of the exhibits) that reminded me of “bell-like” structures so one thing’s for sure – they (the Nazis) seemed to be into this shape…

I will add some additional info + links + pictures (sketches) regarding the Bell and other crafts the Nazis worked on later on!

Interesting, but it's in rather bad taste, bordering on being sick. I thought the Germans weren't allowed this sort of museum. Celebrating Nazi achievements at killing people at a distance? It would be like offering tours of the former Zyklon B factory to show the efficiency of German chemists.

If it wasn't for the successful efforts of British Intelligence the weapons developed at Peenemünde would have killed a lot more people and destroyed a lot more property.

A lot of slave labour from the concentration camps and the Todt organisation died making these weapons and the associated facilities. I hope the museum details events from their perspective clearly and in great detail.

Technically like many I am fascinated by the developments, but you have to bear in mind the human suffering that went with these developments, and that sheer level of suffering makes me uneasy for one.

Originally posted by Rob37n
Interesting, but it's in rather bad taste, bordering on being sick. I thought the Germans weren't allowed this sort of museum. Celebrating Nazi achievements at killing people at a distance? It would be like offering tours of the former Zyklon B factory to show the efficiency of German chemists.

If it wasn't for the successful efforts of British Intelligence the weapons developed at Peenemünde would have killed a lot more people and destroyed a lot more property.

A lot of slave labour from the concentration camps and the Todt organisation died making these weapons and the associated facilities. I hope the museum details events from their perspective clearly and in great detail.

Technically like many I am fascinated by the developments, but you have to bear in mind the human suffering that went with these developments, and that sheer level of suffering makes me uneasy for one.

True for sure! But please keep in mind that the Peenemünde Historical and Technical Information Center is really just for information. There were a lot of tours on that day with English speaking tourists, I really don't think this museum glorifies anything that happened, on the contrary, there was one room with a very symbolic figure on the ceiling: a little blue marble in the middle, surrounded by way bigger rockets. Believe me, everything there is not to glorify and very reverent, the last 1/3 of the tour indicated the importance of not forgetting and to what it led eventually.

* & F Great first post my friend. Thanks for publishing it.

@Rob - one way to make sure history never repeats is to build constant reminders. Let's not forget all the holocaust museums, war-memorials and battlefield parks.

great post S+F for you.

this is the kind of thread that ATS used to be all about ...well done.

thanks

snoopyuk

Thanks for the interesting read and taking great pictures. How I love the internet, places that I would never get to see in my lifetime are just a few clicks away, along with some information. Keep up the great work my friend.
And no matter how "bad" the Nazi era was their technological achievements in flight and my personal favorite tanks is something to marvel at. They truly had some of the best minds, thats why we brought them back here and thats why we now have a space program. Sometimes great things come out of bad history.

Thank you Rabbit, snoopy & Jay! I'm glad you enjoyed this little trip through history Ah, I just noticed some typos and wanted to correct them but it won't let me after 4 hrs, oh well .. By the way, nice avatar jay

Ths is a prime example of a great ATS thread!
Outstanding job and quality content!

1000x stars and flags, friend.
Welcome to ATS.
The pure intelligence of those men at that time is overwhelming.
I can't imagine what grand ideas they had and what was developed.
Truly amazes me what was lost, but if it was going to be used to destroy the other nations...
It was for the better.


Great thread.
Coming from a fellow tech-phreak!

S&F great photos mate, on an unconnected subject that place in the 40`s would make a cracking Call of Duty level

Originally posted by havok
Ths is a prime example of a great ATS thread!
Outstanding job and quality content!

1000x stars and flags, friend.
Welcome to ATS.
The pure intelligence of those men at that time is overwhelming.
I can't imagine what grand ideas they had and what was developed.
Truly amazes me what was lost, but if it was going to be used to destroy the other nations...
It was for the better.


Great thread.
Coming from a fellow tech-phreak!

Hi Havok my fellow tech-freak I often thought about the scientists from way back then. I'm sure there were some along them showing loyalty only to the outside but would've loved to dedicate their work for the better but the system at that time suppressed them in their free mind unfortunately.

So you are overwhelmed by their intelligence and I'm overwhelmed by your kind words ! I didn't expect that, so thank you all, glad you like it!

Originally posted by On the level
S&F great photos mate, on an unconnected subject that place in the 40`s would make a cracking Call of Duty level

Thank you !!! Hehe yeah as for the CoD level, like I wrote in my initial post, I felt like in a video game (if you remember Castle W. you know what I'm talking about ^^ ).

Just a side note: on the outside there was even a war ship with some huuuuge cannons (compared to modern ships still a small one, but it was like something you could also find in CoD ). I didn't add the photos of it tho because it didn't have nothing to do with the topic

Really awesome thread .Loved the pictures.Great job and your english is outstanding.I enjoyed your narritive as well.The models in the glass case were interesting.Were any of them build,or were just the models tested?

Thanks for this thread. I know it's going to get a lot juicier with more information about the Bell and other pieces, but you've made a really nice foundation with your actual pics.

Again, great job!

What a great thread ... and so well presented too. I look forward to reading more from you over the years ahead.

My Grandmother's home in London was destroyed by a V2 rocket in late 1944.

She said it was a lovely Winter's afternoon, she was washing the dishes at the kitchen sink, when there was suddenly an almighty white flash of light. She was knocked unconscious from the blast, only to come round when she was being dug out of what was left of her home. Her whole street was demolished, as was the next one along. She said the sirens hadn't sounded to warn of an attack, so I guess the radar operators didn't have the technological know how to identify a ballistic missile launch at that point in the war.

My Mother had already been evacuated from London to Scotland in 1940 to escape the Blitz, as had so many other children. But my Grandmother stayed in London because she worked in a munitions factory supplying bombs for the RAF. She was in hospital for only one day, her only injury was a cut on her arm, the scar of which she had until she died in 1996. After leaving hospital she was back on the assembly line the following morning, making the fuses for aerial bombs ... and continued working all the way through until the war's end.

Anyway, I digress. Thanks for an interesting thread !

Originally posted by lonegurkha
Really awesome thread .Loved the pictures.Great job and your english is outstanding.I enjoyed your narritive as well.The models in the glass case were interesting.Were any of them build,or were just the models tested?

edit on 2/9/2011 by lonegurkha because: (no reason given)

Thank you !! I'm glad you enjoeyed it (and could understand me ) As for the models in the glass case the guide told us that some of them actually were built and tested, yes. Some of the exotic rockets badly failed tho. Just look on the right side there's a plane that actually looks like a design for the B2 ! I don't know if you can see it on the thread page, just look into my actual gallery and you'll see what I mean

reply to post by Dalbeck


Guten tag op, Me and by brother were both born in Germany and lived there till the age of eight
as my farther was in the British army.Beautiful country full of wonderful people, i hope to return there someday.
Anyway if you haven't already seen this there is a documentary called ancient aliens and one of the episodes is about the Nazis black projects including they're stealth fighters/bombers and the possibility that they had created UFO or reverse engineered one.Really interesting stuff.

The rocket on the bottom right in that case looks like it's multi stage, you can tell by the second set of fins and the exhaust nozzles just below them. On second view it could even be a 3 stage rocket. There is also something that looks like a round window near the top.


On a side note look to the bottom left of the picture at the reflection of the window. It looks like a klingon bird of prey is reflected there. Just above the 4.7.11 text.