Back in the early 1900s, Fritz von Opel, grandson of Opel founder Adam Opel, was enamored with rocket propulsion. As the company's director of testing and the man in charge publicity, Opel had ...

Fritz von Opel celebrates a run in his RAK-2 rocket car in Berlin on May 23, 1928. He had the original black-and-white image colorized. This may sound familiar: One of the world’s richest men ...

Fritz von Opel (right with white coat) preparing the RAK-3 rail vehicle near Kleinburgwedel (Image: CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-06123) ...

This may sound familiar: One of the world’s richest men—also a charismatic figure skilled at public relations—starts his own privately funded automobile and rocket business, with a goal to ...

Ninety years ago, on September 30, 1929, the first-ever public rocket-powered flight was carried out by Fritz von Opel on his RAK 1. Among the first rocket planes, the flight of RAK 1 was ...

“Fritz Von Opel is about as much a Nazi as Franklin Roosevelt,” said George A. Salley, an attorney who helped the Opels. News reports suggest the effort failed and he was deported.

The lecturer was Fritz von Opel, motor magnate. Beside him stood a little racing car with two unusual accessories. In its rear it had something that looked like an exaggerated exhaust pipe.

But in June, young Fritz von Opel, sporting son of a gruff Geheimrat, sent it at a speed of 156 miles per hour over railroad tracks near Hanover. Nine-foot streaks of flame from the exploding ...