Dampfstrahl Antrieb Flugscheibe

DAMPFSTRAHL ANTRIEB FLUGSCHEIBE

(1945)

By Rob Arndt

During the last year of the war as the SS investigated various propulsion systems for further disc development apart from the established SS E-IV Vril and Haunebu types, a rather odd proposal was put forth for a hybrid chemical reaction turbine and electromagnetic ringed disc combination known as the “Dampfstrahl Antrieb” Flugscheibe (Steamjet Motor Flight Disc).

This type of disc would utilize a complex chemical engine to drive an even more complex EM field propulsion generator. The type considered by the SS was a variation of the Walter turbine engine which was tested on the V80 and Type XVII submarines and were to be installed on some types of the latter German submarine designs such as the futuristic Type XVIII and XXVI U-boats.

Type XVII experimental Walter boat being scrapped in 1945

The complex Walter process involved a closed circuit system activated by the thermal energy produced by the decomposition of a high concentration of hydrogen peroxide. This reaction occurred in the presence of a catalyst, potassium permanganate, in a decomposition chamber. This resulted in a 600-700 degree gas composed of steam and oxygen, under natural pressure sufficient to drive a turbine. After the gas had done its work, it was fed into a reclamation chamber which recycled at least part of the gas back into the engine.

Additional fuel, such as methanol, could be fed into the system for more heat. The system without additional fuel is called a "cold" system while with added fuel it becomes a "hot" system. In fact, the cold system was used on the V-2 rocket to drive the turbo-fuel pumps since known pumps could not handle the volume of liquid necessary to feed this new type of rocket.

So the technology for this hybrid disc had already been available and established with only the need for the SS E-IV unit to find a way to combine the two technologies properly for sustained flight of a disc-type craft.

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF THE DAMPFSTRAHL ANTRIEB FLUGSCHEIBE

  1. Plexiglas pilot's cabin.
  2. Crew rooms
  3. Intake air slots (hermetically sealed in space).
  4. Vacuum ring retainers with high-performance vacuum pumps.
  5. Lifting and steering jets connected to the Walter turbine system.

6. Walter turbines and electric generators with connected machine maintenance rooms.

7. Disc rotor wheel, rotating clockwise.

8. Electromagnet outer ring rotating counter-clockwise.

9. Disc wheel, inner part of the electromagnet outer ring.

10. Segmented disc-rotor and wing screw with adjustable flight blades.

11. Axis of saucer with
      (a) two electric motors to drive the counter rotating disc motors: electro-gravitation plant,
      (b) various electrical connections,
      (c) fuel and water tanks.

12. Connection shaft between pilot's cabin and machine room.

In the Dampfstrahl Antrieb Flugscheibe the cold system theoretically drives a rotor-stator arrangement which doubles as a blade lifting wing similar to that of a helicopter. The rotor-stator-blade is internally housed in the cowling of the disc. The output of the rotor-stator is a strong magnetic field which presumably frees the disc of the constraints of gravity as claimed for the other SS field propulsion Flugscheiben. In addition, spaces within the disc have all air removed by special vacuum pumps which increases the buoyancy of the craft within the atmosphere. Furthermore, some of the hot oxygen-steam mixture is jetted out at the periphery of the disc while being mixed with methanol for additional heat and thrust.

INDEX

While the SS experimented with one hybrid chemical turbine engine with the WNF Feuerball program, it was decided to replace that with a flattened turbojet type as a more realistic alternative under wartime pressures of material consumption and man-hours of construction. The latter manned Zeppelin Werke Kugelblitz disc fighter might have used a form of a chemical turbine but was strictly not a field propulsion disc.

Since the SS was pre-occupied with further development of the Vril and Haunebu discs and deployment of the WNF Feuerball weapons, with technology transfers to Japan, no serious work could be performed on the Dampfstrahl Antrieb Flugscheibe.

It remained in the design stage in 1945.