The Schriever-Habermohl Project(s)
The best known of these projects is usually referred to as the
Schriever-Habermohl project although it is by no means clear that
these were the individuals in charge of the project. Rudolf
Schriever was an engineer and test pilot. Less is known about
Otto Habermohl but certainly he was an engineer. This project
was centered in Prag, at the Prag-Gbell airport (l)(2). Actual
construction work began somewhere between 1941 and 1943 (3)(4).
This was originally a Luftwaffe project which received technical
assistance from the Skoda Works at Prag and at a Skoda division
at Letov (5) and perhaps elsewhere (6). Other firms
participating in the project according to Epp were the Junkers
firm at Oscheben and Bemburg, the Wilhelm Gustloff firm at Weimar
and the Kieler Leichtbau at Neubrandenburg (7). This project
started as a project of the Luftwaffe, sponsored by second-incommand, Ernst Udet. It then fell under the control of Speer's
Armament Ministry at which time it was administered by engineer
Georg Klein. Finally, probably sometime in 1944, this project
came under the control of the SS, specifically under the purview
of General Hans Kammler (8).
According to his own words, Georg Klein saw this device fly on
February 14, 1945 (9). This may have been the first official
flight, but it was not the first flight made by this device.
According to one witness, a saucer flight occurred as early as
August or September of 1943 at this facility. The eyewitness was
in flight-training at the Prag-Gbell facility when he saw a short
test flight of such a device. He states that the saucer was 5 to
6 meters in diameter (about 15 to 18 feet in diameter) and about
as tall as a man, with an outer border of 30-40 centimeters. It
was "aluminum" in color and rested on four thin, long legs. The
flight distance observed was about 300 meters at low level of one
meter in altitude. The witness was 200 meters from the event and
one of many students there at the time (10).
Joseph Andreas Epp, an engineer who served as a consultant to
both the Schriever-Habermohl and the Miethe-Belluzzo projects,
states that fifteen prototypes were built in all (11) (12). The
final device associated with Schriever-Habermohl is described by
engineer Rudolf Lusar who worked in the German Patent Office, as
a central cockpit surrounded by rotating adjustable wing-vanes
forming a circle. The vanes were held together by a band at the
outer edge of the wheel-like device. The pitch of the vanes
could be adjusted so that during take off more lift was generated
by increasing their angle from a more horizontal setting. In
level flight the angle would be adjusted to a smaller angle.
This is similar to the way helicopter rotors operate. The wingvanes were to be set in rotation by small rockets placed around
the rim like a pinwheel. Once rotational speed was sufficient,
lift-off was achieved. After the craft had risen to some height
the horizontal jets or rockets were ignited and the small rockets
shut off (13). After this the wing-blades would be allowed to
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