Hanna Reitsch

[Joe Varo]

Henry Musikar wrote:

> [...] 
> "Daredevil pilot Hanna Reitsch was the first woman to test a rocket
> plane, the Messerschmitt Me163, and may be the only person to have
> 'traveled' for in-flight observation in a test model of the V1-V2
> rockets.
> [...]

Henry,

A few days or so ago I mentioned having seen the movie "Operation
Crossbow" which dealt with the German WWII rocket development program.

In this movie there was a character named "Hannah" who was an engineer
working on the V-1. According to the movie, the Germans were having
problems with the V-1 staying on course -- it kept veering to the right.

What the Germans did was to put a cockpit in the V-1, insert a pilot,
launch him and see what he could determine.

Eventually (again, according to the movie) this "Hannah" had to get into
the V-1, determine that it was out of trim, take manual control of the
rocket and land it safely, after several male pilots had crashed and
burned.

Joe