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German-born Ernest (Ernst) Loebell (1902-1979), engineer and rocket designer, was a graduate of Breslau and Oldenburg universities. In Berlin and later New York, Loebell was employed as a mechanical engineer for Otis Elevator Company. He moved to Cleveland in 1930 and worked for White Motor Company and Lear, Inc. In Ohio, he helped organize the Cleveland Rocket Society, which between 1933 and 1938 sought to develop a liquid fueled engine that could power a stratospheric rocket across the Atlantic. Six rocket motors were built and were tested on an estate outside of Cleveland. One of the Society's rocket models was displayed at the Paris International Exposition of 1937. The Cleveland Rocket Society folded in 1938 due to lack of funds.
NASM.XXXX.0754
Loebell, Ernst, 1902-1979
bulk 1933-1966
Ernst Loebell, Gift
0.2 Cubic feet ((2 boxes))
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of a nine by eleven inch scrapbook containing newspaper accounts of the activities and experiments of the Cleveland Rocket Society and of speaking engagements of Ernst Loebell, several black and white photographs of Loebell and his rockets, a binder entitled "Personal History of Ernest Loebell," a binder of Ernest Loebell's lectures and documents and correspondence relating to his career and to the Cleveland Rocket Society.
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Ernst Loebell Collection, Accession number XXXX-0754, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Rocketry
Astronautics
Space flight
Cleveland Rocket Society
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Photographic prints
Lectures
Articles