Anton Flettner

Anton Flettner (1 November 1885 to 29 December 1961) was a German-American aviation engineer and inventor, born in Eddersheim, today a district of Hattersheim am Main. He made important contributions to airplane, helicopter, vessel and automobile designs. After attending the Fulda State Teachers College he was the village teacher in Pfaffenwiesbach from 1906 to 1909 and then taught high school mathematics and physics in Frankfurt, where he developed ideas that would assist Germany in the First World War. He developed a new method of harnessing the wind, the Flettner rotor ship, which could permit ocean liners to reduce their crews by two thirds and save 90 percent in fuel. Having served Germany in both World Wars, he emigrated to the United States after the Second World War as a consultant to the Office of Naval Research of the United States Navy.