Alfred Finzel Collection

Alfred Johannes Finzel was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1916. In 1939 he received a B.S. Degree in Mechanocal eEngineering from the Technical College of Leipzig Germany. Following graduation, he joined the German army but was injured on the eastern front and went into engineering at Peenemunde. During his time at peenemunde Finzel worked as a Rocket Design Engineer in the German Rocket Research Center. In 1945 Finzel moved with Werhner Von Braun's team to Munich, then later that year leaving Germany for the United States. From 1945 to 1951 Finzelworked as a Guided Missile Design Engineer with the Ordinance Corps in Research and Development at Fort Bliss, Texas and later Huntsville, Alabama. From July 1951 toDecember 1956 he served as the Chief of Structures Laboratory secion at Redstone Arsenal.From 1962 to 1973 Finzel worked as an aerospace engineer with NASA and the Marshall Spaec Flight Center. During this time he served as a key assistant and technical advisor to the Assoicate Director for Engineering. Finzel would retire in 1974 and pass away in 1984.

At Peenemunde Finzel worked on layout, stress calculation, and design of various rocket motors during the development of the V-2 powerplant. Finzel was also responsible for the design and development of the fuel containers for the V-2 missiles. During his time at NASA, Finzel was responsible for comprehensive engineering analysis, investigations, and evaluations pertaining to program systems and subsystems.