Kummersdorf is the name of an estate near Luckenwalde, around 25 km south of Berlin, in the Brandenburg region of Germany. Until 1945 Kummersdorf hosted the weapon office of the German Army which ran a development centre for future weapons as well as an artillery range. Early history In 1871, the Prussian ministry of war decided to move the artillery test range at Tegel to the Kummersdorf Forest. The new range became operational on 15 October 1875 when it was connected with the Royal Prussian Military Railway. In 1880, the first firing experiments took place on the 12 km southeast-northwest firing range. These experiments investigated the effectiveness of various fortifications, and the effects of weapons and projectiles. Total size of the Kummersdorf Firing Range was 878.1 hectares. In 1913, the dropping of bombs from the LZ 13 Hansa airship and Wright biplanes was investigated. In the 1920s, secret development started in the areas of artillery, armored forces, motor vehicles, signals technology and aviation. On 21 September 1933, Hitler visited for the first time. Aircraft and rocket history In 1929, the German Minister of National Defense undertook research into the use of rocket propulsion for military purposes, and responsibility for rocket development was assigned to the Ballistics Branch of the Army Weapons Department. Walter Dornberger joined that branch in 1930. They built a test stand for liquid-propellant rockets, Experimental Station West, at Kummersdorf in December 1932. Dornberger, Walter Riedel, and Wernher von Braun tested their first rocket motor on 21 December, using liquid oxygen and 75% ethyl alcohol. Arthur Rudolph joined the organization, and work started on the Aggregate 1 (A-1), which was to be a complete missile, but then development moved on to the A-2. They used a wind tunnel to determine stable flight configurations, starting from zero through to supersonic speeds. In December 1934, the first two A2s were successfully launched from the North Sea island of Borkum. The first casualties in rocket development occurred in March 1934, when Dr. Wahmke and 2 assistants were killed, and another assistant was injured. A propellant fuel tank exploded, while experimenting with mixing 90% hydrogen peroxide and alcohol, before combustion. In 1935, work commenced on using rocket motors to power aircraft. In 1936, a rocket motor was installed in tail of a Heinkel He 112, with 90 seconds worth of fuel. Flight tests (now also supported by the Luftwaffe) were carried out