Anton Flettner (November 1, 1885 – December 29, 1961) was a German aviation engineer and inventor. Born in Eddersheim (today a district of Hattersheim am Main), Flettner made important contributions to airplane, helicopter, vessel, and automobile designs. After serving Germany in both World Wars, Anton Flettner emigrated to the United States post World War II as a consultant to the office of Naval Research at the United States Navy. Anton Flettner attended the Fulda State Teachers College in Fulda, Germany. He was the village teacher in Pfaffenwiesbach from 1906 to 1909. Flettner subsequently taught high school mathematics and physics in Frankurt, where he developed ideas that would assist Germany in World War I. Flettner revolutionized the art of harnessing the wind, used essentially in an unaltered form for thousands of years—the canvas sail—by a modern machine—the Flettner Rotor ship—that could permit ocean liners to reduce their crews by two-thirds and save 90 percent in fuel. World War I From 1914 to 1918 Anton Flettner worked at the German Ministry for War in the development of remote controls for air, water, and land vehicles. While employed under the aegis of Graf Zeppelin, Flettner also developed pilotless aircraft projects. At the age of 29, Flettner presented his first invention, a steerable torpedo, to the Kriegsmarine (German Imperial Navy) of World War I. This, and his next invention, a remote-controlled combat car, which was presented to the Heer (German Army), were rejected because they were not considered to be technically feasible. However, Flettner's efforts culminated in the prototype Siemens Schuckert Werke 1000 kg wire guided air to surface missile of 1918. During World War I, Flettner developed the servo tab / anti-servo tab. The servo tab evolved into the "trim tab" which is still in use on all airplanes and many large vessels. Trim tabs are extremely useful in moving large rudders on vessels with vastly reduced power. Savonius collaboration In 1923, Finnish architect Sigurd Johannes Savonius took interest in Flettner's rotor ship, and the two began a collaboration. By the next year, the architect had invented the Savonius wind turbine, and by 1930 had patented a ventilation device based on the wind turbine. The patent was later acquired by Flettner's firm Flettner Ventilator Limited, which still manufactures modern versions of the device in Britain. It has been widely used on buses, vans, boats, railroad cars, campervans, and trucks to assist cooling in