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Copying the first comment from WSJ 'cause it's interesting: > These are known as Flettner rotors after the German engineer Anton Flettner who invented them and
by factsaresacred 8y ago
Copying the first comment from WSJ 'cause it's interesting:
> These are known as Flettner rotors after the German engineer Anton Flettner who invented them and made the first rotor sailing ship in 1924, with one sailing one across the Atlantic in 1926 - and they are not turbo sails. They have generally been in disuse as it has been deemed that the energy expended in propulsion by Flettner rotors was higher than that for propellers - perhaps it seems with modern materials, wind monitoring and computer assisted controls this has been tilted to the favor of Flettner rotors. Flettner also invented trim tabs which any large power boat operator knows very well.
> An interesting note, Flettner was considered so valuable to the Germans in WW2 that Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Gestapo saw to it that Flettner's Jewish wife was escorted to Sweden for her safety for the duration of the war.
- eanzenberg 8y ago>> An interesting note, Flettner was considered so valuable to the Germans in WW2 that Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Gestapo saw to it that Flettner's Jewish wife was escorted to Sweden for her safety for the duration of the war. That's nice and all but he still helped the nazis with military research while many of his colleagues fled, Einstein included.
- lostlogin 8y agoIt’s hard to understand, as that’s more or less moving her so he doesn’t kill her.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- eanzenberg 8y agoGreat for his fam, bad for the other 8M jews (my grandparents’ families included)
- robbiep 8y ago... so Flettner’s a bad guy? (I’ve ancestors who perished there too, you can’t lump everyone, including those involuntarially held, as this situation seems, in the same bag)