The Opel-RAK 1 car, with Kurt Volkhart at the wheel
A series of rocket powered cars and planes commissioned and, in some cases, driven or piloted, by Fritz von Opel, of the Opel car company, in association with others, including Max Valier and Wilhelm Sander. The Opel-RAK 1, the world's first rocket-propelled car was driven by Kurt C. Volkhart to a top speed of 75 km/h (47 mph) on Mar. 15, 1928. Less than two months later, he reached a speed of 230 km/hr (143 mph) in the RAK.2, driven by 24 solid-rockets. On May 23 of that year, he reached a speed of 230 km/h (143 mph) in an improved version, the RAK 2, driven by 24 solid-rockets.
Later that same year, von Opel purchased a sailplane named the Ente (German for "duck") from Alexander Lippisch and attached rocket motors to it, creating the world's first rocket plane on June 11. The aircraft exploded on its second
The Opel-RAK 2, driven by Fritz von Opel
test-flight, before von Opel had a chance to pilot it himself, so he commissioned a new aircraft from Julius Hatry, and flew it at Frankfurt-am-Main on September 30, 1929. This plane is also known as the Opel-RAK 1, or, alternatively, as the Opel-Hatry RAK 1 or Opel-Sander RAK 1 in acknowledgement of its builder or the supplier of its engines respectively. In still other references it is called the RAK 3 to distinguish it from Opel's previous RAK 1 and RAK 2 rocket cars. As it happened, all three names, Opel, Sander, and Hatry were painted on the aircraft (with Opel’s most prominent), as was the RAK 1 designation. The RAK 1 had a sailplane wing, under which a pod was suspended to house the pilot and 16 Sander black powder rockets. The tailplane was mounted on booms behind the wing and up out of the way of the rocket exhaust. Opel successfully piloted it over 1.5 km (1 mile) in 75 seconds of flight, but landed hard, damaging the aircraft beyond repair. Opel planned to build a second rocket plane, but apparently lost interest before the project was completed. In the meantime, another mishap had claimed the RAK 3, a rocket powered railway car powered by 30 solid rockets, which reached a speed of 254 km/h (157 mph).
