GERHARD ZUCKER AND 'ROCKET MAIL'

GERHARD ZUCKER AND 'ROCKET MAIL'
GERHARD ZUCKER (1908–1985) was a German businessman and rocket engineer. He first came to public notice in 1933 when he performed several rocketry experiments in Germany and at Cuxhaven, aimed at delivery of mail by rocket. In 1934, he emigrated to the UK, where he attempted to interest the British government in his rocket. After a failed rocket demonstration for officials of the British Royal Mail on July 31, 1934, he was deported to Germany, where he was arrested on suspicion of cooperating with the British. During World War II he served in the Luftwaffe, and postwar he continued his efforts in the same field. Excellent grouping of six items signed by Zucker, includes three rocket-flown pieces of mail, all ca. 1960's and signed on the face, two commemorative postcards, one additionally signed by RUDOLPH NEBEL, a spaceflight advocate active in Germany's amateur rocket group, the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR - 'Spaceflight Society') in the 1930s and in rebuilding German rocketry following World War II, a photo of Zucker signed on verso; and various unsigned stamps. Very good.