After graduating with distinction, Gerhard Eggers joined the Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG in Dessau in 1936 as a test engineer. He soon became chief scientific assistant to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heinrich Hertel, the company’s head of development and technical board member.
Projects
Eggers contributed to the development of major projects, with emphases on aerodynamics, structural analysis and rocket propulsion:
- Ju 87 (“Stuka”) – dive bomber
- Ju 86 – including high-altitude versions with a fully glazed pressurised cabin
- Ju 288 and Ju 252
- Ju 248 (“Super-Komet”) – rocket aircraft
Connection with Heinrich Hertel
The collaboration with Heinrich Hertel shaped Eggers’ entire career. Decades later, after Hertel’s death in December 1982, Eggers wrote the obituary for his former chief, honouring him as a personality who „gediegene Fachkenntnis, Phantasie, Optimismus, Humor, Tatendrang, Ausdauer und Führungseigenschaften in seltener Harmonie vereinigte“ (“united solid expertise, imagination, optimism, humour, drive, perseverance and leadership qualities in rare harmony”). The obituary is documented in the publication series of the Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics of TU Berlin (ILR-Mitteilung 55).
End of the war
In 1944 the family was evacuated to Gernrode. With the collapse of 1945 the work in Dessau ended; aviation engineers no longer had prospects in Germany. Not wanting to go to the USA or the Soviet Union, Eggers chose France.
Next station: France: SNECMA (1946–1959)