Franz Philipp Rumored Solar Powered Flight

He served in the same unit as served in the same unit as Adolf Hitler, during World War 1. Because of this connection it was easy to for Philipp’s to get Hitler’s help for his projects.

One of the most bizarre designs built by the Nazis were craft which were powered by sunlight, in 1934. He understood that sunlight could be converted into power, which he believed could power a device similar to a rocket engine, by converting its energy. It is highly unlikely that any of these designs would work.

It is rumored that he came up with multiple designs as well, including names like Sonnenflieger (Sun Flyer), Greif (Griffon), FRALI-1, and FRALI-6.

None of Philip’s work in solar powered flight ever came to fruition, and he was later tasked with working on microwaved powered weapons.
At the end of World War Two Franz Philipp was captured, in Berlin, by the Soviets, luckily Philipps was a multilingual person. It’s rumored that he worked as a camp screener for the Soviets and turned away many prominent Germany scientist to prevent the Soviets from getting their secret technologies. Unfortunately, it’s said Franz Philipp was then sent to work on the Soviets version of the microwave weapon as well.

Not much is known about Franz Philipp or his work, but it shows how exotic the nature of the Nazi scientific studies where.

Later on, NASA and other space travel companies would come up with other means of space travel, which utilize sunlight. One concept is solar sails, while the other is the use of ionic propulsion, powered by solar panels.