Hans Amtmann

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Hans Henry Amtmann (October 15, 1906 – February 20, 2007) was a German aircraft designer who later became an American engineer. He is best known for his wartime work at Hamburger Flugzeugbau, a Blohm & Voss subsidiary, where he served as Head of Preliminary Design.

Amtmann was born in Sande near Hamburg, Germany. He studied naval architecture and aeronautics and began his career at Junkers in Dessau, working on wings and early aviation innovations. He then moved to Heinkel to work on the He 70, before joining Hamburger Flugzeugbau in 1934 under Richard Vogt. He stayed there until 1945, contributing to many advanced, unconventional ideas.

In 1941 he received the War Merit Cross for his aircraft work. He led the design of the BV 237 dive-bomber project and managed the P 200 long-range flying boat for Deutsche Luft Hansa.

When World War II ended, Hamburger Flugzeugbau was closed. Amtmann moved to the United States in 1946 as part of Operation Paperclip. At Wright Field he worked on a prone-pilot bed for pilots, testing it in a Boeing B-17 and later in a Lockheed F-80E. He also helped develop a helmet ejection shield and a flying fuel-tank system.

His family joined him in the U.S. around 1948–1950, and he became a U.S. citizen in 1949. In 1951 he left government work to join Consolidated Vultee (later Convair) in San Diego, working on the Atlas ICBM and other projects, including a four-engined seaplane concept.

In 1961 Amtmann joined General Atomic and worked on the Orion space propulsion system, which used controlled nuclear explosions to push a spacecraft, as well as atomic-powered gas turbines. He later worked for a fusion-energy company until it closed in 1984, when he retired.

Amtmann published his memoirs in 1988, The Vanishing Paperclips: America's Aerospace Secret – a Personal Account. He appeared in the 1995 documentary The Last Days of World War II. He died on February 20, 2007, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at age 100. He was married to Margret Amtmann (1934–2004) and had four children. He also played the violin in a local orchestra.