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Ob.Ltn. ‘Rudi’ Opitz - WW2 ME163 Test Pilot and his Tutima wristwatches

Rocket Interceptor ME163B Komet during take off

Andy Leftley, Time World Services Ltd. - UK

Joe R Anderson - USA

Michael & Martin Opitz - USA

 

June 2022

Ob.Ltn. ‘Rudi’ Opitz - WW2 ME163 Test Pilot and his Tutima wristwatches

Paul Rudolf Opitz


Born: 08/09/1910 in Landeshut, Germany


Died aged 01/05 2010 aged 99 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA 


Rudi Opitz is one of Germany’s most famous test pilots. Because of post-World War I aviation restrictions, he began his flying career in gliders. Born in 1910, he built his own glider in 1934 and soon was an instructor at Germany’s famous Wasserkuppe flying school. Three years later he became involved in test flying and piloted many of Alexander Lippisch’s glider and tailless aircraft. 


With the start of World War II, he was drafted by compulsory induction into the Luftwaffe as a glider instructor and, on 10 May 1940, flew in the pre-dawn raid on the Belgian fort of Eben Emael–reportedly the strongest fortification in the world. In a matter of minutes, this first-ever use of military gliders in combat secured the fort and two strategic bridges over the Albert Canal, thus paving the way for the German blitzkrieg into the low countries. 


After this mission, Rudi resumed his test pilot duties and was assigned to the top-secret Project X, a program to develop the world’s first operational rocket interceptor–the Me-163 Komet. This aircraft was a tailless design that soon shattered all existing speed and time-to-climb records. Carrying only 7 to 8 minutes of rocket propellant, it was designed to take-off and intercept high-flying bomber formations.


After attacking with its two 30-mm cannons at speeds approaching 600 mph, the Me-163 became a glider and demanded extraordinary skills to relocate the field and safely land on the first pass. 


As chief test pilot, Rudi flew the Komet with its highly volatile rocket fuel and survived numerous near-fatal crashes. At the end of the war, he was Commander of the Second Group of JG 400, an Me-163 equipped fighter wing. 


Following World War II, he went to the USA as part of Operation ‘Paperclip’ to work as an engineer and test pilot at Wright Field, Ohio. In this capacity, he participated in development and flight testing of rigid tow equipment to make it possible to tow cargo gliders under instrument flight conditions. 


Rudi was by now a US citizen, retired following a 20-year career as a test pilot with Avco-Lycoming Company. Still active in soaring, he had over 9,000 hours of flight time with more than 5,000 dead-stick landings.


During his career Rudi was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class for the glider raid on 10 May 1940. He was awarded the German Cross in Gold (DKG) for his flight test work on the Me 163. Notably, this was one of only two DKG's awarded for non combat operations.


Rudi finished the war with the rank of Hauptmann. 

Ob.Ltn. ‘Rudi’ Opitz - WW2 ME163B Test Pilot and his Tutima wristwatches

 

I have recently had two very interesting watches in my workshop which originally belonged to Ob.Ltn. Paul Rudolf Opitz -  one of the key figures involved in the development of the ME163 rocket interceptor aircraft during WW2.

 

Joe Anderson in the USA has been a passionate collector of Hanhart and Tutima watches for many years and he sent me watch No.203947 for research work we were doing in January 2022.  Joe had purchased the watch ten years previously from a seller in the USA. The seller had himself purchased the watch from a small USA auction house where the watch was sold in a group lot of old mainly broken watches for very little money

 

The watch has the name Ob.Ltn. Opitz inscribed on the inside of the case back.

 

In parallel with me examining the watch in detail to find the date on the rear of the dial Joe and myself began researching the fascinating career of Rudi Opitz and his participation as a Test Pilot in the development of the ME163B.

Joe Anderson was able to contact Michael and Martin Opitz who are the sons of Rudi Opitz. Both sons live in the USA.

 

Joe’s enquiries to Michael & Martin led to them searching through stored furniture, belongings and paperwork inherited from their Father to try and find missing paperwork relating to his career.

 

During the search a second Tutima watch (No.207406) belonging to their father was found.

 

Michael & Martin are active glider pilots themselves and decided that they would like the watch to be restored to working order so that it could once again return to the skies as a fitting tribute to their father.

 

I will next give details and pics of the two watches starting with the first watch - No.203947 owned by Joe Anderson :-

Details of watch No.203947 (owned by Joe Anderson)

Description: Glashütte Tutima chronograph military wristwatch Number: 203947

Diameter (ex crown): 38.5mm

Movement: Urofa Cal.59

Date: 1943

Case: Nickel plating over brass

This watch was partially dismantled in my workshop in order that I could view the information on the back of the dial. While the watch was dismantled I took the opportunity to carry out a lubrication service.

 

W+B refers to the dial manufacturing company Weber & Baral, Westl. Karl-Friedrich Strasse, 91-93, Pforzheim, Germany. These premises were completely destroyed in February 1945 by RAF and USAF bombing raids.

 

The date 19.2.43 refers to the date on which the dial itself was manufactured.

 

The significance of the code ST 8 is not yet fully understood but is thought to probably be a contract or batch number reference.

Details of watch No.207406 (found by Michael & Martin Opitz) :-

Description: Glashütte Tutima chronograph military wristwatch Number: 207406

Diameter (ex crown): 38.5mm

Movement: Urofa Cal.59

Date: Late 1943 / 1944

Case: Nickel plating over brass

Photos of watch No. 207406 as found by Michael & Martin Opitz amongst their Father’s possessions :-

As can be seen from the above photos the watch needed cleaning, repair and servicing when found.

 

One pusher cap was missing and it was evident that the watch had been used for some considerable time with the cap missing.

 

The original glass had been forced forward out of engagement with the case and was jammed in the bezel.

 

The watch was completely dismantled and all parts cleaned and inspected prior to reassembly and lubrication.

 

A used original replacement pusher and glass were also fitted.

Watch number 207406 on completion of work :-

Michael Opitz with the watch about to soar into the skies once again :-

By Michael & Martin Opitz :-

My brother Martin and I had never really spoken to Dad about his wartime watch(es). We knew that the one which he wore until it became unusable in the late 1960's was his wartime watch, but not much else about it. 

 

When Joe Anderson contacted us about having a watch (#1) with what appears to be Dad's signature inside the case back, we initially thought that ours might be missing. Upon searching around, we found the watch (#2) that we are familiar with stored in a small box in Dad's old desk. Upon consulting with Andy and Joe, it was determined that our watch (#2) has a serial number indicating a manufacture date of late 1943 – early 1944. The serial number on Joe's watch (#1) dates to earlier in 1943 and the dial back has the date 19th February 1943, so Martin and I started trying to piece things together.

 

Dad's occupations as a test pilot, and as a combat glider pilot, both basically required that he would have an accurate wristwatch with stopwatch capabilities at his disposal. What watches he wore from when he was first drafted into the Luftwaffe as an instructor for combat glider operations in November of 1939 until he first acquired watch #1 is pure conjecture at this point, but my guess is that he probably went through several of them due to being in several accidents / incidents along the way. During the first half of 1943, he was involved in flight testing several different aircraft. It appears by virtue of the serial number / production date of watch #1 that he acquired this watch during that time period. His signature actually changed fairly significantly over time, but the inscription inside the watch case back seems to match up at about ~80% (in my own personal opinion) to several of his signatures that we have on hand from that time period. We also need to take into account that when our Father put his name into the watch case he was writing his name rather than putting his signature and the confined space inside the case back was restrictive.

 

We think that the following photo of our Father at a wedding is of the correct period for him to be wearing watch No.1 :-

By the beginning of August 1943, the British had discovered the Peenemünde rocket test center and had bombed it. In order to prevent any further disruption of Me 163 operations, it was decided to disperse the fleet and move some Me 163s. On 18 August 1943, Dad was tasked with flying an Me 163a (with a known inoperative hydraulic landing skid) to the nearby bomber base at Anklam. Unfortunately, the bombers there had left deep ruts in the grass runway so that while Dad had made a smooth landing, the Me 163a started getting bounced by the the ground ruts. This set up a harmonic slapping effect as the Me 163a was slowing down. The slapping got harder and more violent as the velocity of the aircraft slowed down. At that time, there was no spring in the seat in order to mitigate these forces, so the hard slapping concentrated directly on Dad's spine thereby cracking a couple of vertebrae in his back. The end result was that he was relegated to bed rest for 8-10 weeks at the Anklam airport clinic while his back healed. Dad tolerated this regimen for a few weeks until he decided that he could be on bed rest back in Peenemünde while also supervising further Me 163 flight testing from a bed in the clinic there. The Anklam staff would not release him, so he “appropriated” a Fieseler Storch mail plane (while its crew went inside for lunch), and flew himself back to Peenemünde.

 

In pulling this stunt, he left the clinic clad in just his hospital gown while holding a few pillows which he needed to pad the Storch seat because of his back. He left all of his clothes, etc back at the Anklam clinic. We believe that he may have also left watch #1 there with his clothes. When the Anklam clinic discovered what he had done, they were furious and told him not to come back, so he never went back to retrieve his belongings. Presumably, someone at Anklam wound up with watch #1, with that watch somehow coming into the hands of US forces and eventually making its way to PA, USA. We presume that Dad then bought watch #2 in late 1943 – early 1944 to replace watch #1. He was back on flying status by November 1943, so he would have needed to have a watch by that time as a minimum. He did have a very bad wreck on 25 April 1945, and then another one in Dec 1965 – both while wearing watch #2. Those two wrecks probably account for a significant amount of the damage that watch #2 sustained over the many years that he wore it.

 

 

Here are two post war photos of our Father where he is wearing watch No.2 :-

Martin and I were very happy to find Andy as he is very experienced in repairing these Tutima watches. It provided us with the chance to have the watch restored to a good working condition again after all of these intervening years. We think that Dad did not have it repaired because he didn't know who would have the requisite knowledge and expertise to repair it as opposed to damage it further than it already was, so he just left it as it was. We are sure that he would have been happy to see us put the watch back into its rightful place in the air once again once we got it back from Andy.

 

Michael & Martin Opitz

June 2022

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