The Wagner DOWA 81. An aircraft designed for a family of 5 to escape East Germany

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great_waldini@reddit

\> Unknown to Wagner, the [Stasi](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi) was spying on him. They carried out extensive checks and created a file about him, in addition to secretly searching and [bugging](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugging) his apartment and checking his mail. At least four unofficial Stasi employees were also assigned to him. \> On July 25, 1981 at 7:00 AM, the day before the intended escape, the Stasi arrested Wagner and his family at their apartment. The family was sentenced to a total of twelve years in prison for preparing to cross the border illegally. Wagner was sent to [Brandenburg Prison](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg-G%C3%B6rden_Prison), his wife to Hoheneck Women's Prison, and their three children to the Halle Juvenile Detention Centre. A year later, in July 1982, they were considered 'unwanted', and ransomed by the West. They moved to [West Germany](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany) and settled in [Kaiserslautern](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiserslautern). Wagner established himself as an expert for packaging, while continuing to design gliders. In 2011, he was awarded the [Oskar Ursinus Prize](app://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Ursinus). Glad they ended up alright in the end

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Intergalatic_Baker@reddit

Do we know what happened to said family in Prison?

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Shaun_Jones@reddit

Apparently they were released and sent out of East Germany after a year in prison, so not too bad all things considered.

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pfp61@reddit

They were bought out of the GDR prison by West Germany.

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earl_of_lemonparty@reddit

This just shows you how desperate those people were. I've seen shittier aircraft come out of actual factories. Impressive!

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aussiekd@reddit

The real question is, did they survive the DDR prison?

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Schmantikor@reddit

The horror of the GDR stemmed less from their prisons and more from the fact that essentially the entire country was a prison and literally half the population was in some way involved in spying on their neighbours and passing on the information to the secret police.

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SinnerP@reddit

Wasn’t Putin a KGB officer working at the GDR office? And that’s why he hates the West so much.

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Schmantikor@reddit

Yes. I don't remember where I got this from so take it with a grain of salt but I think Putin was actually part of the team that supplied the RAF terrorists in West Germany with guns and stuff.

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JJohnston015@reddit

What a miserable way to live.

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Inevitable_Yak_3975@reddit

they were throw out of east germany a year after their arrest, so a bit less than a year in prison and the state decided they werent worth the trouble and went "whatever, just leave". So technically the plane did help them escape? Just not the intended way.

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2A7V@reddit

It wasn't "just leave", West Germany bought the freedom of these people. 33.755 people for 3.4 billion D-Mark.

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fullouterjoin@reddit

Sacrificial boost glider.

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UrethralExplorer@reddit

Yes, he survived prison and his family survived the detention they were sent to as well. He was alive as of 2011, still designing gliders, but since he shares a name with a physicist it's kinda hard to find out any recent info on him.

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Juulseesaar@reddit

and look, now ze plane is in the west, and survived Erich Honecker

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Hakkaa_Paalle@reddit

That plane looks much better than the helicopter three inmates secretly made at the Nevada State Prison, discovered in 1982. Supposedly, when the sections of the helicopter were ready for final assembly, the three drew straws to determine which of them would escape in the single seat helicopter. One of the two loosers then told the prison warden or staff so that the winner couldn't make the escape. After it was discovered, an expert examined the unassembled helicopter and said it likely would have flown. https://time.com/archive/6855092/law-briefs-may-17-1982/

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SkyRonin14@reddit

I'm suprised none of them ever saw the glaring flaw in that plan and decided to fix it by way other then the Honor system

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General-Piece8490@reddit

Any influencer wants to make this thing fly with 5 people for real?

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smokie12@reddit

I'm not seeing how this would fit 5 people, not even if 3 of them were children.

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Yangervis@reddit

Sit up and put your legs like a v, and the next person sits between your legs and so on and so on. Very dense way of packing people.

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JankyTime1@reddit

Nuts to butts as they say in the army

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Blah-Blah-Blah-2023@reddit

Navy too ;)

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idkarn@reddit

Nutz II Butz could have been a song/band/movie in the 90s, kinda like Boyz 2 Men, Menace II Society, Fear of a Black Hat or the Naughty by Nature album 19 Naughty III

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maxman162@reddit

Don't give WestJet any ideas.

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Viharabiliben@reddit

Spirit Airlines was going to use this seating arrangement.

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fullouterjoin@reddit

The ol CECOT transfer.

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Nausicaaah@reddit

..who's going to tell him?

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deadbeef4@reddit

Remember when WestJet were the good guys?

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Vandirac@reddit

At the time, a common way to smuggle people to the west was by hiding *inside* a car's passenger seat. They would have managed to fit...

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Shaun_Jones@reddit

There were also cases of people being smuggled inside the space where the fuel tank sits, with the car being powered by a 1-liter bottle in the engine bay.

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GamingGems@reddit

The DFS 230 glider could fit 10 fully armed troops. I guess the German engineers are masters at it. I have no doubt it could fit 2 adults and three children.

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KindAwareness3073@reddit

Ever ride a toboggan?

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JJohnston015@reddit

Look up the story of the Vietnamese air force officer who managed to fly a Bird Dog out to a US aircraft carrier with his family of 5 on board after the fall of Saigon.

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Bortron86@reddit

I love the qualifier at the beginning of the post. "Probably" one of the best... I still haven't finished my apartment plane yet, so we'll see how that ranks eventually. My cat is still working on the avionics systems.

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Rooilia@reddit

I wonder how many were made in an apartment under secrecy. Wouldn't be surprised if there were more.

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Viharabiliben@reddit

I know a dude that’s building a plane in his one car garage.

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Rooilia@reddit

Garage ≠ apartment room.

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TeslaRoadsterInSpace@reddit

I’m actually really impressed. I can’t comment on how airworthy it actually is but it looks surprisingly well built. Especially considering that it was built in secret.

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TankApprehensive3053@reddit

Or not as secret as they thought since they were arrested one day prior to flight. GDR could have been allowing it to see just how far along it would get. Once they realized it it was viable, then make the arrests. From the wiki: Unknown to Wagner, the Stasi was spying on him. They carried out extensive checks and created a file about him, in addition to secretly searching and bugging his apartment and checking his mail. At least four unofficial Stasi employees were also assigned to him.

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m00ph@reddit

Yeah, they had basically everyone informing on everyone else. Barely any telephone monitoring though.

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erhue@reddit

that was so creepy about communist Germany (not unlike other authoritarian states, but especially communist ones)... I remember that after the DDR dissolved, the information on collaborators with the regime was made public, but many people chose not to look it up since they didn't want to start hating random people in their daily lives who they'd know had been spying on them all along.

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geeiamback@reddit

This was also filed away and retrieved when needed *without* computers. It's a bit baffling from today's perspective of a digitized world to be able to do that.

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Viharabiliben@reddit

Not at all. I went through schools, including college without digitized records or computers.

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jedadkins@reddit

While this family didn't make it, a different group did escape east Germany by building a hot air balloon in a garage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany_balloon_escape

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Ivebeenfurthereven@reddit

This also reminds me of [the British POWs who attempted to break out of Colditz during WW2 by building a fully functional glider in the roof.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_Cock)

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