Science and the Swastika - The Wrong Stuff

During the Second World War, the Nazi Government invested in medical research of issues pertaining to flying. New planes were developed which were able to fly faster than the speed of sound, but the high-altitude issue was problematic. Dr Sigmund Rascher, conducted high -altitude experiments on prisoners at Dachau in order to find the answers to questions like: what happens to the human body at 21 km altitude? What happens when planes compressed with air explode in battle? How much time does a pilot have before he loses consciousness? When should he open the parachute? Most of the experiments were dangerous and most of the prisoners died after losing consciousness. Later Dr Rascher switched to hypothermia experiments. Prisoners were put in a tank of cold water and then checked for bodily reactions. After the war some of the German doctors who undertook these unethical experiments on the prisoners were brought to trial in “The Doctors Trial” in Nuremberg. But some moved to the US and were accepted as doctors by the American Medical Profession. Includes experts commentary, archival footage documenting the test flight of the ME-163 plane, a German pilot during the experiment of thin air, and photographs showing the experiments on the prisoners in Dachau.