He also was a civil servant in the Reich Aviation Ministry with the rank of Ministerialdirigent and an SA-Brigadeführer in the Nazi Party paramilitary organization, the Sturmabteilung (SA).

After attending the local Gymnasium and obtaining his Abitur, he studied mathematics and sciences at Heidelberg University from 1927 to 1928, and mechanical engineering and aircraft-construction at the Technical College of Karlsruhe (today, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) from 1928 to 1933.

He was active in the National Socialist German Students' League and was awarded a doctorate in engineering from Karlsruhe in 1939.

[1] He was an assistant to Professor Töpfer, who held the chair of aircraft construction at Karlsruhe.

[4] He entered the Reich Aviation Ministry in January 1937, where he became a personal adjutant to Reichsminister Hermann Göring.