[3] In 1915 during World War I, he joined the German army and was wounded in action the following year, leading to a lengthy hospitalisation.

After his recovery, he studied as a machinist at the Danzig technical college and found a job at Junkers.

On 14 March 1931 at 4:45 pm, he launched the Hückel-Winkler I (HW-I) at the Gross Kühnau drill field near Dessau.

Eighteen months after the HW-I flight, Winkler launched the HW-II on 6 October 1932[3] in a public demonstration, which included invited officials from the Königsberg council.

Winkler designed a number of other rockets and JATO units for Junkers and then a government aviation research institute, but none left the drawing board.