Wilhelm Bretfeld was one of Germany's most creative boomerang designers. As a young boy, he set an official world record in small gliders by launching one that went 37 kilometers with a flight that exceeded 3 hours. Wilhelm became interested in boomerangs at an early age and developed his own models. Most of the early models were very large. Wilhelm was the first to discover that the secret to long boomerang flights was to have the lift arm longer than the dingle arm. In the 1970s, when the ret of the boomerang world was struggling to reach 20 seconds, Wilhelm was achieving 30-35 seconds using his early prototype MTAs. These early MTAs were very large and had no dihedral or angle of attack. Instead, they had lots of lead weights pounded into the blade tips and the undersides were scooped out to add plenty of camber. These MTAs did not climb very high. Instead, they had long duration flights because the airfoils were very efficient and the large heavily weighted blades had plenty of inertia to overcome aerodynamic drag losses. You can read more about Wilhelm Bretfeld on his Memorial web page.

This large hook from the early 1970s is a predecessor to the first MTAs. You can see that the lift arm is longer thant the dingle arm. The angle between the blades is also less than 90s. This hook, made out of 10 ply Aircraft grade Birch plywood, is expected to fly a large low circle and have plenty of hover. Be careful catching this one as it is large and has a significant amount of inertia. This hook is from the Brother Brian Thomas estate and it is in excellent condition. Bretfeld boomerangs were never sold commercially and Wilhelm did not make many boomerangs, so this one is much rarer than any Herb Smith or Al Gerhards boomerang.