American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe’s Secrets

513 Pages·2004·4.33 MB·English

AMERICAN
RAIDERS
ALSO BY WOLFGANG W. E. SAMUEL
German Boy
A Refugee’s Story
I Always Wanted to Fly
America’s Cold War Airmen
The War ofOur Childhood
Memories ofWorld War II
AMERICAN
THE RACE TO CAPTURE THE LUFTWAFFE’S SECRETS
RAIDERS
WOLFGANG W. E. SAMUEL
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI / JACKSON
Publication ofthis book was made possible
through the support ofDudley J.Hughes.
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press ofMississippi is a member ofthe
Association ofAmerican University Presses.
Copyright © by Wolfgang W.E.Samuel
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
            
∞
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Samuel,Wolfgang W.E.
American raiders :the race to capture the Luftwaffe’s secrets / Wolfgang W.E.Samuel.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57806-649-2 (cloth :alk.paper)
1.Aeronautics,Military—Research—United States—History—20th century.2.Technology
transfer—Germany—History—20th century.3.Technology transfer—United States—History—
20th century.4.World War,1939–1945—Science.5.World War,1939–1945—Technology.I.Title.
UG643.S36 2004
940.54(cid:2)8673—dc22 2003023251
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
To my wife,Joan,and in memory
ofmy friend Stephen E.Ambrose

CONTENTS
[ix] Preface and Acknowledgments
[xv] Abbreviations
[] . The Way Things Were—
[] . The German Jets
[] . Jet Encounters
[] . The Defiant Few
[] . Colonel Harold E.Watson
[] . The st Tactical Air Force (Provisional)
[] . Organizing to Disarm the Luftwaffe
[] . Operation Lusty
[] . Solving the Japanese Riddle
[] . A Mother Lode ofAviation Technology
[] . The Secrets ofVölkenrode and Kochel
[] . The Feudin’th
[] . Watson Picks His Team
[] . Lager Lechfeld
[viii] Contents
[] . P-Jug Pilots
[] . Watson’s Whizzers
[] . The Merseburg Fan Club
[] . Project Seahorse
[] . Melun-Villaroche
[] . Roast Duck at Aalborg
[] . The Arado Caper
[] . So Far,So Good
[] . The Conquering Hero
[] . The Focke-WulfTragedy
[] . Air Shows and Air Races
[] . The Birth ofProject Overcast
[] . Project Overcast and One Man’s Experience
[] . From Overcast to Paperclip
[] . How Captain Wenzel Made American Citizens
Out ofEnemy Aliens
[] . The Way Things Changed
[] Afterword:What Became ofAll These Good Men?
[] Notes
[] Sources
[] Index
PREFACE AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
American Raiders provides a glimpse of the complex story of the dis-
armament of the Luftwaffe after its defeat in the spring of and the
exploitation of its aeronautical secrets. Disarmament and exploitation
were two distinctly separate acts executed by unique organizational enti-
ties created for those specific purposes.The umbrella plan under which
the disarmament of the Luftwaffe was implemented was Operation
Eclipse.Eclipse took over where Overlord left off,Overlord having been
the plan which provided for the invasion of Europe up to the defeat of
the enemy,while Eclipse covered the disarmament and permanent mili-
tary neutralization of Nazi Germany. For American airmen tasked to
exploit the aeronautical secrets ofthe Third Reich,Operation Lusty pro-
vided the authority, direction, and concept of operation. These two
groups,the disarmers and the exploiters,worked hand in glove,one feed-
ing the other,and by doing so ensured each other’s success.Although the
process as it unfolded was anything but orderly,they succeeded in their
respective tasks beyond anyone’s expectations.
This army of dismemberment and discovery came from varied
sources within the European theater of operations,the ETO.Combat
crew replacement squadrons, no longer needed as the war neared its
end and bomber losses diminished, were turned into disarmament
[ix]