American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe’s Secrets PDF
Preview American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe’s Secrets
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-WulfTragedy [] . 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]
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