Operation Paperclip

Operation Paperclip was the codename under which the US intelligence and military services extracted scientists from Germany, during and after the final stages of World War II. The project was originally called Operation Overcast, and is sometimes also known as Project Paperclip. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/ch1-3.htm

Related Topics:
Codename - Germany - World War II

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Of particular interest were scientists specialising in aerodynamics and rocketry (such as those involved in the V-1 V-2 projects), chemical weapons, chemical reaction technology and medicine. These scientists and their families were secretly brought to the United States, without State Department review and approval; their service for Hitler's Third Reich also disqualified them from officially obtaining visas. An aim of the operation was capturing equipment before the Soviets came in. The US Army destroyed some of the German equipment to prevent it from being captured by the advancing Soviet Army.

Related Topics:
Aerodynamics - Rocketry - V-1 - V-2 - Chemical weapons - Chemical reaction - State Department - Visas - US Army - Soviet Army

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The majority of the scientists, numbering almost 500, were deployed at White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico, Fort Bliss, Texas and Huntsville, Alabama to work on guided missile and ballistic missile technology. This in turn led to the foundation of NASA and the US ICBM program.

Related Topics:
White Sands Proving Ground - New Mexico - Fort Bliss, Texas - Huntsville, Alabama - Guided missile - Ballistic missile - NASA - ICBM

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Much of the information surrounding Operation Paperclip is still classified.

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Separate from Paperclip was an even-more-secret effort to capture German nuclear secrets, equipment and personnel (Operation Alsos). Another American project (TICOM) gathered German experts in cryptography.

Related Topics:
Nuclear - Operation Alsos - TICOM

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The United States Bureau of Mines employed seven German synthetic fuel scientists in a Fischer-Tropsch chemical plant in Missouri Louisiana in 1946. http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/primary_documents/presentations/ft_ww2/ft_ww2_slide33.htm

Related Topics:
United States Bureau of Mines - Fischer-Tropsch

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