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

Flight Journal, Apr 2005

American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe's Secrets by Wolfgang W.E. Samuels. University Press of Mississippi; 494 pages; illustrated; $35.

It became a race against time. As WW II in Europe was drawing to its inevitable close, the common belief was that the U.S. had the most modern, well-equipped air force in the world. The reality was actually quite different. Reasons vary with the historian, but the truth is that the Germans were, in many cases, years ahead in research, and their theories had been proven by some truly impressive hardware.

Forward-thinking Americans developed a possible solution to their technological backwardness: they wanted to acquire as much of this new hardware as they could for study. The task fell to engineer and test pilot Col. Harold E. Watson, who set Operation Lusty in motion.

It was soon apparent that it might be better to gather the brilliant scientists who had created the technologies in the first place. Col. Donald L. Putt rounded up German intellectuals who had made such great strides possible. His effort eventually became known as Operation Paperclip,

This amazing pursuit of knowledge is the subject of Wolfgang Samuel's new book "American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe's secrets." It is a success story, as these transplanted scientists actually helped the U.S. to go to the moon and break the sound barrier, and they provided the foundation for its civil and military aviation superiority in the postwar years. It is quite a legacy, and the story is fascinating. Well done, indeed.