The transfer and exploitation of German air-to-air rocket and guided missile technology by the Western Allies after World War II

Abstract

During World War II, the German military-industrial complex under the national socialist regime made pioneering strides in the development of aircraft armaments for the Luftwaffe. Through the application of scientific knowledge in the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering, ballistics, aerodynamics, and rocket propulsion, German armaments manufacturers evolved aircraft cannon technology to the automatic revolving aircraft cannon, to small unguided solid propellant rockets, and by 1945 Germany was on the threshold of starting series production of the world’s first guided air-to-air missile system. Towards the conclusion of the war in Europe and in the months afterwards, the four occupying powers produced scientific and technical intelligence on these developments for the purpose of exploitation. This article provides previously unpublished details about these activities by the Western Allies – the United States, United Kingdom and France – historical events which have traditionally been overshadowed by the Allies’ transfer and exploitation of other German guided weapons, such as the V-1 and the V-2.

Keywords:

• World War II
• aircraft armaments
• technology transfer

Acknowledgements

My gratitude is extended to the staff in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, particularly Affiliate Associate Professor Graeme Johanson, who proofread the manuscript.

Notes

1 The wide scope of this article required an archival synthesis of a broad range of primary sources that are held by American, British and French repositories. These sources include American, British and French intelligence reports on German guided missile research and development during World War II; British technical reports on the examination and evaluation of captured German artefacts; bureaucratic correspondence and minutes from meetings by personnel in British government departments; contracts that were awarded by the French government to industrial firms to study and reverse engineer the technology in the X-4; progress reports by American defence contractors who were engaged on guided missile research projects after World War II; and the US War Department foreign scientist personnel dossier of Kramer (who was recruited by the US Navy after the war), which was declassified by the National Archives and Records Administration upon my request in 2018. Data on Kramer was also acquired from a technical report that is held by the Defense Technical Information Center online repository. The report was produced in 1980 by a US Navy contractor for the Office of Naval Research, and summarises the results of 19 years of experimental research that Kramer did on a topic in the field of hydrodynamics called ‘compliant coatings’, from 1957 to 1975. See the bibliography.

2 The publications of note are: La Chasse aux Savants Allemands (1944–1960) by Bar-Zohar in 1965, published in English as The Hunt for German Scientists 1944–1960 in 1967; Project Paperclip: German Scientists and the Cold War by Lasby in 1971; ‘Un aspect de la chasse aux cerveaux: les transferts de techniciens allemands en France: 1945–1949’ by Ludmann-Obier in 1986; The Paperclip Conspiracy by Bower in 1987; Science, Technology and Reparations: Exploitation and Plunder in Postwar Germany by Gimbel in 1990; Secret Agenda: The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip, 1945 to 1990 by Hunt in 1991; Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Jacobsen in 2014; Our Germans: Project Paperclip and the National Security State by Crim in 2018; and British Exploitation of German Science and Technology, 1943–1949 by Hall in 2019.

3 See Peenemünde to Canaveral by Huzel in 1962; Crossbow and Overcast by McGovern in 1964; The Rocket Team by Ordway and Sharpe in 1979; “Operation ‘Surgeon’ and Britain's Post-War Exploitation of Nazi German Aeronautics’ by Uttley in 2002; and Du V2 à Véronique. La naissance des fusées françaises by Huwart in 2005.

4 For example, see a series of five articles by Burgess that were published in Volume 184 of the British journal The Engineer in October 1947; Development of the Guided Missile by Gatland, first published in 1952; History of German Guided Missiles Development by Quick and Benecke, eds., in 1957; German Guided Missiles of the Second World War by Pocock in 1967; and German Secret Weapons of World War II: The Missiles, Rockets, Weapons, and New Technology of the Third Reich by Hogg, originally published in 2002.

5 TNA, AIR 40/1310, ‘Section IV – Part 4 – Controlled Missiles’, MAP, 7.8.1945; Davis, ‘Historical Development Summary of Automatic Cannon Caliber Ammunition: 20–30 Millimeter’, Air Force Armament Laboratory, 1984, p. 15.

6 TNA, DSIR 23/15145, CIOS report XXXII-125, ‘German Guided Missile Research’, 1945, p. 52.

7 Gatland, Development of the Guided Missile, pp. 122–123.

8 TNA, AIR 40/2874, ‘Development of Rotation-Stabilised Rockets in Aircraft’, ADI (K) Report No. 288/1945, 20.4.1945.

9 TNA, AIR 40/2162, ‘New German fighter rocket armament and “Oberon” automatic range-finding and firing procedure’, AI2(g) Report No. 1774, 28.4.1945.

10 ‘La Fusée Aérienne Allemande de 80mm’, France d’abord – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 396 4H2 5. The date of the article is unknown, although it could have been published as late as the early 1950s.

11 TNA, AVIA 40/2168, ‘Employment of Rocket Projectiles for Air-to-Air Attack by the GAF’, AI2(g) Report No. 3003, 17.7.1943; Zaloga, Operation Pointblank: Defeating the Luftwaffe, p. 16.

12 Zaloga, op cit, p. 39.

13 Simon and US Army Ordnance Department, German Scientific Establishments, p. 61; Gatland, op cit, p. 27; Boog, Krebs, and Vogel, Germany and the Second World War, Volume VII: The Strategic Air War in Europe and the War in the West and East Asia 1943–1944/5, pp. 319–320.

14 TNA, DSIR 23/17581, F. Bisby, ‘The Development of British Airborne Rockets’, RAE Report No. Arm. 208, March 1946, pp. 7 and 15–16.

15 Ibid, pp. 16–17.

16 TNA, AVIA 7/2610, ‘Homing Air-to-Air Weapon. Notes of Informal Discussion held at M.A.P. Friday, October 27 1944’; ibid, ‘Brief Description of Little Ben by F/L B.S. Benson and J.St.L. Philpot’, January 1945; ibid, ‘Naval Staff Requirements for an Air-to-Air Homing Weapon’, 1945.

17 Hugh Dryden, ‘Selected Guided Missiles Now Developed or Under Development’, 30.11.1945, in H.L. Dryden, G.A. Morton and I.A. Getting, ‘Guidance and Homing of Missiles and Pilotless Aircraft: A Report of the AAF Scientific Advisory Group’, Headquarters Air Material Command, 1946, pp. 1–32; TNA, DSIR 23/17581, Bisby, ‘The Development of British Airborne Rockets’, p. 26; Christman, History of the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California, Volume 1, Sailors, Scientists, and Rockets, pp. 123–162; Gerrard-Gough and Christman, History of the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California, Volume 2, The Grand Experiment at Inyokern, p. 282.

18 Carpentier, Les Missiles Tactiques de 1945 à 1995, p. 19; Huwart, Du V2 à Véronique. La naissance des fusées françaises, pp. 56–59.

19 Centre d’Étude des Projectiles autopropulsés, ‘Note Mensuelle d’Information à l’Usage des Sections du C.E.P.A.’, 1.2.1946 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 396 4H2 227. On page 18 there is a summary of the report under the heading ‘Usine B.M.W. de Bitschwiller et Projectiles à Reaction’ (Bitschwiller BMW Factory and Rocket Projectiles).

20 TNA, AIR 40/2162, ‘German Airborne Controlled Missiles for Anti-aircraft Employment’, AI2(g) Report No. 1765, 29.3.1945.

21 Ibid.

22 Translation of OKL/TLR conference report no. 6, 19.1.1945, in US Army Ordnance Department, The Story of Peenemünde, or What Might Have Been, p. 530.

23 TNA, AIR 40/2167, ‘New German Weapons – X4, X7 and Hs 117’, AI2(g) Report No. 2337, 21.4.1945.

24 TNA, AIR 40/2162, ‘The X4 – German Air-launched A.A. Rocket’, AI2(g) Report No. 1773, 3.5.1945.

25 TNA, AIR 40/2874, ‘Remotely Controlled Missiles. (Ruhrstahl A.G. Bielefeld)’, ADI (K) Report No. 300/1945, 4.5.1945.

26 J.B. Reid et al, ‘Seefliegerhorst Wesermünde (Evacuation from Erprobungsstelle der Luftwaffe, Karlshagen)’, CIOS report XXVI-3, May 1945; TNA, AIR 40/2162, C. Campbell, ‘R4M German Aircraft Rocket’, AI2(g) Report No. 1787, 23.6.1945; Simon and US Army Ordnance Department, German Scientific Establishments, p. 59; Mills and Johanson, ‘Project Abstract: an Anglo-American intelligence operation in 1947 to recover guided weapon technical documentation buried in Germany’, Intelligence and National Security, 34.1 (2019), 129–148.

27 P.R. Price, ‘Gas Turbine Development at BMW’, CIOS report XXVI-30, 1945.

28 TNA, AIR 40/2875, ‘Remotely Controlled Missiles. (Henschel Flugzeugwerke A.G.)’, ADI (K) Report No. 312/1945, 18.5.1945; Lasby, Project Paperclip: German Scientists and the Cold War, pp. 3–4; Hirschel, Prem, and Madelung, Aeronautical Research in Germany – from Lilienthal until Today, p. 272.

29 ‘Projectiles Commandes à Distance (RUHRSTAHL – AG – BIELEFELD)’ – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 396 4H2 227; ‘Projectiles Commandes à Distance’ – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 396 4H2 55; Huwart, p. 62.

30 Marine Nationale, État-Major Générale, 2ème Bureau, Liaison Recherches, ‘État des notes de renseignements remises par E.M.G./2 L.R. du 24 Octobre 1944 au 10 Janvier 1946, Janvier 1946 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 396 4H2 206; Desgouttes, Les Commandements de l’Aéronautique Navale (1912–2013).

31 War Department Intelligence Division. Basic Personnel Record, Max Otto KRAMER. Foreign Scientist Case Files, RG 330; TNA, DEFE 43/9, FO and MoD: STIB and related bodies: Record Cards of German and other Scientists and Technicians, 1946–1964, KLO-KY, ‘KRAMER, Dr. Max Otto’. The French practice of appointing a German technical director under a French official was instituted at other technical intelligence-gathering enterprises in the ZFO. For example, in April 1946, Dr. Hermann Oestrich, the former head of jet engine development at BMW, was appointed technical director of a group of Germans (‘Groupe O’) under a French Directeur General to study German jet engines at the Aéronautique de Rickenbach. Contract between the DTIA and Hermann Oestrich (Groupe ‘O’), 25.4.1946 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 254 1K1 607.

32 TNA, AIR 40/2162, ‘The X4 – German Air-launched A.A. Rocket’, AI2(g) Report No. 1773, 3.5.1945.

33 Ibid.

34 TNA, AIR 40/2162, ‘R4M German Aircraft Rocket’, AI2(g) Report No. 1787, 23.6.1945.

35 Ibid.

36 TNA, AVIA 54/1404, D.W. Bartington, ‘Halstead Exploitation Centre’, MoS, 18.12.1947.

37 TNA, AVIA 41/388, ‘Rocket Propellants, Foreign. Tentative results to date of chemical analysis of German rocket propellants’, PDE Note No. 1946/2, February 1946.

38 TNA, AVIA 41/318, ‘Foreign Ammunition. German Aircraft Rocket R.4.M.’, PDE Report 1946/8, May 1946.

39 Ibid.

40 Ibid.

41 TNA, AVIA 6/13498, H.W.B. Gordon, ‘Damaging effect of German 55mm R.4.M. rocket with H.E. head to British heavy-bomber aircraft structures’, ORS FT 360, August 1946.

42 Ibid.

43 Ibid.

44 Ibid.

45 ‘Rocketry at Westcott. A Visit to the Ministry of Supply Rocket-propulsion Establishment’, Flight, 21.8.1947, 190 and 205; Burgess, ‘German Guided and Rocket Missiles’ No. II, The Engineer, 10.10.1947, 332–333, and No. III, 17.10.1947, 356–358.

46 During the turbulent early period of the Fourth Republic in the 1940s, the DTIA was successively within the Ministère de l’Air (1944–1946), Ministère de l’Armement (1946–1947), Ministère de l’Air (1947–1948), and the Ministère des Forces Armées Secrétariat d’État aux Forces Armées (Air) (1948-).

47 Carpentier, op cit, pp. 19–22 and 36.

48 Ibid, p. 32.

49 SCEPR, ‘Étude du propulseur Allemand BMW 548 et la fabrication de 25 réacteurs de ce type’, marché no. 5067/46, 16.3.1946 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 711 1K1 741.

50 Ibid.

51 Inventory 711 1K1, ‘Marchés passes par la Direction des Constructions Aéronautiques’, 1945–1963.

52 Engins spéciaux was a generic French term used at the time to describe all guided weapons.

53 Carpentier and Huwart disagree on the number of X-4 missiles that were deposited with L’Arsenal. Carpentier claims there were several, whilst Huwart claims one. The lists of these missiles are found in Carpentier, p. 35, and Huwart, p. 86.

54 Huwart, p. 86. It is recorded in a contract that the STAé awarded to the firm Société Anonyme d’Enterprises Aéronautiques in October 1946 to reconstruct the X-7 that the reconstruction was to be based on the memories of two French engineers who had been deported to Germany and had information about the projectile. The two may have been from a group of three French engineers who made a statement about the X-7 to French military intelligence in December 1944. If the STAé did acquire a prototype of the X-7, that artefact would have served the purpose of exploitation. See ‘Note Mensuelle d’Information à l’Usage des Sections du C.E.P.A.’, 1.2.1946 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 396 4H2 227; and Société d’Entreprises Aéronautiques, ‘Reconstitution de l’engin Allemand X 7’, marché no. 5209/46, 29.10.1946 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 711 1K1 745.

55 SEPR, ‘Fourniture de 100 moteurs fusées prototype SEPR 4 de décollage d’engins spéciaux, 20 moteurs fusées prototype SEPR 2 pour engins spéciaux NC 3500 & 3501, 20 moteurs fusées prototype SEPR 12 pour engins spéciaux M 04’, marché no. 2257/48, 14.12.1948 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 711 1K1 765.

56 Société Sadir-Carpentier, ‘Étude et realisation d’une fusée acoustique de proximité analogue en matériel Allemand KRANICH’, marché no. 5164/46, 21.10.1946 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 711 1K1 744; SEPR, ‘Fourniture de 200 fusées type BMW 548 et dérivés’, marché no. 3129/47, 10.7.1947 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 711 1K1 751; Société Sadir-Carpentier, ‘Fourniture de 10 relais SIEMENS pour engins spéciaux’, marché no. 3253/47, 8.10.1947 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 711 1K1 755; Société Sadir-Carpentier, ‘Étude et realisation de 210 distributeurs de commande pour engins X.4., marché no. 3305/47, 7.1.1948 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 711 1K1 756.

57 Société Alkan & Cie, Fourniture de 60 ensembles d’équipement pour engins AA10, marché 3252/47, 5.1.1948 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 711 1K1 755; Société Alkan & Cie, Réalisation et fourniture de 20 ensembles d’equipement d’engin AA 10 et 3 postes de télécommande sur avion, marché no. 3087/47 – SHD, Châtellerault, AA 711 1K1 750.

58 TNA, AIR 40/2162, ‘The X4 – German Air-launched A.A. Rocket’, AI2(g) Report No. 1773, 3.5.1945; Carpentier, p. 36.

59 Bibliography on German Guided Missiles, Headquarters USAAF Air Materiel Command, Dayton, Ohio, July 1946; American Power Jet Company, ‘Analysis and Evaluation of German Attainments and Research in the Liquid Rocket Engine Field’, Central Air Documents Office (Army-Navy-Air Force), Dayton, Ohio, Volume IV, ‘Propellant Injectors’, and Volume VII, ‘Thrust Control’, February 1952.

60 Conlon, ‘Project “Wizard” Progress Report No. 4 (October 1–December 1, 1946)’, University of Michigan, Department of Engineering Research, December 1946.

61 House, ‘Project Squid. Liquid Propellant Rockets. Field Survey Report Volume II, Part 2’, Princeton University, 30.6.1947’.

62 Ibid.

63 Lasby, Project Paperclip: German Scientists and the Cold War, pp. 4 and 66–67.

64 According to a British document, GANES was split into three operations and moved to France – construction works in Paris, installation of guided weapons on aircraft at Brest, and experimental trials at St. Raphael in the Mediterranean. TNA, DEFE 43/5, FO and MoD: STIB and related bodies: Record Cards of German and other Scientists and Technicians, 1946–1964, ER-GEM, ‘ERNST, Günther’. Ernst was one of Kramer’s colleagues at Ruhrstahl and GANES, and afterwards worked in France.

65 Signal from Major E.C. Davies, Assistant Adjutant General, to Kramer, 8.10.1946; JIOA, ‘Biographical and Professional Data. Exploitation of German and Austrian Scientists’, Max Kramer, 17.2.1948; in Foreign Scientist Case Files, Max Kramer, Record Group 330, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

66 US Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalisation Service, General Information Form, Foreign Scientist Case Files, Max Kramer, Record Group 330, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. The report that Kramer wrote for the AAF was: F.E. Patton, ‘The German Guided Missile X-4’, Project No. NTE-63 – Max Kramer, Summary Report No. F-SU-2131-ND, Headquarters AMC, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, June 1947. Abstract: ‘Summarises available data on German guided missile X-4 with details of control, radio, airframe, propulsion, production, laboratory calculations and experiments. It was considered Germany’s most effective air-to-air controlled missile, especially against bomber formations. History of Dr.-Ing. Max Kramer, chief designer, is recorded as well as other personnel connected with the X-4 project. Report covers specifications, performance data, warhead and fuse and launching devices in considerable detail. Profusely illustrated and with adequate bibliography, report is of value in guided missile research’. Johnson, ‘Review of Compliant Coating Research of M.O. Kramer’, RPJ Associates, 17.10.1980.

67 Misa and Todd, ‘History of the Naval Air Development Center’, Naval Air Development Center, Report No. NADC-82251-09, 15.9.1982.

68 Johnson, ‘Review of Compliant Coating Research of M.O. Kramer’; Misa and Todd, ‘History of the Naval Air Development Center.

69 E.W. Conlon, ‘Project “Wizard” Progress Report No. 4 (October 1–December 1, 1946)’.

70 Ibid.

71 ‘Les Missiles’, in ‘Histoire de l’Armement Français’, Revue Historique de l’Armée, 2 (1964), 153–174.

72 ‘New Air-to-Air Rocket Developed by Navy; Folding Fin Is Used to Help Speed in Combat’, New York Times, 7 February 1950, p. 14.

73 Gatland, Development of the Guided Missile, pp. 120–121.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James Mills

James Mills is soon to graduate from Monash University with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

 Correspondence to: James Mills. Email: [email protected].