Walter Dornberger
head of V rocket program
Do you realize what we accomplished today? Today the spaceship was born.
Gen Walter Dornberger was a career military man. He served as an artillery officer during World War I. He was also a brilliant engineer and became head of the V rocket program. He saw the future of rocketry that it was more than just blowing up buildings and killing people. He said, “This third day of October, 1942, is the first of a new era in transportation, that of space travel ...”
He was highly respected at the upper levels of the Nazi government and, along with Wernher von Braun, was awarded the Knight's Cross by der Führer. For the program to function, Dornberger required thousands of workers from the nearby concentration camp. The work was difficult as were the conditions. For security the rockets were assembled in poorly ventilated underground shops. Because of the working conditions and lack of adequate nourishment, most workers only lasted several months.
The launch crews were treated much better as Gen Dornberger brought around twenty Dutch woman at a time, into forced prostitution to keep the men happy. Every two weeks a new group of women would be brought to the camp and the old group killed to insure no word would leak out about the rockets.
Dornberger was captured by US Marines as the Third Reich was disintegrating. He was held in France for two years in a POW camp as the leaders of the US and Britain tried to decide what to do with him. Even in the camp, few of his fellow prisoners wanted to associate with him. The British believed he should be hanged for his war crimes. Some in the US felt the same way – justifiably so. However, others, fearful of Soviet Union technological advances, were willing to overlook these crimes because of his experience with the V program.
These people won out and he became part of Operation Paperclip. He worked with Bell Aircraft Corp. from 1950 to 1965 where he led development of developed Bell's ASM-A-2, the world's first guided nuclear air-to-surface missile developed for the Strategic Air Command.
After a good life in the US Walter Dornberger retired to Mexico and, eventually, back to West Germany where he died peacefully in 1980. He avoided judgment during is lifetime, but one more remained.
Gen Walter Dornberger was a career military man. He served as an artillery officer during World War I. He was also a brilliant engineer and became head of the V rocket program. He saw the future of rocketry that it was more than just blowing up buildings and killing people. He said, “This third day of October, 1942, is the first of a new era in transportation, that of space travel ...”
He was highly respected at the upper levels of the Nazi government and, along with Wernher von Braun, was awarded the Knight's Cross by der Führer. For the program to function, Dornberger required thousands of workers from the nearby concentration camp. The work was difficult as were the conditions. For security the rockets were assembled in poorly ventilated underground shops. Because of the working conditions and lack of adequate nourishment, most workers only lasted several months.
The launch crews were treated much better as Gen Dornberger brought around twenty Dutch woman at a time, into forced prostitution to keep the men happy. Every two weeks a new group of women would be brought to the camp and the old group killed to insure no word would leak out about the rockets.
Dornberger was captured by US Marines as the Third Reich was disintegrating. He was held in France for two years in a POW camp as the leaders of the US and Britain tried to decide what to do with him. Even in the camp, few of his fellow prisoners wanted to associate with him. The British believed he should be hanged for his war crimes. Some in the US felt the same way – justifiably so. However, others, fearful of Soviet Union technological advances, were willing to overlook these crimes because of his experience with the V program.
These people won out and he became part of Operation Paperclip. He worked with Bell Aircraft Corp. from 1950 to 1965 where he led development of developed Bell's ASM-A-2, the world's first guided nuclear air-to-surface missile developed for the Strategic Air Command.
After a good life in the US Walter Dornberger retired to Mexico and, eventually, back to West Germany where he died peacefully in 1980. He avoided judgment during is lifetime, but one more remained.