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During the last days of World War Two in Europe, a clandestine American military operation was formed
in a race for Hitler's secret aviation technology.
It was called Operation LUSTY.
Its mission - retrieval of Germany's advanced aeronautical technology and world-class scientists.
At stake was the future of America's superiority in the air.
Next on Marking History.
This is the historical marker for Major General Hal Watson.
His marker is located here at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
His team, called Watson's Whizzers, were responsible for recovering German airplane technology
right after World War Two.
Watson's role in Operation LUSTY helped to accelerate America's jet plane programs
and changed the look of the United States Air Force.
Now let's learn more about the incredible story behind this marker.
During late 1944, there was a new air battle going on across the skies of Germany.
In this corner was the American P 51D Mustang, our fastest fighter plane
with a maximum speed of 437 miles per hour. Not bad for a piston engine propeller plane.
And in this corner was the Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Me 262,
the world's first operational jet fighter with a maximum speed of 540 miles per hour.
If you are keeping count, this Messerschmitt twin engine jet was one hundred miles per hour FASTER than our fastest plane.
Our fighters just could not match the top speed of the German jets during air battles.
However, what the Mustangs lacked in speed was made up with maneuverability against the feared Me 262s.
More significantly, Mustang pilots learned to hit the Messerschmitts at their most vulnerable
during take-off and landings at German airfields.
During this time, the U.S. Army Air Forces Intelligence Service sent secret teams to Europe
to gain access to German aircraft and weapons.
Intelligence experts developed lists of advanced aviation equipment they wanted to examine,
known as the Black List.
The teams gained information and equipment recovered from German crash sites.
As the war concluded in Europe, a new top-secret operation was created.
On April 22, 1945, Operation LUSTY, short for Luftwaffe Secret Technology, was formed
with the aim of exploiting captured German scientific documents, research facilities, aircraft AND scientists.
There was an urgency behind the operation because Allied intelligence had discovered the Germans had provided much,
if not all, of their advanced technology to their Japanese ally.
Adding to the urgency was a competitive Soviet program also intent on capturing German technology and scientists.
Operation LUSTY had two teams.
Team One, under the leadership of Colonel Harold “Hal” Watson,
collected enemy aircraft and weapons for further examination in the United States.
Team Two, under the leadership of Colonel Howard M. McCoy,
recruited German scientists, collected documents and investigated facilities.
Colonel Watson was the perfect candidate to lead a team of test pilots, engineers and maintenance men
into Germany to extract technology.
He had graduated with a degree in electrical engineering,
worked at the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company testing new aircraft engines,
and became a military test pilot for the Army Air Corps.
Watson was not only a superb pilot, he knew aircraft engines like the back of his hand.
Watson's specific task under Operation LUSTY was to collect and bring home Luftwaffe technology on the Black list.
The list included the Messerschmitt 262 twin engine jet fighter, the German Arado 234 jet bomber
and other unusual aircraft.
Colonel Watson put together a highly qualified handpicked crew of test pilots and engineers.
Because of their immigrant German heritage, many of Watson's American team members could speak the language.
They called themselves Watson's Whizzers because they were whizzing around the countryside in German jet fighters.
Within days of his arrival in France, Colonel Watson was issued a blue Eisenhower Pass.
The pass gave its bearer the authority to go anywhere and request assistance
from any U.S. or British military command in the execution of his duties.
It bore the signature of the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Watson's Whizzers traveled far and wide across Europe by jeep and occasionally by air to find aircraft on the "Black List."
Finding working aircraft was near impossible.
Either defeated Germans destroyed their own planes
or were destroyed by Patton's troops as they moved through the area. Most were damaged beyond repair.
On April 29, 1945, only three days after Patton's troops swept through Augsburg Germany,
Colonel Watson drove his jeep into the shattered town.
He was looking for the chief Messerschmitt test pilot, Karl Baur.
After showing Baur his blue Eisenhower Pass, Watson made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
In the end Herr Baur rounded up a total of 25 Messerschmitt mechanics and test pilots
to help the Watson Whizzers repair and fly the German jets.
The Me 262 was a maintenance man's dream.
Engines and nose assemblies could be removed and replaced in an hour!
The Messerschmitt mechanics were more than happy to show off their technical marvels and work for the Americans
as this meant they could earn money to feed their families.
It also meant a possible ticket out of war-torn Germany.
Now Watson had the help he needed to bring Me 262s back to the States.
It was dangerous work. The process had to be conducted carefully because booby traps were found.
Several Me-262s had explosive devices in their cockpits.
On May 8, 1945, VE Day, a Messerschitt Me 262A jet fighter approached Lager Lechfeld,
and wagged its wings in a sign of surrender.
The German pilot had no intention of surrendering to Russian troops,
so he chose this American occupied airfield for his final destination.
This was the first operational Me 262 jet captured by the Americans.
This historic Messerschitt jet is on display today at the Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.
Several more planes followed.
As standard practice, German markings were quickly removed and replaced with the American star.
Nazi swastikas were painted over.
That way, the Me 262s could be flown, unmolested by American fighters.
The Luftwaffe jets were painted with new names to keep track of them.
Like Wilma Jean or Dennis --- names of crew family members.
Once found, enemy aircraft had to be shipped from Germany to the United States.
Fortunately, the British were willing to loan their aircraft carrier HMS “Reaper” for that purpose.
The most viable harbor for docking the carrier and loading the various aircraft was Cherbourg, France.
The Whizzers flew the Me 262s and other German aircraft from Lager Lechfeld to Cherbourg.
All 40 aircraft were cocooned against the salt air and weather,
loaded onto the carrier and brought back to the United States.
Upon arrival, they were studied by the Air Intelligence groups of both the Army Air Force and the US Navy.
Like the defenders of the horse cavalry in 1945,
military skeptics were not about to give in to a screeching newcomer like a jet turbine.
Best way to convince them? How about an airshow!
On September 30, 1945 an airshow was put on for 300 U.S. writers, press photographers and radio men at Freeman Field, Indiana.
On display was the usual array of captured German aircraft.
Of course, the main attraction of the show was the Messerschitt Me 262.
Colonel Watson gave a spectacular performance in the twin jet engine Messerschitt.
He buzzed the field at terrific speed, bringing the sleek jet down to within 20 feet of the photographers.
The crowds loved it.
It was just the type of press coverage the Army Air Force needed
to keep its program from stalling out.
Watson's air shows played no small part in convincing legislators how to vote and where to put their money.
Operation LUSTY and Colonel Watson's Whizzers brought back an impressive inventory
of German aviation technology for research study.
Their partial list included ten Me 262s, four Arado 234 Jet Bombers and three helicopters.
America's jet fighter program made incredible progress in part from the lessons learned from our German enemies.
The Messerschitt Me 262 influenced the design of our new jet fighter, introduced in 1949- the North American F-86 Sabre.
The Sabre is best known as America's first swept-wing jet fighter.
This is the same aircraft that could counter the Soviet MiG-15 in high-speed dogfights over the skies of Korea.
Operation LUSTY with Colonel Howard M. McCoy and his team brought back
about 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians
as part of a secret program that he directed called Operation Paperclip.
The most famous group was headed by Wernher von Braun
the German aerospace engineer who had led development of the V-2 rocket.
After transfer to America, Von Braun and his team eventually ended up in Huntsville, Alabama.
There, they built the rocket that launched America's first satellite, Explorer 1.
This event on February 1,1958 signaled the birth of America's space program.
Later Von Braun and his team designed and built the giant Saturn V
the rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the Moon.
Colonel Harold Watson later became Major General Watson as he continued his pursuit
of building a lasting technical intelligence organization for the United States Air Force.
Thanks to heroes like Colonel Watson and Colonel McCoy,
the impact of Operation LUSTY and its recovered German technology reshaped America's Air Force for years to come.
If history can be taught with stories
they can never be forgotten.
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