Watson's Whizzers

Download or read book Watson's Whizzers written by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel and published by Schiffer Pub Limited. This book was released on 2010-03-01 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Watsons Whizzers is the complex story of the meticulously planned and executed disarmament of the Luftwaffe after its defeat in the spring of 1945, and the retrieval and transfer to the United States of Germanys advanced aeronautical technology and world-class scientists. Technology so superior that it would in short measure change the look of United States air forces. Although General Spaatz in May 1945 had under his command 17,000 planes of all kinds, the largest air armada ever assembled , they were of little future use. The future was about swept wing aircraft flying at supersonic speeds, or close to it: the incomparable Boeing B-47 jet bomber and its successor the eight jet B-52; the North American F-86 fighter and its supersonic successor the F-100 Supersaber were the immediate results of the German technology transfer and secured Americas future in the darkest days of the Cold War.