50. Amerika Bomber: Myhra, The Horten Brothers and Their AllWing Aircraft, 217-20; interview with David Myhra, who interviewed both Horten brothers, Walter in Germany and Reimar in Argentina, for hundreds of hours in the 1980s.
51. Paperclip scientists… called on for their expertise: This is my defensible speculation based on interviews with the EG&G engineer. The Paperclip group attached to the project, I learned through sources with secondhand information, allegedly included Von Braun, Ernst
Steinhoff, and also Dr. Hubertus Strughold, a former Nazi and, in 1947, a research doctor at the Aeromedical Laboratory at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas. While employed by the Third Reich, Strughold was the leading expert on how the human body handles high altitude during flight. During World War II, Strughold had been chief of staff of aviation medicine for the German air force, or Luftwaffe. For more on Strughold, see Bower, Paperclip Conspiracy, 214–323.
52. secreted away in a manner so clandestine: Interview with EG&G engineer.
53. top secret project called Operation Harass: Jacobsen, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) FOIA request, “Horten Brothers and Operation Harass.” The file was declassified by INSCOM beginning on July 6, 1994, CDR USAINSCOM FO1/PO Auth para 1-603 DOD 5200.1R, 358 pages. Notes for pages 38 through 62 refer to this record group.
54. testimony of America’s Paperclip scientists: Headquarters, Counter Intelligence Corps Region I, 970th Counter Intelligence Corps, Detachment European Command, APO-154, January 6, 1948, 92. “Scientists who have better than average knowledge of the HORTEN brothers’ work are: (2) Lippisch, Prof., fnu, Wright Field, Ohio, U.S.A.” Dr. Lippisch was transferred to Wright Field, along with his senior staff Ernst Sielaff and Dr. Ringleb, from Luftfahrtforshungsandstalt Wien — a German aeronautical research institute for the development of highspeed aircraft.
55. The manhunt was on: The earliest dated Operation Harass memo in the file is from November 10, 1947, APO 189, Subject: Flying Saucers, 139. It reads, “Considerable material has been gathered by the Air Materiel Command WRIGHT FIELD, Ohio, concerning the appearance, description and functioning of the object popularly known as the ‘Flying Saucer.’ A copy of the request of the report from the Air Materiel Command is on file at this Headquarters, 2. The opinion was expressed that some sort of object, such as the flying saucer, did exist. At the present time, construction models are being built for wind tunnel tests.” This, however, is clearly not the first memo. Here of the FOIA
file, in memo APO 134, January 2, 1948, a reference is made to an earlier letter, “RE: HORTEN Brothers, SUBJECT: Flying Saucers, dated 28, October 1947.”
56. Walter and Reimar Horten… had somehow been overlooked: Interview with David Myhra.
57. been a later-model Horten in the works: “HORTEN, Walter-” LKL: A.V.V. Gottingen (14-5-46) “Expert on ‘flying-wing’ aircraft, including HO VIII IX & X,” 155 (note there are two separate pages numbered 155).
58. Timothy Cooper filed a request for documents: Because the Flying Saucer memos reveal that immediately after the crash at Roswell, the Army was seeking information on aircraft made by German scientists and not by extraterrestrials, the memos have been discounted by many ufologists as being Army intelligence propaganda. In fact, they reveal an important clue in understanding the EG&G engineer’s truth about the Roswell mystery, namely, that the Joint Chiefs of Staff and perhaps the highest rank at Air Materiel Command knew the flying disc was in fact a Russian vehicle of German design.
59. Extreme maneuverability and apparent ability to almost hover: Air Intelligence [illegible] for alleged “Flying Saucer Type Air Craft,” 152-56.
60. American Paperclip scientists living at Wright Field: Headquarters Sub Region Frankfurt, Counter Intelligence Corps Region III, APO 757, 4 February 1948, 71–72. “Leiber also stated that a Dr. Alexander LIPPISCH, who is at present working at WRIGHT Field, Ohio, USA, is also familiar with the work of the HORTON brothers.”
61. Messerschmitt test pilot named Fritz Wendel: Headquarters Counter Intelligence Corps Region IV, 970th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment APO 407-A, US ARMY, IV-2574. Subj: WENDEL, Fritz, 1 March 1948, 6 pages. Includes Sheets I, II, III, and IV—
Sketches made by WENDEL re HORTEN aircraft; No. 179332, WENDEL, Fritz, “Ex-Luftwaffe Squadron leader. Presently working for Graf Von Ledebur, French Intell [sic] officer in Vienna Austria,” 56–63.
62. “very much like a round cake with a large sector cut out”: Memo, Secret, Headquarters Berlin Command, Office of Military Government for Germany (US), S-2 Branch, Subject “Flying Saucers,” 3 December 1947, 126; Drawing, Directrix, Secret, 128.
63. Could it hover?: Ibid., 57.
64. if groups could fly tightly together: Ibid., 58. 65. “high speed escapement methods”: Ibid., 59. 66. Could the flying disc be remotely controlled?: Ibid., 58. 67. Did Wendel have any idea about the tactical purposes: Ibid.
68. a rocket engineer named Walter Ziegler: Memo, Secret, Headquarters Counter Intelligence Corps Region IV, 970th Counter Intelligence Corps APO 407-A Subj: ZIEGLER, Walter Erich, 1 March 1948, 52–55.
69. four hundred men from his former rocket group: Ibid., 53. Ziegler called the town “Kubischew,” and said it was located “east of Moscow… where they are presently constructing rockets under Russian supervision.”
70. The Horten brothers had been found: Headquarters 970th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment European Command, APO 757, D-198239, Subject Flying Saucers, dated 12 March 1948, 44.
71. “the Horten 13”: This is a transcription of a “report” originally written in German cursive writing and translated by SFC Dale R. Blohm. It is missing a cover page. The text suggests that the USG is making plans to hire “6 to 30” German scientists to create for them the “Horten-Parabel.” It reads, “The Discussions concerning the Project ‘Horten-Parabel’ are finalized. The results can be summed up in the following manner. 1). The Russians are in possession of the relevant
planes and will be supported by German specialists. The construction series of the so called Horten 13 (Model with 2-TL (SIC) Power Unit) should not be developed beyond the initial stages by the Russians.” At the end of the memo, the writer concluded, “to begin work, we ask for exact orders for the U.S. Army, for example timber work style, how many power units, operating radius, additional load, crew size, weapons layout, etc,” 196-97, 202- 4.
72. “Walter Horten has admitted his contacts with the Russians”: Memo from European Command Message Control Secret Priority, Ref S-3773, To: United States Forces in Austria, for Director of Intelligence, 20 May 1948, 231; extracts from Horten, Walter, From D154654, “Walter HORTEN points out that the possibility of the glider of parabolic design flown by a Russian pilot in 1925–1926 at the Rhaen competitive race may have been developed into a flying saucer. In the event the Russians further developed this glider, or, after the war, installed into it jet units of the Junkers or BMW type, the result may be the flying saucer,” 232-33.
73. stay at Wright-Patterson for approximately four years: Interview with EG&G engineer.
Interviews: Colonel Leghorn, T. D. Barnes, Lieutenant Colonel Roger Andersen, Millie Meierdierck, Bob Murphy, Ray Goudey, Edward Lovick
1. was sitting in his parlor: Bissell, Reflections of a Cold Warrior,
68.
2. paramour of Princess Caradja: Thomas, The Very Best Men, 103.
3. As for the mysterious office called OPC: CIA History Staff, “Office of Policy Coordination 1948–1952,” 57 pages. Approved for release March 1997.
4. “funds generated by the Marshall Plan”: Bissell, Reflections of a Cold Warrior, 68.
5. Leghorn went back to Washington: Interview with Colonel Leghorn.
6. as part of Operation Lusty: Samuel, American Raiders. Operation Lusty (Luftwaffe Secret Technology) was the U.S. Army Air Forces’ effort to capture and evaluate German aeronautical technology beginning at the end of World War II.
7. Putt listened: Pedlow and Welzenbach, Central Intelligence Agency, 35.
8. Whereas Putt was uninterested: P. Taubman, Secret Empire, 105.
9. Killian and Land reasoned: Pedlow and Welzenbach, Central Intelligence Agency, 27–37.
10. “impression of World War I as a cataclysm”: Bissell, Reflections of a Cold Warrior, 4.
11. James Killian, who recruited Bissell: Pedlow and Welzenbach, Central Intelligence Agency, 16. Bissell
