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05-27-2005, 06:26 PM
Operation Lusty
By Robert L. Young
Harold Watson’s “Whizzers” went hunting for German jets—and came back with several jewels.
The Me-262 fighter’s Mk 108 cannon roared, and a single 30 mm “Mine-Shell” high-explosive round struck the waist of a B-24 bomber. The thin-walled projectile detonated on impact, spraying stainless steel shards in a circular pattern through the Liberator’s fuselage. This single deadly hit nearly sliced off the bomber’s tail and effectively destroyed the aircraft.
The B-24 did not die under the guns of an Me-262 in the skies over Europe, however. It happened at the weapons test range at Wright Field, Ohio, thanks to the efforts of “Watson’s Whizzers,” an Army Air Forces intelligence team that went to Europe to seize enemy systems and technology.
The Messerschmitt fighter was in the United States because scientific and technical intelligence personnel put their lives on the line to obtain it and others in the field, make it flyable, and bring it home for testing.
http://www.afa.org/magazine/jan2005/0105lusty1.jpg
This 1946 photo shows one of the Me-262 jet fighters, brought back by Watson’s Whizzers, in a low pass over Freeman Field, Ind.
When the fighting in Europe stopped in May 1945, the ATI effort intensified. The Americans were only too aware that advanced German technology, including documentation, had to be obtained quickly, before it was destroyed or seized by other countries—especially the Soviet Union.
The project went by the code name Lusty (for Luftwaffe secret technology). The effort required small teams of highly skilled maintenance troops and pilots. It was up to them to find and acquire the revolutionary German aircraft, make them flyable, and deliver them to seaports for the trip to the United States. One of Watson’s teams went after propeller-driven aircraft. The Whizzers went after jets.
Article (http://www.afa.org/magazine/jan2005/0105lusty.asp)
By Robert L. Young
Harold Watson’s “Whizzers” went hunting for German jets—and came back with several jewels.
The Me-262 fighter’s Mk 108 cannon roared, and a single 30 mm “Mine-Shell” high-explosive round struck the waist of a B-24 bomber. The thin-walled projectile detonated on impact, spraying stainless steel shards in a circular pattern through the Liberator’s fuselage. This single deadly hit nearly sliced off the bomber’s tail and effectively destroyed the aircraft.
The B-24 did not die under the guns of an Me-262 in the skies over Europe, however. It happened at the weapons test range at Wright Field, Ohio, thanks to the efforts of “Watson’s Whizzers,” an Army Air Forces intelligence team that went to Europe to seize enemy systems and technology.
The Messerschmitt fighter was in the United States because scientific and technical intelligence personnel put their lives on the line to obtain it and others in the field, make it flyable, and bring it home for testing.
http://www.afa.org/magazine/jan2005/0105lusty1.jpg
This 1946 photo shows one of the Me-262 jet fighters, brought back by Watson’s Whizzers, in a low pass over Freeman Field, Ind.
When the fighting in Europe stopped in May 1945, the ATI effort intensified. The Americans were only too aware that advanced German technology, including documentation, had to be obtained quickly, before it was destroyed or seized by other countries—especially the Soviet Union.
The project went by the code name Lusty (for Luftwaffe secret technology). The effort required small teams of highly skilled maintenance troops and pilots. It was up to them to find and acquire the revolutionary German aircraft, make them flyable, and deliver them to seaports for the trip to the United States. One of Watson’s teams went after propeller-driven aircraft. The Whizzers went after jets.
Article (http://www.afa.org/magazine/jan2005/0105lusty.asp)