Post World War II
In mid-August 1945, after taking part in Operation Backfire, Dornberger was escorted from Cuxhaven to London for interrogation by the British War Crimes Investigation Unit in connection with the use of slave labor in the production of V-2 rockets; he was subsequently transferred and detained for two years at Bridgend in South Wales.
Along with other German rocket scientists, Dornberger was released and brought to the United States under the auspices of Operation Paperclip, and worked for the United States Air Force for three years developing guided missiles. From 1950 to 1965 he worked for the Bell Aircraft Corporation where he worked on several projects, rising to the post of Vice-President. He played a major role on the creation of the X-15 aircraft and was a key consultant for the X-20 Dyna-Soar project. He also had a role on the creation of ideas and projects which, in the end, lead to the creation of the Space Shuttle. Dornberger also developed Bell's Rascal, the worlds first guided nuclear air-to-surface missile developed for the Strategic Air Command. During the 50s he had some attrition with von Braun and was instrumental on grabbing several engineers out of the Huntsville's team for USAF projects. The most remarkable of them was Krafft Ehricke who later created the Centaur rocket stage and actively participated in several more Defense projects.
Following retirement, Dornberger went to Mexico and later returned to Germany, where he died in 1980 in Baden-Württemberg.
Read more about this topic: Walter Dornberger
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