German rocket engineers in Britain—Their influence revisited

Abstract

The technical aspects of the arrival and work of the German rocket engineers or scientists (referred to as engineers from now on) who came to Britain after World War 2 have been covered in a previous work [J. Becklake, German engineers: their contribution to British rocket technology after World War II, AAS History Series 22 (1998) 157–172; in: P. Jung (Ed.), 27th History Symposium of the IAA, Graz, Austria, October, 1993]. This paper considers the origins and work of these Germans while in Germany, where they were employed in Britain, their interaction with British colleagues both at work and at play and finally looks at their overall influence on British rocket technology. The final destinations of the British Germans will be covered. Although many stayed for only a short time before moving on to, e.g. the USA or back to Germany, a number stayed in England for the rest of their lives and their descendants are still there.