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13. Watson Picks His Team
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[ 178 ] WATSON PICKS HIS TEAM Colonel Watson had been busily planning for the recovery of the German jets since his reassignment in late March from the 1st Tactical Air Force Service Command at Vittel back to Headquarters USSTAF in St.-Germain. Watson was attached to McDonald’s Intelligence Directorate, making his home in the Exploitation Division when it was formed in late April. Watson had about as free a hand to do as he saw fit as any man could want. No one required him to give an accounting of his day-to-day activities, nor did anyone specifically ask how he was going to go about finding and delivering the German jets he had been tasked to obtain. In later years, long after his retirement from the Air Force, Hal Watson would reflect on this period of his life and say, “Those were my wild years.” Since its formation, the Exploitation Divison had grown by leaps and bounds as the disarmament function began to assume increasing importance and combat support requirements diminished to zero. Under Operation Lusty the division broadly defined its mission as the exploitation of the German aircraft research and industrial establishment to derive all possible technical intelligence to further the prosecution of the war against Japan. The Exploitation Division viewed its 13 Watson Picks His Team [ 179 ] second priority, which soon became its first and primary objective, as increasing the overall efficiency of American aircraft equipment and the support of ongoing research and development efforts. “The success of this operation will be measured by the quality and amount of intelligence which is expeditiously delivered to the U.S.”—that was the standard the division established for itself. No one should forget in the execution of their duties, Colonel Sheldon unfailingly reminded anyone who had anything to do with Operation Lusty, that American interests always come first. Quality and quantity were defined by the Wright Field Category A list of desired enemy equipment. Priority I items were defined as those which promised to further “our war effort to shorten the Pacific War; priority II and III items are of longer term interest affecting our national security. Desired priority I subjects include: Jet propulsion, electronics, medicine, select items of equipment, rockets and controlled missiles. Most highly desired intelligence items are the top secret and secret developments not now known which are the priority I. Intelligence items include documents as well as equipment.” In other words, anything that looked intriguing or interesting was fair game for shipment to Wright Field. Some haggling went on between SHAEF-controlled CIOS/CAFT teams and USSTAF’s ATI teams about who controlled what territory and had authority to do this or that. CIOS, the combined United States/ United Kingdom exploitation operation, rightfully saw Operation Lusty as a national competitor for the technological riches wanted by both the United States and the United Kingdom. After all, USSTAF’s ATI teams represented purely American interests. No decision emerged from the SHAEF bureaucracy to inhibit American efforts to exploit whatever facilities were captured by American arms, and Operation Lusty proceeded full speed ahead. On April 25, Watson obtained a fully crewed C-47 from one of the air transport squadrons of the 1st Tactical Air Force and surveyed the forward area. When he returned [3.90.187.11] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:45 GMT) Watson Picks His Team [ 180 ] to St.-Germain on April 28, he briefed General McDonald and the intelligence staff on his findings and explained in general terms how he intended to implement his portion of Operation Lusty. To Watson it was obvious that the Me-262 recovery operation should be run from Lechfeld, the airfield adjacent to the Messerschmitt headquarters and production complex. Aerial reconnaissance had detected numerous jets scattered about the field, but equally important was the fact that Lechfeld and the nearby city of Augsburg were the places where many of the German test pilots and jet assembly workers lived. These Germans were an important part of Watson’s plan. The Arado jet bombers, on the other hand, were up north in the British zone. Watson would have to see what he could work out with the British once they took control of the German airfields. For the collection of conventionally powered aircraft Watson recommended the use of Merseburg, already identi- fied as one of three collection points, along with Nürnberg-Roth and Stuttgart.1 Operation Lusty seemed...