[runjake]

You've got some of your facts wrong.

The US didn't steal the designs from the Nazis. They offered the Nazi researchers that were involved with these programs asylum if they'd help us further that research. One such program is Project Paperclip. Later, many of these scientists went on to work at Lockheed and other defense contractors. They had expertise in rocketry, turbines, and airframes that we simply didn't have at the time.

We still see their efforts in current generation aircraft (like the B-2, which I worked on). They were respected. There are memorial photos of them in the halls of places you will never see.

FYI: Those of us that worked on "fun stuff" used to get a kick out of the tin foil crowd. Do not rely on them for any remotely reliable information. Instead, pay attention to Janes and other defense aviation journalists (the DEW Line being one good example).

Edited for clarity,

[stephengillie]

https://xkcd.com/984/

[Terretta]

In this case, XKCD gets it wrong -- actual tinfoil hat people spell it "Nazi's".

[tinfoilman]

I dont mind people saying i got lots of facts wrong, but hte only one you pointed out that the USA offered Asylum to the nazi rather than my statement of "stole", maybe that was not the right word to use. US just threattened them with POW camps if they did not do as told.

Dont get me wrong i will never know the truth but the Allies were chasing this technically because the nazi's started researching in to it.

[PotatoEngineer]

Well, yes. When your enemies are working on something, you want to see if their stuff is good. If it's good, then you use it yourself. This isn't "stealing" as much as it's "I really don't want the other guy to have a strategic advantage." If it doesn't work (apparently, this idea didn't), then you drop it.

[Spooky23]

As a German scientist, you had a choice: try to disappear and abandon your work, go work with the Americans in Alabama or wherever, or go work with the Soviets.

My guess is that threats weren't necessary in most cases,

[swasheck]

So you're saying that this ISN'T just an elaborate cover-up to explain actual UFO sightings?

[runjake]

I don't believe extraterrestrial spacecraft have ever visited Earth.

I'm not aware of any instance where extraterrestrial technology was used in an aircraft or to push the envelope for military flight technology.

In fact, much of it has a publicly-traceable lineage, if people would just dig. I'm thinking of low observability (stealth) technology, the latest RADAR/LIDAR tech, airframe designs, ram/pulse/pulse detonation jets, and so on. I admit some of it looks like magic on first glance, but this stuff was designed by human beings who were much smarter than me.

[wtracy]

At the risk of wading into a pointless flame war, let's apply Occam's Razor.

First, public belief/interest in alien flying saucers has been mostly dead for decades. Performing a cover-up operation now would accomplish nothing.

Second, if the original flying saucer sightings truly were of extraterrestrial spacecraft (which I highly doubt) then nothing in these documents precludes these designs being based on those spacecraft. So, I expect this release to fuel the flames of the conspiracy theories, not cool them down.

[endlessvoid94]

Where can I read more about this?

[WayneDB]

You didn't refute one fact. You only corrected his wording and I'd actually say that the word "stole" is correct given the fact that all of this was done in secret. See definition #4 here http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steal?s=t

"FYI: Those of us that worked on "fun stuff" used to get a kick out of the tin foil crowd."

That sounds kind of smug. Do you have the highest possible security clearance? If not, then whatever you think you know is probably hampering your perception.

[runjake]

Wayne,

Yeah sorry, that did sound smug, but I didn't mean it to be. It was internal amusement at the stuff the tinfoil crowd comes up with that probably should have stayed in my head rather than ending up in an HN comment.

Thomas,

It's smug because he has professional experience with the topic and few others here do. From previous comments: 'runjake is in his 40s, served in the military (I'm presuming the USAF)

Yep.

did EE/CS stuff with the ICBM program, and did some kind of work the UAV control system

Yep, but I wasn't in the ICBM program, rather I worked with air-launched/dropped nukes. I did not work directly on any modern UAV systems. I worked with their 1990s precursors: air-launched autonomous (conventional/nuke) cruise missiles.

It is possible that he is just making that stuff up, but it's (a) unlikely and (b) pointless and boring to debate it.

Yep.

[tptacek]

It's smug because he has professional experience with the topic and few others here do. From previous comments: 'runjake is in his 40s, served in the military (I'm presuming the USAF), did EE/CS stuff with the ICBM program, and did some kind of work the UAV control system.

It is possible that he is just making that stuff up, but it's (a) unlikely and (b) pointless and boring to debate it.

[hnriot]

You didn't actually correct or refute any facts, which makes me rather suspicious of your authenticity. Possibly you rephrased the semantics of 'stole' in the context of strong arming the enemy at the time.

It's common knowledge that many of Braun's team ended up at US defence contractors, it wasn't just military but also space exploration that benefited from their rocketry knowledge.

It's rather amusing to see someone purporting to be one of Jack's boys commenting on the "tinfoil" crowd, especially given that the article was about flying saucers... :)

[runjake]

Nothing I said wasn't already public knowledge, fwiw. A lot of this info is in Ben Rich's book, amongst others. My acknowledgement of Project Paperclip (which has been a dead horse beaten) pretty much refutes the "stole" part I was referencing. But maybe I've been reading too much about Apple vs. Samsung to know what the true definition of "stole" is, anymore.

It's rather amusing to see someone purporting to be one of Jack's boys

Who's Jack?