[1] It visited Bad Oeynhausen, Bad Eilsen, Völkenrode, Braunschweig, Magdeburg, Oschersleben, Staßfurt, Dessau, Kothen, Nordhausen, Göttingen, Kassel, Eisenach, Frankfurt, Rüsselsheim, Darmstadt, Stuttgart, Esslingen, Reutlingen, Mengen, Lindau, Freising, Munich, Rosenheim, Kochel, Oberammergau, Kolbermoor, Salzburg, Spittal, Villach, and Klagenfurt.
In any event, the capture of German technology by both the United States and Soviet Union contributed to an acceleration of the postwar arms race.
[12] The Mission left RAF Northolt on Tuesday, 12 June 1945 at 14.15, bound for Bückeburg, Germany, 25 mi (40 km) southwest of Hannover.
[18] Völkenrode, today a western district of the nearby city of Braunschweig, was at the top of Fedden's list — despite its eventual presence on the west side of the Inner German border, with Völkenrode being within West German borders — because it was initially within the designated Russian Zone of Occupation, due to be handed over from British control (in which it was when he departed) in a matter of days.
[19] When the Mission arrived, the LFA had already been stripped by Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee (CIOS) teams, and was (despite being in the British Zone) effectively in U.S.
The members also viewed examples of the Rheinmetall-Börsig F25 Feuerlilie surface-to-air missile, named for the Fire Lily flower (though the Mission Report shows photographs of the F55), and examples of documentation concerning the competing designs for the Amerikabomber design competition (which is suspected to not have included any mention, nor discovered any evidence of Heinkel's entry in the program), as well as the Engine Department.
[21] While the team found evidence of trials of photoelastic lacquers for stress tests, it proved impossible to interview any of the laboratory staff to learn more.
[23] While at Völkenrode, the Americans stole equipment from under the noses of the British (including an interferometer),[24] only to have the thefts denied when confronted by Britain at Potsdam.
[28] The same day, the second Mission group flew to Oschersleben (the home of AGO, a major Fw 190A subcontractor) then drove by Jeep to the Junkers jet engine plant at Magdeburg.
[29] Otto Hartkopf, then acting works manager, conducted the Junkers factory tour, explaining all the jet engine drawings had already been removed.
)[30] The Mission observed the construction methods of the 004; Fedden criticized the attachment of the 004's compressor casing, which was in two halves, bolted to the half-sections of the stator assemblies.
[31] Despite adding plants at Spandau, Nordhausen, and Prague, BMW never reached the production target of 5,000 to 6,000 109-003 engines a month, with only some 500 examples[citation needed] of the 003 built before V-E Day.
[33] The Mission conducted extensive interviews with the managing director, Mr. Schaaf, and the senior planning engineer, Mr. Dorls, as well as Hartkopf, comparing piston and jet engine production; the Mission compiled a table of comparative cost of materials, finding jets were between one half and two-thirds as costly, as well as being simpler and requiring lower-skill labor and less sophisticated tooling; in fact, most of making of hollow turbine blades and sheet metal work on jets could be done by tooling used in making automobile body panels.
[43] While at Munich, the Mission examined several 801 developments, including a turbocharged version with hollow turbine blades; several of these were apparently abandoned at Kassel's airfield[44] They also examined the Wright Duplex-Cyclone displacement class BMW 802, an "interesting and unorthodox design" by Sachse;[45] Fedden considered it "one of the most interesting piston engines seen in Germany".
[48] Unable to visit Daimler-Benz's Stuttgart works until the second trip in July,[47] the Mission nevertheless found contradictions between his briefing before departure and what his interviews with the company's general manager, Mr. Haspel, and chief designer, Dr. Schmidt, told him.
[12]>[50] At Völkenrode, the Mission found examples of Otto Lutz's swing-piston engine, developed co-operatively with Bussing of Braunschweig, with work also done by Mahle and Bosch.
[52] They got better information on German aircraft spark plugs, from BMW, Daimler, and Bosch, but not from Beru or Siemens, finding, in general, improvements focused on better performance at altitude or hotter, usually with better insulators or cooling.
[57] The works there were a taste of the future, and Fedden interviewed a number of Messerschmitt's senior engineers, including Hans Hornung, Joseph Helmschrott, and chief designer Waldemar Voigt.
[63] For his part, Albert Speer wondered why the Allies never attacked the few engine manufacturing works, which, he suggested, would have crippled German production.
[65] A sub-group of the Mission, with some further British aeronautical design engineers, returned to Germany from 16–25 July 1945, working out of Freising, to examine the BMW high-altitude test chamber at Munich, as well as German facilities at Stuttgart, Göttingen, Volkenrode, and Kochel, in order to gather more information on German turbine manufacture and to witness the testing of the Goblin on the Munich testbed.
It was used for trials on BMW and Jumo turbine engines, as well as the 801; Soestmeyer reported RLM had intended to build similar facilities at the central Luftwaffe test station, or Erprobungsstelle at Rechlin, and in Berlin, Dessau, and Stuttgart.
[66] While in Germany, the team also returned to the enormous research station at Volkenrode, to Stuttgart, Göttingen, and Kochel, and on a day off (22 July 1945) visited Salzburg and Berchtesgaden in the Dakota.
[65] The Mission returned to Britain with a Volkswagen on board, as well as a number of jet engines and rocket motors, turbine blades, and "a large quantity of drawings",[68] yet much less than the Americans, which came to nearer 2,000 tons.