Oscar Holderer

Oscar Carl Holderer (November 4, 1919 – May 5, 2015) was an engineer who worked for Nazi Germany during World War II before coming to the United States and working in the Apollo space program.

[2] During World War II, Holderer worked for the German military as a low-level engineer under Wernher von Braun.

[1] After a few years in White Sands, New Mexico, the Paperclip team moved to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, in 1950.

[3] When Holderer arrived at Redstone Arsenal, he rented a home from Milton K. Cummings' sister for two months.

Unlike the rest of von Braun's team, he did not build his house on Monte Sano, but instead selected a country spot in northwest Huntsville.

[4] According to Space Historian and former NASA publicist Ed Buckbee, Holderer personally brought America's first rocket wind tunnel from Germany and set it up for early testing.

[5] When Alabama decided to erect a Saturn IB at the I-65 welcome center in 1979, Holderer was asked to facilitate.

He had two sons with his first wife Inge Spors Holderer, to whom he was married for 50 years: Thomas and Michael.