Raketenstelle Alt-Georgetown
| Successor | Weltraumgruppen |
|---|---|
| Founded | 12 May 1951 |
| Founders | |
| Founded at | Georgetown, Tanoa |
| Dissolved | 4 October 1956 |
| Type | Rocket engineering office |
| Purpose | Reconstruction and adaptation of German rocket technology |
| Headquarters | Werkhof 17, Alt-Georgetown, Georgetown, Tanoa |
| Origins | Operation Sternzug |
Area served | |
| Products |
|
Official languages |
|
Military director | Walter Dornberger |
Scientific director | Wernher von Braun |
Industrial procurement | Lisandro Aráoz Valdivia |
Parent organization | Tanoa Einsatzgruppen |
| Affiliations | |
| Staff | 684 (October 1956) |
The Raketenstelle Alt-Georgetown was a rocket engineering office of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen in Georgetown, Tanoa. Established on 12 May 1951, it converted the German technical archive obtained through Operation Sternzug into working components and manufacturing drawings. Its engineers reconstructed V-2 propulsion and guidance equipment. They then adapted the designs to Tanoan and Argentine production.
The office occupied Werkhof 17 in the original port-industrial district later called Alt-Georgetown. Walter Dornberger directed military policy and site security, while Wernher von Braun controlled scientific work. Argentine engineer Lisandro Aráoz Valdivia organized industrial procurement. The Oberkommando absorbed the office into the newly formed Weltraumgruppen on 4 October 1956. The new branch retained its archive and technical departments.
Establishment
[edit | edit source]Operation Sternzug delivered the first copied V-2 records to Tanoan custody in June 1945. The Peenemünde group reached Tanoa in February 1946 and spent the following years sorting drawings that had arrived in separate shipments. Some firing reports lacked their corresponding component plans, while duplicate documents carried different wartime revisions. Von Braun established a temporary review group in Georgetown to compare the records and identify the version used in the final Peenemünde tests. Dornberger controlled access to the group through military orders because the recovered material remained concealed from Allied authorities. This work produced a usable technical index by October 1950 and allowed the Oberkommando to authorize a permanent office.
The Raketenstelle opened with 312 staff on 12 May 1951. German engineers held responsibility for interpreting the archive, while Tanoan technicians rebuilt equipment from the approved drawings. Translators prepared Spanish production sheets for Argentine workshops. Dornberger reported to the Oberkommando and approved the movement of classified material outside Georgetown. Von Braun decided which design revision entered reconstruction and assigned the technical groups. Aráoz Valdivia controlled contracts and divided component work between suppliers so that each workshop received only the drawings required for its assignment. The office therefore combined military authority with a technical review system and a compartmented production network.
Site and organization
[edit | edit source]Werkhof 17 covered 6.8 hectares beside the old Georgetown freight quay. A reinforced basement beneath Speicherhaus 3 held the original archive. Drawing rooms on the floors above produced controlled working copies, which were collected at the end of each shift. Maschinenhalle A contained the pump benches and measured 92 m by 34 m. A separate guidance workshop used isolated foundations to protect its gyroscopes from vibration produced by the machinery hall. A rail spur entered the compound through its eastern gate and carried heavy components to the quay. These arrangements allowed documents to move from the archive to engineering review while completed machinery left through a controlled freight route.
The Archiv- und Übersetzungsstelle indexed the German records before releasing drawings to the Konstruktionsbüro. Engineers in that office converted the selected design into dimensions and tolerances available to Tanoan workshops. Prüfgruppe Antrieb tested pumps and combustion components, while Leitwerkstatt Steuerung assembled guidance equipment on vibration-controlled benches. Fertigungslenkung issued the approved production sheets to Patagonia and reconciled returned measurements with the master drawings. The Allgemeine SS guarded the perimeter and inspected outgoing freight. Glöbbery maintained the false identities used by transferred German personnel. Staffing reached 684 in October 1956 as component testing and Patagonian production expanded.
Technical program
[edit | edit source]The first turbopump reconstruction failed on 23 February 1952 when cavitation damaged the impeller during acceleration. Engineers changed the inlet geometry and strengthened the bearing housing before a revised pump completed a 165-second test on 7 November. Guidance work advanced through a separate bench program because the gyroscopes required stable temperature and vibration conditions. On 3 March 1953, a reconstructed inertial package held its programmed attitude for twelve minutes. The result allowed the Konstruktionsbüro to combine the propulsion and guidance drawings into the first complete Tanoan vehicle specification. Kurt Debus then converted the specification into launch procedures, while Eberhard Rees reorganized the production records for repeat manufacture.
Arthur Rudolph directed production planning for the airframe sections, and Konrad Dannenberg adapted the propulsion components to locally available alloys. A combustion chamber completed a 42-second full-thrust firing on 18 August 1953. The enclosed Georgetown test hall remained poorly suited to sustained engine work. On 14 June 1954, an alcohol-feed line ruptured during preparation for another firing and ignited inside Maschinenhalle A. Three technicians were killed and eleven were injured. The Oberkommando prohibited further complete-engine firings at Werkhof 17 after the accident. The office retained pump and component benches, while the planned Prüfstand Tuvanaka-Nord received responsibility for full propulsion tests.
Security and production network
[edit | edit source]Security controls changed after a draftsman attempted to remove photographic copies of a complete guidance assembly on 26 January 1953. Guards arrested him at the freight gate before the copies left Werkhof 17. Dornberger responded by separating master drawings from production sheets and requiring a nightly count of every controlled copy. Engineers accessed drawings by component assignment. Fertigungslenkung released dimensional extracts to outside workshops. This system protected the complete vehicle design while allowing Argentine suppliers to manufacture pumps and electrical assemblies. The same drawing-control method later became standard inside the Amtsgruppe Raketenwesen.
Aráoz Valdivia initially worked through Argentine aerospace contacts established before Tanoa controlled Argentine territory. The takeover of Patagonia in 1953 gave the office direct access to ports and industrial land.[1] Increasing component size then exceeded the handling capacity of Werkhof 17. On 18 November 1954, a Raketenstelle survey group selected Puerto Deseado for heavy fabrication because its harbor could receive large machine tools and ship completed sections to Tanoa. Construction of the Astillero Aeroespacial del Atlántico Sur began on 7 March 1956. Georgetown retained authority over the archive and design system. The Patagonian works prepared pressure sections and large machinery.
Reorganization and legacy
[edit | edit source]By 1955, the Raketenstelle had reconstructed the propulsion and guidance systems required for a complete test vehicle. The Konstruktionsbüro approved the production design of the A-4T Tanoa on 9 December 1955. Component manufacture continued through 1956 as the Tuvanaka test site and Puerto Deseado works were being constructed. This geographic expansion placed launch preparation and heavy fabrication beyond the authority of a single engineering office. Dornberger proposed a separate branch with command over the archive and the new facilities. The Oberkommando approved the reorganization on 4 October 1956 and dissolved the Raketenstelle as an independent office.
Its Konstruktionsbüro and propulsion group became the core of the Amtsgruppe Raketenwesen. Debus transferred the launch procedures to the Tuvanaka organization, while Rees and Rudolph continued coordinating production through the Patagonian network. The original archive remained beneath Speicherhaus 3 and served as the controlled design repository for the early Weltraumgruppen. Prüfstand Tuvanaka-Nord conducted the first successful complete-engine test on 18 March 1957. The A-4T program then led to the high-altitude launch from Startplatz Lijnhaven-Ost on 9 August 1958, completing the development sequence begun at Werkhof 17.
See also
[edit | edit source]- History of the Weltraumgruppen
- Facilities of the Weltraumgruppen
- List of Weltraumgruppen launch vehicles