Walther Riedel

From The Space Library

Walther Hans Heinrich Riedel was a German rocket engineer who worked at the Peenemunde rocket facility during World War II. He is frequently mistaken for Walter "Papa" Riedel, an earlier rocket scientist who also worked at Peenemunde.

Walther Riedel was born in Oscherslaben Germany in 23rd January 1903. He was captured at the end of World War II and brought to America as part of the US Army's Operation Paperclip campaign to employ German rocket scientists.

Riedel was naturalised in the United States at Tijuana on February 5th 1950 at which time he was working as a rocket propulsion expert for North American Aviation. He made a reputation in the 1950s when he spoke to the news media about the UFO phenomenon and expressed his belief that UFOs were alien spacecraft.