I first met Walt in the offices of the City of Huntsville where he was assisting with the work of the New Business Development Board of the Chamber of Commerce to bring new industry to the town.
Walt was one of the 128 Germans who the Americans ‘lifted’ from Germany to start the American Space Program under the leadership of Wehner Von Braun. A corporal in the Luftwaffe during the war Walt went on to be an important member of the Huntsville Team and an active member of the Chamber of Commerce in his recruitment work on behalf of the city.
On one memorable occasion in Huntsville I had invited Gregori Hosen to lunch with Walt and me. Gregori was on a visit to the University of Alabama in Huntsville. By this time I was a regular visitor to Moscow with my company established there. Gregori referred to himself as ‘the archivist of the American Space Program’. In all probability what that meant was that he was the KGB control officer for the agents that Russia had in Huntsville during the Cold War (and afterwards).
As the meal went on and the wine flowed I asked him “Why with all that information coming back from your operatives didn’t the Russians get further ahead?”
“Colin”, he answered, “We gave them all the information and they just said, “No, we wouldn’t do it that way!”
To which i replied “So we could have left all the doors unbolted and the files unlocked and it would have made no difference?” “No difference” he confirmed.