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A3C Mike Bell
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Watson, Harold E., Maj Gen.
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Harold Ernest Watson was born in Farmington, Conn., Nov. 19, 1911. He graduated from high school there in 1929, and four years later received a degree in electrical engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N.Y. That September he joined Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company as a research engineer.
Appointed a flying cadet on Feb. 15, 1936, General Watson graduated from Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field, Texas, a year later. Assigned to the 96th Bomb Squadron at Langley Field, Va., the following year he attended the Air Corps Navigation School there. Moving to Wright-Patterson Field, Ohio, in November 1939, he performed research development and procurement work, and later was named chief of the Quality Control Division. In 1941 he received his master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan.
Going overseas in September 1944, General Watson was director of maintenance for the First Tactical Air Force in the European Theater of Operations. Following the war he was a test pilot of captured enemy aircraft, and headed the special mission which went into Germany to fly out the planes. Returning to Wright-Patterson Field in August 1945, General Watson was chief of the Technical Analysis Division.
One year later General Watson entered the Armed Forces Industrial College at Washington, D.C., and graduated in June 1947. He was then an industrial and economic adviser to the secretary of War, and five months later was appointed chief of the Strategic Targets Division at Air Force Headquarters. Returning to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in October 1947, he was chief of the Air Technical Intelligence Center.
Assigned to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in September 1951, General Watson was deputy assistant chief of staff for intelligence of the Allied Air Forces, Central Europe, at Fontainbleau, France. The following August he moved to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers in Europe, where for 14 months he directed two special groups on atomic planning. He was named assistant chief of staff for intelligence with the NATO Southern European Headquarters at Naples, Italy, in October 1953.
The following September General Watson resumed command of the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
His decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross; Air Medal; Bronze Star; French Croix de Guerre with palm and brevet; Militaire de Pilote D'Avion; and Czechoslovakian Medal of Merit. He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, and, from 1933 to 1942 was a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineering. He is rated a command pilot.
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Commissioned a second lieutenant in the Reserve June 20, 1937, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Regular Army Oct. 1, 1938; promoted to first lieutenant (temporary) Sept. 9, l940; to first lieutenant (permanent Oct. 10, 1941; to captain (temporary) Feb. 1, 1942; to major temporary) March 1, 1942; to major (permanent) Jan. 6, 1943; to lieutenant colonel (temporary) Jan. 9, 1943; to colonel (temporary) Sept. 16, 1944; to lieutenant colonel (permanent) July 1, 1948; to colonel (permanent) July 23, 1952; to brigadier general (temporary) July 30, 1954.
Watson's Whizzers - America's First Jet Fighter Squadron
Colonel "Hal" Watson was no stranger to flying new or unusual aircraft, and his engineering background made him a natural choice to lead the Air Technical Intelligence effort. Since the target lists he had been given included aircraft of all types, Watson divided the effort among two teams. One was dispatched in search of conventional aircraft, while the other team was charged with the jet mission. The pages which follow trace the history of the latter group.
While assigned to the 1st Tactical Air Force headquarters, Watson met a veteran P-47 pilot assigned to the staff there by the name of Lieutenant Robert C. Strobell. Although their duties rarely brought them into contact with one another, the two did have a rather odd opportunity to share a cockpit on one occasion. In early 1945, Watson received a request to fly back a stricken B-17 that was several miles away in France. Knowing that Strobell was a seasoned aviator, the Colonel made it a point to gather up Strobell on his way out of the door. Of course, the young fighter pilot had no great ambition to lumber about in a damaged bomber, but after a harrowing flight the two successfully recovered the plane. The Lieutenant's performance on that day clearly impressed Watson, for a few months later when word came down to assemble the exploitation teams, Strobell was immediately summoned to direct the efforts of the jet recovery group.
On the 20th of May, 1945, Strobell received orders assigning him to the mission. He recalls the meeting:
Watson came into my office with a stack of documents on the Me 262, and simply told me to draw field gear, go to Lechfeld, teach mechanics to restore the Me 262 to flying condition, teach pilots to fly the jet, and prepare to ferry the jets out of Germany. The whole meeting lasted less than two minutes. I told him that I was delighted. He didn't bother to ask if I had any questions. Neither of us knew how to operate or fly the Me 262, and so there were no answers.
The intelligence reports that I had been given indicated that there were Me 262's on the field that could be restored to flight condition. At that time I understood that there was a German crew at Lechfeld working on the jets, but I had no knowledge of how many jets were on the field.
Further details were noticeably absent.
With a loose understanding that the rest of the team would meet him there, Strobell gathered his equipment and set out for the captured airfield on the 27th of May. He was understandably wary of what he would find there, as the area had fallen to the U.S. Army only two or three weeks before.
While the terms of a new surrender were in place, many pockets of resistance were rumored to be active, especially in southern Germany and Austria -- prime Me 262 country. To his way of thinking, Lechfeld was still very much "enemy territory." Strobell boarded a transport headed southeast knowing that it was a one way ticket. When and if he was coming back, it would have to be in a Messerschmitt.
