Walter Jacobi, an original member of Dr. Wernher von Braun's rocket team that came to America at the end of World War II, died today.
He was 91.
Jacobi played an invaluable role in designing the structure and components of America's Cold War rockets that were developed by the Army on Redstone Arsenal and later NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center, close friends told The Times.
"Walter was one of those extremely friendly guys and very low key, and I never heard a cross word uttered by him," said Brooks Moore a retired Marshall Space Flight Center engineer who knew Jacobi. "He was really involved in our retired engineers events over the past decade, and, frankly, I'm shocked to hear of his death."
Today, Hans Fichtner, Dieter Grau, Rudolph H. Schlidt, Oscar Holderer are among the last of the original 118 scientists who came to America as part of Operation Paperclip - the American intelligence program that salvaged as much of Germany's V-2 rocket research and engineers as possible.