1948-11-05 USA Fort Bliss Centennial

This stamp, released on November 5, 1948, marks the 100th anniversary of Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, and honors its significance as a rocket testing site. Additionally, it is the first U.S. stamp to feature rockets and spacecraft.

This First Day Cover commemorating the Fort Bliss Centennial features the signature of Wernher von Braun, a prominent rocket engineer known for his significant contributions to various aspects of rocketry and space exploration. - Gallery of History Direct
Wernher von Braun was a key figure in rocket engineering from the 1930s to the 1970s. From a young age, he showed a strong passion for space travel and interplanetary exploration. He became a founding member of Germany's amateur rocket group, Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR), in 1929. In 1932, the German Army recognized von Braun’s experimental contributions at VfR and hired him to research and develop liquid propellant rockets at Kummersdorf, a well-known rocket testing facility.

Photo: Dr. Wernher Von Braun, Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center at NASA from July 1960 to January 1970, located in Huntsville, Alabama.
Von Braun and his team developed the A-4, commonly known as the V-2, for the Nazis during World War II. The V-2, a liquid propellant missile, served as a direct precursor to the missiles used in space exploration programs in both the United States and the Soviet Union. First launched in October 1942, it was utilized against targets in Europe starting in September 1944.

A postcard depicting an early prototype of a V-2 rocket, decorated with a black-and-white roll pattern design to assist in tracking the rocket post-launch.
In March 1945, von Braun realized that Germany was unlikely to win against the Allies. Fearing capture by the Soviets as prisoners of war, he began orchestrating the surrender of himself and his team to the advancing American forces. Following World War II, von Braun was recruited to the United States. He signed a contract with the U.S. Army and was flown to the U.S. in September, where he was appointed as a technical advisor at the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico and as the technical director for the missile project at Fort Bliss, Texas.

A First Day Cover featuring an image of German scientists who were recruited to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.
Photo of the German scientists who were recruited to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.
As part of a U.S. military initiative known as Operation Paperclip (named for the paperclips used by the Secretary of State to attach the files of selected individuals), 500 German rocket scientists, along with plans and test vehicles, were brought from defeated Germany to the United States. They were stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, where they developed rockets for the U.S. Army, including launching the captured German V-2 rockets for test flights and experiments at the White Sands Proving Ground. This group of rocket specialists spent five years at Fort Bliss before moving to Huntsville's Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.

Signed by Von Braun's rocket team member, Eberhard Rees.
Signed by Von Braun's rocket team member, Kurt Debus.
Signed by Von Braun's rocket team member, Dieter Grau.
Signed by Von Braun's rocket team member, Ernst Stuhlinger.
Signed by Von Braun's rocket team member, Georg von Tiesenhausen.
Signed by Von Braun's rocket team member, Konrad Dannenberg.
Signed by Von Braun's rocket team member, Oscar Holderer.
Signed by Von Braun's rocket team member, Walter Jacobi.
Signed by Von Braun's rocket team member, Werner Dahm.
In 1959, Von Braun's rocket development team was transferred from the Army to the newly formed NASA and tasked with constructing the massive Saturn rockets. As a result, von Braun became the director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the principal architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle. The Saturn rockets, which first carried humans to the moon in 1969, were direct successors to the V-2 and were developed by Wernher von Braun and many of the same team members.

Photo: Wernher von Braun (center) with Maj. Gen. Frank S. Besson, Chief of Army Transportation (left), and Maj. Gen. August Schomburg (right) during the ceremony on December 13, 1960, for the transfer of the Saturn transport barge—a 180-foot barge designed to transport the Saturn launch vehicle from the Marshall Space Flight Center to Cape Canaveral by water—to the Civilian Space Agency.
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