Braun did some very good engineering back in WW2 and for the American space projects.

Not sure about that. The quote below is from a Smithsonian interview * withg the author of a book about Von Braun :


I mean he was incredibly talented. His real talent was not being a scientist or an engineer. He had a Ph.D. in physics, but he really was an engineer. But it was engineering management: He had this talent for managing large engineering organizations. Not only managing but also constructing these systems for building really exotic new technologies. And he had a vision of how to construct this giant engineering team to do something that no one had ever done before. And that was his real genius. In terms of nuts and bolts invention of technology, he wasn’t any smarter than a lot of people. And probably wasn’t even as good as a lot of other people. But as an engineering manager, he had a very rare talent.

So more of a manager with a vision rather than hands-on engineer. And he had nothing to do with the V1, which was a Fiesler aircrft / Argus engines development.

Nigel B.

* https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/a-amp-s-interview-michael-j-neufeld-23236520/