Towards the end of the Second World War, once Allied victory was becoming apparent, focus fell on investigating German scientific and technological advances that were in progress and had been achieved during the war. The reasons for this were many; fear that the Nazi regime would seek to destroy such advances, fear that the advances might instead fall into the hands of the Soviet Union and a desire to prevent Germany from being able to easily become a strong economic and military aggressor again.
Many engineers were involved in this process through providing their technical expertise and specialist knowledge from their civilian roles. The experience of two engineers, one an IEE Member and one an IMechE member is documented here.
Aldington, an expert in fluorescent lamps, joined a British Intelligence trip to Germany shortly after the end of the war. Aldington’s papers provide an insight into life in Germany immediately post-war.
Carling, a locomotive engineer with experience on testing, joined British trips to Germany before and after the end of the war focusing on the transport of fuel and German advances on torpedoes.