El Paso: Fort Bliss

Entrance gate with sign saying United States Army Fort Bliss, Pershing Gate
Group of men sitting around a table with posters and models of a Saturn rocket

Dr. Wernher von Braun with members of his management team, 1961 (NASA)

Wehner Von Braun standing at the engines of a rocket

Dr. von Braun stands by the five F1 engines of the Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle (NASA)

Photographers at the launch of a rocket

Launch of the first rocket, the Bumper 8, at Cape Canaveral, FL, July 1950 (NASA)

Group of men in suits posing for a picture

Group of 104 German rocket scientists in 1946, at Fort Bliss. (NASA)

Three cent stamp with drawing of a rocket taking off that says El Paso, Texas 1848-1948, Fort Bliss Centennial

Commemorative Fort Bliss postage stamp issued 1949.

It was called “Operation Paperclip.” As many as 500 German scientists – some of them Nazis, a few of them war criminals – were secretly brought to the United States at the end of World War II to build up America’s aerodynamics and rocketry technology. The aim of the secret program was to capture Nazi military knowledge and technology before the Russians could get their hands on it. The scientists were spread out across several military bases in the south and southwest – including here, at Fort Bliss – and the program was a precursor to NASA.

Fort Bliss is an active military base and access is limited.  Please call the First Armored Division and Fort Bliss Museum for detailed visitation instructions. Visitors typically gain access same day. 

First Armored Division and Fort Bliss Museum

  • Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
  • Admission: None
  • Building 1735, Marshall Rd., Fort Bliss, TX
  • 915-568-5412
  • Visit Website
  • National Register of Historic Places
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