In September 1944, as Dr Theodore von Karman told it later, General Arnold asked him to form a scientific group that would develop guidelines for future aeronautical research, looking toward long-term programs. Arnold was particularly interested in the future of jet propulsion and of such guided missiles as the V-1 and V-2. He emphasized that interest in his first meeting with von Karman's group, when he said that the air forces had always been built around pilots, but that the next air force was going to be built around scientists.

Von Karman's committee began to see some progress from its meetings by early in 1945. In March that year, Arnold suggested that von Karman and a selected team go to Germany and find out what they could about aeronautical research and development. Much of Germany was in Allied hands by then, and already technical intelligence teams were finding and acquiring the weapons data of the Third Reich.

One of the early discoveries was a previously unknown research institute, named after Hermann Goering, well hidden in a forest near Brunswick. Part of the documents found there was a collection of data on sweepback, including the results of a series of systematic wind-tunnel tests. A quick glance showed that they confirmed the value of sweepback for drag reduction at high speeds. One of the von Karman team, a Boeing engineer named George Schairer, saw an immediate use for the data. Several American companies were designing advanced military aircraft for transonic performance, and sweepback was one of the obvious keys to solving the problems of rapid drag increases near the speed of sound. Information gathered by von Karman's group was forwarded to the United States and distributed throughout the aircraft industry as rapidly as possible. Schairer added his personal endorsement in his correspondence with Boeing.