18. Operation Pastorius could have crippled the US aircraft Industry
Among the targets assigned to the teams of Operation Pastorius were the Alcoa aluminum plants, critical to the aviation industry, and another target necessary for the manufacturing of aluminum. A cryolite plant near Philadelphia was targeted by the sabotage planners in the Abwehr. Cryolite was a necessary component in smelting aluminum. Nearly all cryolite available to the United States at the time was found in Greenland, brought by ship to Canadian and American ports. The Philadelphia cryolite plant was thus itself critical for the continued manufacturing of aluminum in the United States.
The railroad bridge at Hell Gate in New York was a vital link in the connections between the Canadian port of Halifax and the east coast rail marshaling yards. The Altoona railyards and repair shops were as well. Operation Pastorius was designed to cripple them all, interrupting the flow of raw materials to manufacture aluminum in the United States. Hitler and the German war planners knew of FDR’s announced intention of manufacturing 50,000 airplanes a year (which was ridiculed in Congress before the war) and were determined to disrupt his plans. The United States exceeded Roosevelt’s call in 1943, and in 1944 manufactured over 96,000 aircraft.