Knauf, Paul W., Jr.

Paul W. Knauf, Jr., was born in Philadelphia on June 28, 1900. Knauf was an engineer who served in the 805th Signal Service Company of the Army Signal Corps during Warld War II. He worked on projects which devloped digital transmission of voice and images.

In 1922 Knauf graduated from Drexel University (then the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry) with a degree in engineering. He worked for Bell Telephone of Pennsylvania and served in the U.S. Army Reserve until 1939. Following American entrance into the Second World War, Knauf returned to the Army and served as a Captain in the 805th Signal Service Company of the Army Signal Corps. On April 3, 1943, Knauf became one of the earliest members of this new company to be certified by the Bell Telephone Laboratories School for War Training for work on RC-220-T1 terminals and auxiliary equipment. The RC-220-T1 program focused on improving communications security by first converting voice signals into digital data and then, once the data had arrived at its destination, reconstructing the digital data back into a voice signal. The knowledge gained under this program (known by a variety of nicknames, including SIGSALY, Project X, and "The Green Hornet") provided many insights into digital telecommunications.

While stationed in London, Knauf encountered another new machine in the Signal Corps Headquarters. This piece of equipment used the same radio channels as the SIGSALY to electronically transmit black and white photographs from London to Washington, D.C. It took this radio telephotograph machine about seven minutes to transmit a black and white photograph across the Atlantic. Thus, remarkably, photographs taken on the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion could be transported by air to London, developed (if not already developed at a field laboratory), transmitted to the States, distributed to the American wire services, and published in American newspapers all in a matter of hours.

Following the conclusion of the Second World War Knauf returned home to Pennsylvania with a number of photographs that were offered to him by one of the operators of the telephotograph machine. Well into his 80s he was still serving as a lieutenant colonel in the Army’s Retired Reserve. In 1988 Knauf loaned his collection of photographs to his alma mater for an exhibit at the Drexel University Museum entitled "Images for the Folks Back Home: U.S. Military Photographs of World War II and their Technology." Knauf passed away on May 14, 1999, in Doylestown (Bucks County), Pennsylvania.

Boone, J. V. and R. R. Peterson. "The Start of the Digital Revolution: SIGSALY Secure Digital Voice Communications in WWII." Brochure published by the National Security Agency / Central Security Service, 2000. Available online at http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00019.cfm#top (aAccessed 30 July 2008). Williams, Edgar. "D-Day Countdown Recalled by One Who Helped it Happen." Philadelphia Inquirer, June 6, 1988, B1. Social Security Death Index. Drexel University Museum. Images for the Folks Back Home: U.S. Military Photographs of World War II and their Technology. Warminster, PA: American Brochure & Catalog Company, 1988. Additional information derived from the collection.

From the guide to the Paul W. Knauf, Jr. World War II photograph collection, 1943–1945, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)