Career
He was among the scientists to surrender and travel to the United States to provide rocketry expertise via Operation Paperclip which took them first to Fort Bliss, Texas (1945–1949). He continued his work with the team when they moved to Redstone Arsenal, and he joined Marshall Space Flight Center to work for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In a personal letter to a space aficionado, Fichtner wrote, "I worked at Peenemünde to design the control system of the A4. Later I laid out the electrical system for the V-2 ground and airborne.
Arrived at the States with the 55 specialists November 17, 45, designed the electrical system for all White Sands V-2 launches in the first 11⁄2 years.
Did all the electrical systems design for Redstone, Mercury-Redstone, Jupiter, Pershing missile. Was totally responsible for the entire ground and airborne electrical systems for the Apollo 100, 200 series, all Saturn V firings and Skylab after Apollo project
Was Chief engineer for the satellite series high energy astronomy observatory (Hoger Economisch en Administratief Onderwijs). Worked as a consultant for the layout of the Spacelab.
Electrical system with European Space Agency in the Netherlands 1975/76.
Introduced the automated, computerized checkout and firing sequence during the Saturn/Apollo program".