I wasn't thinking of them being caught by the USSR, just not being caught at all.
Most of the people scooped up in Paperclip
wanted to be caught though. These were people who had things all of the victorious powers wanted, at least a little and a good number of them had reason to try to seek a pardon from a powerful patron before their crimes in Germany came to light.
Their experience and knowledge were invaluable. Otherwise, why bother with them at all.
I wouldn't say invaluable. In rocketry, for example, I'd say that, at most, the Germans put the US 5 years ahead in the 50s, maybe 2 years ahead in the 60s and no years ahead by the 70s.
Indeed, in some ways I'd say that the Germans had a regressive effect on US rocketry.
Also... I could be wrong, but I very much doubt the UK would be able to fund a space program...
The UK had a rocket program into the 60s and was almost as wealthy (alone) as the Soviet Union. In a different political environment it is possible to see the programing thriving - at the very least a Japan-level program is plausible. If the British manage to get a Commonwealth program working, it could support levels of activity akin to those of the Soviet program...
The politics of that are difficult, but if the political will is there, the money is there.
Launch location is always the basic problem. You have to get as close to the equator as possible.
You don't need to... For some orbits, a high latitude position is better. Being on the equator is most important for commercial launches, since geostationary orbits are so useful for those satellites.
Arguably, instead of spending so much developing Woomera, the British would have been better expanding their test site in Scotland to a full launch center, since that was closer to the places where the rocket parts were manufactured.
fasquardon