This paper analyzes American industrial contributions to wartime R&D efforts during World War II, by examining various R&D works of divisions 16 (Optics and Camouflage) and 17 (Physics) of the National Defense Research Committee. The R&D outcomes of divisions 16 and 17 were “scientific catchall”: there was no coherent research program, no concentration on a single project. Diversity of their research topics and urgency of their tasks led to the active use of reservoirs of industrial research. By investigating R&D processes and division of labor between industry and academia in various R&D works of division 16 and 17, this paper critically examines the effectiveness of the linear model of innovation.