In case anyone's interested: yesterday I stumbled on an IRE paper that answers my question from last year. It's a good read, although short, about the VTDC and related organizations. Definitely recommended reading. Here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/254do4q

Last week I visited Harvard's archives of the Radio Research Lab, and found some meeting minutes of the Vacuum Tube Development Committee (1943-1945 timeframe) .... I can't find much online that nicely summarizes this committee and its activity / purpose. Can someone here point me to a good overview?