Secret Nazi experimental plane was an epic piece of vaporware

Vapourware?!! You wouldn’t be saying that if Captain America hadn’t stopped the big version of these babies blowing up America.
PS - sorry alahmnat, didn’t see you got there first.

6 Likes

I seem to remember somebody rebuilding a new one of these in order to learn how it was supposed to work.

1 Like

Northrop had first made a much smaller one, very close in size to this german plane.

1 Like

Non-flying mock-up, focusing on the alleged stealth qualities: Horten Ho 229 - Wikipedia

1 Like

World of Warplanes DLC confirmed!

2 Likes

No worries, GMTA :slight_smile:

1 Like

Still too big. :wink:

image

2 Likes

The Germans were pushed into glider manufacture after the second world war. This benefits them even today, because they still make fantastic sailplanes.

2 Likes

“provided you airbrush the swastikas off”

If Patrick Little gets elected, perhaps he’ll want to keep the Swastikas?


Flying wings sure look awesome. A B2 once flew over my neighborhood, and I was pretty sure space aliens were coming!

2 Likes

Yeah. Had the Germans been led by a not-crazy the air superiority battle may have turned out differently.

The ME 262 used to eat P-51s for breakfast,

Of course, had their leader been not-crazy, it is highly likely they would not have been in a war. But that’s by the by.

1 Like

That would be the Horten H.XVIII, which thankfully never got past the drawing board phase.

4 Likes

They’ve put the fuselage on display now. Wings still have yet to go through renovations.

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/horten-ho-229-v3

3 Likes

image

4 Likes

I will argue that they did not eat p51s for breakfast. At all. The fighting 99th specifically was credited with putting many of these out of commission. Additionally while the 262 has speed on the mustangs it was not nearly as agile or manuverable. They relied on that blazing speed to make strafing runs and then out running anything in pursuit. But they could easily be taken on if engaged by superior American pilots and aircraft better designed for dog fights

4 Likes

Everyone was crazy about sci fi jets in those days …

Fortunately not everyone had enough money, time and resources to put ideas into practice.

3 Likes

I don’t get the vaporware angle. It was an aircraft, that went through a normal design evolution through a series of prototypes. The prototypes flew, and observations were made during the flights which led to a series of design changes. The aircraft seemed to have the potential to exceed it’s design requirements.
Production and design ceased because the war ended. But perfecting the tailless design was a common goal of several aircraft design centers. It can be reasonable argued that the Horton design was ahead of the Northrop design in 1945.

3 Likes

There she is.

7 Likes

Russell Lee, the chair of the Aeronautics Department at the National Air and Space Museum, suggests that for the Horten brothers an important purpose of the project was to prevent them and their workers from being assigned to more dangerous roles by the German military.

And there was much rejoicing.

1 Like

ironsky-ship

8 Likes

Oh, neat!