Most of you may be aware of this fighter-bomber. It was the first all wing jet plane and was flown first in 1944.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqgfjXaJxV8

Butch, that was just fascinating. It had to have been very interesting to interview the Horton brothers later in life. I wonder if they were at all repentant about Nazi policies.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Butch, that was just fascinating. It had to have been very interesting to interview the Horton brothers later in life. I wonder if they were at all repentant about Nazi policies.

Bill, I was impressed with it and glad that it didn't get to go further.

Butch, their plans for the long-range "Amerika bomber" with a nuclear payload are chilling to this day.

There's a Horton at the Air & Space Museum next to Dulles. It's in the restoration area.

The entire aviation program of the Nazi machine makes for fascinating reading. They successfully flew their first jet plane in something like 1937. Look where the rest of the western aviation development was at. IIRC, the U.S. Navy still had some biplanes in service at that time.

Look at Hitler's big mistake, the ME 262. Had he continued with it as an air superiority fighter rather than sending it back to the drawing board as a fighter bomber it would have been fielded at least 2 years earlier and the Allied bombing campaign might have ended differently.

Just my opinion from my reading.

Dave, the Nazis made all kinds of strategic mistakes, and thank God they did.

There are a couple of detailed models available of the Ho-229. Dragon/DML have one in 1/48. There are a couple of versions made. There is also a 1/32 model made by Zoukei-Mura. That last company has couple other interesting late-war kits in 1/32; a Ta-152, and ...I don't remember the name, but it's a Japanese canard pusher plane, offered with piston or jet power.

Yes I saw the show that the Northrup model shop made of the pole model to test its RCS. It turned out to have a pretty low signature. Too bad the US didn't appreciate what they had at the time.

Great bunch of guys, I truly miss working with folks like that.

quote:

Originally posted by LongDistanceOperator:
There are a couple of detailed models available of the Ho-229. Dragon/DML have one in 1/48. There are a couple of versions made. There is also a 1/32 model made by Zoukei-Mura. That last company has couple other interesting late-war kits in 1/32; a Ta-152, and ...I don't remember the name, but it's a Japanese canard pusher plane, offered with piston or jet power.

I have the Dragon/DML model and from what I can find on the subject it is pretty much dead on. I have several other of their models of Nazi war planes and all of them seem to be well researched. Well worth the money if you're a modeler.

quote:

Originally posted by Cougarz:
Yes I saw the show that the Northrup model shop made of the pole model to test its RCS. It turned out to have a pretty low signature. Too bad the US didn't appreciate what they had at the time.

Great bunch of guys, I truly miss working with folks like that.

I saw that special. Was fascinating to watch the build and then the testing. Maybe we should refer to the 229 as the first stealth technology aircraft.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Butch, their plans for the long-range "Amerika bomber" with a nuclear payload are chilling to this day.

Fortunately, their reach exceeded their grasp. Germans never got the reality of economics when it comes to warfare.

Grizz

Quantity has a quality all of its own...save the M4 Sherman after 1943...when the Pershing and the Comet projects were delayed and delayed.

But for every hour, week, month expended by the Nazis on the Horton, the Komet, the Jagdtiger etc., it was one less hour, week, month production of the FW 190 or the Panther tank.

Vanity projects and an obsession with wonder weapons fortunately did little but waste Germany's dwindling resources.

Their weapons acquisition and r&d was so wasteful, it makes me wonder if some engineers were deliberately wasting times, resources, and money, in order to have a negative effect on the war effort.