WW2 aicrafts proyects & prototipes.

Site Issues 2007 Archive Room
#1

Gotha 229 (Ho-IX)r

Specific Features: The Gotha Go-229, or Horten Ho-IX depending on which designers you think are more “totally rad”, is an interesting design from the late war crazy Luftwaffe department made more notable by its visually apparent relation to modern aircraft like the B-2 “Stealth” Bomber. The order was made in 1943 for a fast heavy-fighter bomber and Walter and Reimar Horten received approval from fat bastard Herman Goering for their tailless aircraft design. The aircraft mounted a Jumo turbojet inside each streamlined wing and carried an armament of four heavy 30mm cannons and two heavy bomb hard points. Speaking as a purely objective and scientific observer the aircraft was nothing short of screaming jet-powered sex. It was an unusual and almost organic-looking design that featured a number of unique components which would have probably made it difficult to maintain. The final production model was to have been a two-seat fighter with advanced (well, as advanced as those things got in that day and age) radar mounted in the elongated nose.

The last remaining Go-229 is kept disassembled in storage in Maryland.
History: Three prototypes of the Go-229 were constructed and two of these were tested and flown, making it one of the most practical aircraft I’ve covered in one of these pieces. The first prototype was built as a glider and flew in 1944 to test the airframe’s airworthiness and provide data for future modifications. The second prototype was constructed while the first was being tested and took to the skies in February of 1945 powered by a pair of stand-in BMW turbojet engines. Test pilot Erwin Ziller reported that the aircraft performed admirably on both this test and during a second test, although during the second the undercarriage was slightly damaged during landing. The third test saw a catastrophic engine failure and the death of the famed test pilot, but hey, you can’t always get things like that right!

Work on a third prototype continued despite this mishap. The Go-229 was larger than the two previous prototypes, mounted the Jumo turbojets, and was intended to serve as a model for the ordered pre-production run of 20 aircraft. Only a few weeks later in mid-April the facility where the Go-229 was to be produced was overrun by American forces. The completed third prototype and four other partially assembled early production models were captured. In over fifty years since this incredible and, dare I say, erotic aircraft first took to the skies only two production aircraft have directly benefited from the work of the Hortens on the Go-229 and similar designs. The first was the Concord aircraft, which utilized much of the Hortens’ research but very little of the actual design. No, the true spiritual successor of the Go-229 is America’s B-2 Stealth Bomber. In those 50 years of development and technological achievement we somehow went from a sleek, fast, and maneuverable fighter to a lumbering and slow bomber that requires a fucking super computer to keep it from crashing into a ditch and looks about as sexy in the sky as a drowned bat covered in superglue.

#2

Saenger “Amerika” Orbital Bomber

Specific Features: One of the most “out there” aircraft conceived in a wide field of really crazy planes that often got really far in the design process, Saenger’s “Amerika” bomber was intended to be capable of rapidly deploying to attack any target anywhere in the world. The aircraft was revolutionary on many fronts, from its incredible (and likely terminal) speed to its bizarre launch method, Saenger was willing to “go there”. His sort of fantastical approach to science was extremely popular with engineers and scientists in Germany, sometimes producing amazing technology; other times wasting incredible amounts of resources in otherwise obvious pipedreams.

The Amerika Bomber, had it ever passed the prototyping stage, would have been propelled into the air by a massive 600-ton thrust liquid fuel rocket. Not content to simply shoot stuff into the air, Saenger wanted to use this massive booster to shoot a rocket train into the air. The Amerika Bomber was to be mounted on a monorail dolly that also mounted the booster unit. The dolly would have shot down a three kilometer long angled rail in a mere 11 seconds and lifted the Amerika Bomber into the sky roughly a mile. At this point the aircraft’s beastly internal rocket thruster would have activated and lifted the plane to a low-orbit altitude of 145 kilometers and a speed of 22,100kph. The plane could have theoretically reached any location on the planet in under an hour and dropped a single 8,000lb bomb. With Germany’s actual innovations in precision and wire-guided bombs this means individual buildings in major cities around the world could have been targeted by a massive conventional bomb. Other options include dropping in German storm troops, crazy battle robots, or possibly thousands of spiders.

After deploying its payload the bomber would have glided in to land at an airfield in Germany. It had only a single pilot sitting in a small pressurized cockpit at the front of the fuselage. Other than its payload the Amerika Bomber carried no weapons, relying on its speed and altitude for protection. It would have been obviously vulnerable as it glided in for landing, a flaw that marked many of Germany’s real and imagined high-tech aircraft.

History: Hopes for the Amerika Bomber faded around the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union, which was probably to the advantage of the Germans as the whole thing was ridiculous. The air speed of the Amerika Bomber would have likely caused the plane to simply explode from friction before it even came close to reaching its top speed. The current air speed record from a powered aircraft is held by NASA’s X-15 at 7,277kph; less than a motherfucking third of the proposed top speed of the Amerika Bomber. NASA barely kept their plane from burning up, so there’s virtually no chance that Saenger would have leapt a much higher hurdle, decades earlier. The pilot would have blacked out and died if he was lucky, or been liquefied or immolated if he was less fortunate. If Saenger had somehow overcome these problems then he still had the whole “giant length of elevated track and rail car” issue as American and British bombers marauded with virtual impunity across most of Europe. After the cancellation of the project, Saenger went on to work with other developers on more feasible ramjet interceptor projects. All that remains of the Amerika Bomber are some models, designs, and an engine.

#3

Daimler Benz “Project C”

Type: Specialized Carrier Aircraft

Specific Features: Daimler Benz (now Daimler-Chrysler) was one of a large number of German manufacturers that utilized slave labor and Nazi money to expand a military industrial empire. Following the war Daimler Benz managed to survive relatively intact because America didn’t want to destroy Germany’s chances at rebuilding. During the last year of the war the Germans were desperate for anything that could slow or reverse Allied air dominance. As a result of this desperation the German engineering community became increasingly schizophrenic and produced everything from wooden rocket-powered fighters designed to be piloted by a basically untrained draftee to the massive and elaborate “Project C”.

The “Project C” began development in 1945 but it owes it roots to the earlier “Project A”. This precursor was a massive six-engine jet aircraft designed with the sole purpose of carrying the “Project AII” twin-engine jet bomber across vast distances. The idea was that the fuel-laden “Project A” would cross the Atlantic or other large open area and as it approached a target would release the much sleeker and more maneuverable bomber beneath it. Of course the happy side effect of this method would be that the “Project AII” could carry a heavy bomb load without the need for long-distance fuel capacity.

“Project B” was begun when development was halted on “Project A”. It revised the plans for the six-engine jet to a more modest six-engine prop aircraft. The “Project B” was almost identical in design to the “Project C” but was still intended to carry the “Project AII” twin-engine jet bomber beneath it.

By 1945 the idea of developing the “Project A” and “Project B” had fallen by the wayside for a variety of reasons, chief among them that a means of bombing the United States wasn’t the top priority of the Luftwaffe. They needed a means to strike back at forward air-bases, troop and vehicle muster points, and the huge formations of Allied bombers that were sweeping over Germany daily. Thus was born “Project C”.

Much like its predecessor “Project C” was envisioned as a huge (albeit smaller than Project A) airborne carrier for other specialized aircraft. In place of the expensive and difficult to produce and maintain jet engines the considerably smaller Project C mounted four forward facing and two rearward facing Daimler Benz piston engines. The aircraft had a wingspan of 54 meters and compared to the German workhorse He-111’s 22 meter wingspan it was still a gargantuan vehicle. Beneath the wings and the fuselage of the “Project A” were hard points for mounting five “Project E” aircraft or six “Project F” aircraft. The design included no allowances for armament.

History: Designs for the “Project C” are dated to early 1945, when the war was hopeless for the Germans and constant bombing would have rendered the extremely rapid prototyping and production necessary completely impossible. The people at Daimler Benz working on the project no doubt knew this and the aircraft never advanced beyond the drawing board. Ignoring projects “E” and “F” for the moment, a critical analysis of “Project C” reveals the numerous drawbacks to the aircraft. The purpose of the “C” would have likely been to fly in circles searching for targets for the aircraft it carried. Since it was a) a giant fuel tank, b) not particularly fast, and c) unarmed it would have been absolutely annihilated by any fighter aircraft it faced.

Had the Germans somehow rushed development on “Project C” and produced a flotilla for the defense of the Reich the war would have probably been won even sooner than historically. The “Project C”, like so many of the Nazi X-Planes, was a nearly useless development. What makes it stand out as particularly ludicrous is that development began well after this situation should have been apparent to even the most fanatical Nazi cog.

#4

Daimler Benz “Project F”

Type: The Mother of All Flying Bombs

The Project F screams into action. Image by the extremely talented Marek Rys.
Specific Features: The “Project F” was the unusual aircraft intended to be carried by the Daimler Benz “Project C”. It consisted of a long fuselage, relatively short rectangular wings, and a cockpit placed directly beneath the single turbojet engine providing the aircraft’s thrust. The most notable feature on the “F” was the 6,600 pounds of high explosive packed into a hollow cavity in the fuselage immediately in front of the cockpit. The Daimler Benz “Project F” was a huge flying bomb with an explosive capacity three times greater than the infamous V-2 rocket.

The “Project C” was intended to mount five "F"s beneath its fuselage and wings on hard points with a sixth “F” being centrally fixed directly to the aircraft above it. The “F” was quite fast, with a top speed around 650 miles per hour. Because of the aircraft’s extremely limited fuel supply it was intended to be launched from the carrier aircraft only when the target was in visual range. The pilot would then guide the “F” at nearly supersonic speeds towards the target.

The Germans never openly advocated suicide tactics and so a primitive and slightly strange ejection system was designed into the “F”. As the pilot approached the target he would pull a lever and a panel beneath the cockpit would fall off. Theoretically the pilot would be sucked out backwards through this hole and could then open his parachute. In practice this would have almost certainly resulted in the death of the pilot.

The “Project F” was the successor to the “Project E”, which envisioned a very normal turbojet fighter with a smaller explosive load being used as a flying bomb. It seems a little ridiculous to make fairly complex aircraft into flying bombs, which is likely the reason behind the move to the “Project F” and its no-frills design. Compared to the “E” the “F” had a maximized explosive load with a very simple construction and design. It likely would have flown like shit compared to the “E”, but most of the time these aircraft would have been used in a ground or ship attack role.

History: Development of “Project F” ran concurrently to the development of “Project C”. Due to the late time in the war that design began the “F” never made the leap from the drawing board to prototyping. In my opinion the “F” represents the absolute pinnacle of madcap Nazi aviation. You’ve got a gargantuan prop plane carrying six small jet aircraft that are each packed with 3-tons of explosives and a wacky ejection Lazy Susan. The “F” would have devastated concentrations of ground troops and particularly warships in the unlikely event that it had reached its target. The fact is that by 1945 the “Project C” would have been lucky to get off the ground before being destroyed by Allied aircraft. Had it made it into the air a single stray bullet could have set off one of the “Project F” aircraft, blowing the entire arrangement into fiery pieces.

#5

I don’t know the name of the “airplane”, but I remember that it was made by Focke Wulf.

It was kind of a helicopter, except the rotors were rocket powered, and once it achieved vertical take-off, it would then go horizontal like a regular plane. I remember watching a show on the History Channel with it.

#6

Nice information Hosenfield, good work mate. 8)
Check this site out,— http://www.worldwar.nl/secretweapons/secretgerman.htm

#7

Nice pics, lots of “what-if” scenarios there!

#8

thanks, a lot of this stuff is so far fetched, and so awesome, that we haven’t even completed stuff like this yet, and its 2005. I especially liked the “flying aircraft carrier design” what really amazed me is that they actually made an “engine” for the amerika bomber, which is unbelively wasteful.

#9

Haha true, i saw that. Some of the designs i have never seen before.

#10

It’s not his work, it comes from http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=1315

#11

I was just complimenting him on his posts :shock:

#12

It’s not his work, it comes from http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=1315[/quote]

Easy there Man of Stoat, Commando Jordovski is just giving the man a compliment. :shock:

#13

Hi everyone. My name is Henk and please excuse any spelling misstakes that I made I am not English.

The Hortens designed and also build the Horten 229 flying wing. The Horten’s build a lot of flying wings like gliders. The Horten 229 can not be referd to as the Gotha 229 becase they had nothing to do with the design nor with the building of the Horten 229 V-1, V-2 and V-3 prototypes. The Gotha company were to build the Horten 229 flying wing but the war ended before it were to became official. The aircraft is standing in a hanger at the National Air and Space Museum and is in a horribale state and they are not doing anything about it.

Can you plaese tell me how to put a picture in the Post a Reply window. I am new and I do not know how.

Henk

#14

copy and paste that and put the url where it says url here and it should work! :wink:

#15

Hosenfield- while the Sänger vehicle was a foresight into what became the space shuttle in many ways, the true Amerika Bomber was the Horten XVIII. It was far closer to reality than Eugene Säanger’s concept. The Air Ministry actually gave it the go ahead for construction. Of course the war ended 1st.

I know about all the hardware and projects you mention. I have researched and written many articles concerning them. I maintain that many aircraft that followed were directly inspired by the latter designers. Some would disagree with this.

One undenyable fact is that The Luftwaffe had operational rotary winged craft- helicopters in service in WW 2.

#16

I hope they restore it some day. =]

–


What’s the name of this one?

#17

I hope they restore it some day. =]

–


What’s the name of this one?[/quote]
i think if they did it with Me-262, they should have do it with these planes too

#18

If you want to fly those, play the BF1942 mod Forgotten hope www.fhmod.org.
They have the 262, a smaller jet plane and a big jet bomber. (all historical)
They only have them on maps where they were used.
(so for the last two, they use them on a fictional map called “Alpenfestung”

#19

Messerschmitt Me P.1101.

And actually, the picture shows a Me P.1101 at Bell Aircraft Company in Buffalo, New York.

http://www.luft46.com/mess/mep1101.html#photo%20op

#20

Yes, and if no one yet believes that German design influenced aircraft outside Germany look at the P.1101 and find a pic of the Bell X-5 for comparison.