willey@arrakis.nevada.edu (James Willey) (09/05/89)
From: willey@arrakis.nevada.edu (James Willey)
I was reading the paper and stumbled across something of interest. The
article was quite long, so I'll summarize.
For those one or two who didn't already know, the B-2 is a rebirth of
the ill-fated YB-49 (a.k.a. the flying wing). However, the basic
design is even older than that. The design dates back to 1945, when
two brothers, Walter and Reimar Horten, who worked with the secret
Luftwaffe group Sonderkommando 9, set out to build a "super-Mosquito"
to counter the stealth capabilities of the British Mosquito. The
British Mosquito was constructed out of plywood, spruce,and balsa,
which added to its speed and its small radar signature. The German
design was a flying wing powered by two jet engines. The only
prototype to fly crashed in early 1945 when an engine failed. A
prototype that never flew currently resides at the National Air and
Space Museum's storage complex at Silver Hill, Md. This design was
also scaled up to carry six jet engines and 8,000 pounds of bombs at
least 7,400 miles! With its small radar signature and long range, it
could have wreaked havoc on London, or even struck New York, in the
final months of the war. Too late to change the outcome, but it could
have made life a lot less comfortable.
Source: A.P. release printed in the Las Vegas Review Journal 9-4-89.
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James P. Willey willey@arrakis.NEVADA.EDU
Disclaimer: I'm unemployed, so my employer IS responsible for my opinions.
You can't get somebody in your sights in combat without spending a lot of time
after that wondering if you're in somebody else's.
(Robotech)dole@unix.sri.com (Harry Dole) (09/28/89)
From: garth!dole@unix.sri.com (Harry Dole) In article <27110@amdcad.AMD.COM> willey@arrakis.nevada.edu (James Willey) writes: >------ The design dates back to 1945, when >two brothers, Walter and Reimar Horten, who worked with the secret >Luftwaffe group Sonderkommando 9, set out to build a "super-Mosquito" >to counter the stealth capabilities of the British Mosquito. The >British Mosquito was constructed out of plywood, spruce,and balsa, >which added to its speed and its small radar signature. The German >design was a flying wing powered by two jet engines. The only >prototype to fly crashed in early 1945 when an engine failed. A >prototype that never flew currently resides at the National Air and >Space Museum's storage complex at Silver Hill, Md. The Chino air museum near LA has a WWII German flying wing hanging from their ceiling. I had thought that plane had flown but am not sure. Also, I do not recall it being a two engine model as it was quite small. There was no landing gear but a landing skid made of wood. Other items of interest are a Japanese rocket plane modelled after a German plane (Komet, I believe) and a combination jet and propellor plane, circa late 40's. All info here is subject to memory failure as it is not derived from written sources.