Amerika Bomber
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The Amerika Bomber project was an initiative of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, the Nazi Germany Air Ministry, to obtain a long-range bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe that would be capable of striking the continental United States from Germany. Requests for designs were made to the major German aircraft manufacturers early in World War II, coinciding with the passage of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement.
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[edit] Conventional bombers
The most promising proposals were based on conventional principles of aircraft design and would have yielded aircraft very similar in configuration and capability to the Allied heavy bombers of the day. These included the Messerschmitt Me 264 (an all-new design), the Focke-Wulf Fw 300 (based on the existing Fw 200), Focke Wulf Ta 400 and the Junkers Ju 390 (based on the Ju 290). Prototypes of the Me 264 were built, but it was the Ju 390 that was selected for production. Only two prototypes were constructed before the programme was abandoned. It is widely claimed (and widely disputed) that in early 1944 the second prototype made a trans-Atlantic flight to within 20 km (12 mi) of the U.S. coast.
[edit] Huckepack Projekt
One idea similar to Mistel-Gespann was to have a Heinkel He 177 bomber carry a Dornier Do 217, powered with an additional Lorin-Staustrahltriebwerk, as far as possible over the Atlantic before releasing it. For the Do-217 it would have been a one-way trip. When plans had advanced far enough, the lack of fuel and the loss of the base at Bordeaux prevented a test. The project was abandoned after the forced move to Istres increased the distance too much.
[edit] Flying wings
Other proposals were far more exotic jet- and rocket-powered designs, e.g. as a flying wing. The Horten brothers designed the Horten Ho XVIII [1], a flying wing powered by six turbojets based on experiences with their existing Ho X design. The Arado company also suggested a six-jet flying wing design, the Arado E.555.[2]
[edit] Winged rockets
Other designs were rockets with wings. Perhaps the best-known of these today is Eugen Sänger's pre-war Silbervogel ("Silverbird") sub-orbital bomber. While the A4b rocket, winged version of the V-2 rocket and probably its successor A9 rocket were tested several times in late 1944/early 1945, the A9/A10 Amerika-Rakete, planned as a full 2-staged ICBM, remained a project.[3]
All of these projects were deemed too expensive and ambitious and were abandoned, although the British Air Ministry considered development of the Ho XVIII for an airliner after the war[citation needed], and the theoretical groundwork done on the Silbervogel would prove seminal to lifting body designs of the space age.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.luft46.com/horten/ho18a.html Horten XVIII page on luft46.com
- ^ http://www.luft46.com/arado/are555s.html Arado 555 page on luft46.com
- ^ http://www.luft46.com/misc/sanger.html Sänger page on luft46.com
- Luftfahrt History Heft 4 - Messerschmitt Me 264 & Junkers Ju 390 *Atomziel New York - Geheime Großraketen- und Raumfahrtprojekte des Dritten Reichs
- Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1970. ISBN 0-356-02382-6.
- Herwig, Dieter and Rode, Heinz. Luftwaffe Secret Projects - Strategic Bombers 1935-45. Midland Publishing Ltd., 2000. ISBN 1-85780-092-3.
- Smith, J.R. and Kay, Anthony. German Aircraft of the Second World War. London: Putnam and Company, Ltd., 1972. ISBN 0-370-00024-2.
