Horten HO 229 Nazi Stealth Plane secrets revealed
In this age of the war on terror, the scene would be strikingly familiar: a pilot brings his batwing-shaped craft onto an approach heading, using his instruments and experience to close with an enemy target. The enemy radar is searching the sky but the plane’s advanced design renders it all but invisible. The incoming strike will be a complete surprise. At the appointed moment, the pilot opens the bomb doors, verifies his target a last time, and drops his payload to destroy an enemy airbase’s radar and fuel facilities.
The scene offers us a surprise as the pilot turns for home: the insignia on the wing is the iron cross of the German Luftwaffe and the year is 1946.
The aircraft I’m speaking of is the Horten Ho 229 which was an advanced single-seat fighter/bomber that reached prototype stage in WWII Germany. The prototype aircraft were captured by Allied forces, crated up, and sent back to the United States as the war drew to a close. The look of the plane is incredibly similar to our B2 bomber design:
Northrop Grumman has built a period-accurate replica of the Ho 229 from the original German blueprints, right down the specified paint and glue to conduct radar tests. According to the reports, the radar in use at the time would not have detected this plane had the Germans used a low-level approach across the channel. They could have struck British installations pretty much at will.
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