When the Third Reich's panzer divisions stormed into Poland on September 1, 1939, World War II had begun. Country after country in western Europe surrendered to the powerful German war machine, as the output of industrial and engineering giants - Bussing, Daimler-Benz, Krupp, Messerschmitt, Rheinmetall, Rochling, and Volkswagen - supplied advanced armaments for the ferocious assaults.
V-2 Rockets and Panzer Tanks Represented German Advanced Technology in WW II
The best known example was the V-2 rockets that the Nazis used beginning in September 1944 to bomb London, Paris, Antwerp and other cities. On land the Panzer tank, in conjunction with German infantry storm troops, was another advanced weapon providing swift mobile fire power; it was a tandem that became known as the Nazi blitzkrieg.
The physicist most prominent in advancing rocketry for the Third Reich was Werner Von Braun, son of a German aristocrat. He masterminded the development of the V-2 rocket as a key weapon in German Chancellor Adolph Hitler’s arsenal.
German Space Physicist Werner Von Braun Joined Allies after WW II
As was the case with many of the German scientists associated with the Nazis, Von Braun was more devoted to space travel than warfare; but, despite his altruistic intentions, his work on rockets was responsible for the death of many people.
Von Braun and his key associates surrendered to the advancing Americans in the closing days of the war in 1945. He eventually came to the US under US sponsorship. In 1960, he left the directorship of the army Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and transferred to the newly established NASA, where he oversaw the development of the Saturn V rocket, which propelled US astronauts to the moon.
In the Allied mopping up phase of the war, the US confiscated scores of German armament plans, some ominous and others fanciful. Among the more ominous, one stood out as particularly lethal. The Germans were close to producing an airplane that might have changed the outcome of the war. It was one of Hitler's "miracle weapons" that he dreamed would turn the war into an Axis victory.
Nazis Were Perfecting Stealth Bomber Early to Bomb American Cities
The secret weapon was a “flying wing” airplane called the HO 18 intercontinental bomber, known secretly as the “American bomber.” A jumbo version of a flying wing fighter plane, also in development by the Germans and dubbed the Horton 229, it was designed to bomb New York City and return to Berlin, without refueling.
In typical British understatement, aviation expert Peter Murton opined, “If the Germans had had time to develop these aircraft, they could well have had an impact.” He is with the Imperial War Museum in England.
Even Today a Flying Wing Design Almost Makes a Plane Invisible to Radar
The flying wing bomber had eight turbojet thrusters and two canons, was designed to attain speeds close to supersonic and carry a potent payload. Adding to its formidability was a wooden skin, achieved by bonding together carbon-impregnated plywood resins. This treatment practically made the plane invisible to radar, at high speeds and flying under 50-100 feet altitude. The carbon outer layer had been successfully flown on the German smaller-winged fighter plane.
The plane was expected to reach London for bombing runs eight minutes after flying over the English coast, which gave British Spitfire pilots too little time to scramble into the sky, for the city’s defense. The same sort of scenario might have applied to American cities on the east coast.
German Wing Plane Was Forerunner of US B-2 Bomber and F117 Nighthawk Fighter
Although many of the German technical documents remain classified, it is likely that US defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation made the American B-2 stealth bomber aided by referencing earlier German data and tests.
The US B-2 is a bigger plane introduced over 40 years later, with a wingspan of 172 feet, versus 142 feet for the Nazi version. The outer coating emphasizes the same use of carbon to absorb radar waves in both aircraft.
Recently, using materials available to the Germans in 1940, engineers and designers at Northrop Grumman constructed a model of the Nazi bomber from captured plans. On June 28, 2009 the National Geographic Channel showed results in a documentary entitled, “Hitler’s Stealth Fighter.” (Images for this article show photos from the TV program.)
Stealth Planes in Bosnian War Minimized US Army Combat Losses
Try to imagine a German stealth bomber and a stealth fighter over 50 years ago, with many characteristics of the contemporary US B-2 bombers and US F117 jet fighters. Those US planes dominated the war in Bosnia for the NATO alliance, allowing for a loss of one American soldier in combat, and that by a land mine. Had the planes been available to the Axis for combat in the first half of the 1940s, the history and the outcome of the war might well tell a different story.
Could Hitler Have Won the War with the Invisible Stealth Planes
Maybe the air war. However, the possession by the US of nuclear technology would have trumped all, in deciding a winner; but relentless pounding of American cities and strategic sites by German stealth bombers could have figured significantly in the ultimate negotiations for peace.
Many thought Adolph Hitler was steeped in Wagnerian fantasies. He dreamed of achieving an Aryan super race and world order in his likeness. But his aspirations for world domination, often ridiculed outside the Third Reich, had to be taken seriously.
To many observers he was an unstable buffoon, and that might have been true; but with the superb cadre of German engineers and designers at his beck and call, ingenious visionaries who could build rockets and stealth planes far ahead of their time, who in the free world could afford to laugh at the dangerous German Fuhrer.
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Howard Bryan Bonham - Howard Bryan Bonham is a former daily newspaper editor and award-winning financial writer.
