The Horton Ho 229 was the worlds first operational (It never saw combat and only entered prototype phase, it was never mass produced either even though they had plans for it) jet powered flying wing, and the very first stealth bomber aircraft ever created. It was designed by two brothers Reimar and Walter Horten and constructed by the Gothaer Waggonfabrik company. Only two variants of this aircraft were successfully flown and tested, one being an unpowered glider version in 2943, for the sake of this post I will be talking more about its jet engined later variant, which was produced and tested in December 1944. The H.IX V2 was the second and jet powered prototype, it was powered by two jumo jet engines, it could reach speeds of up to 607 MPH with a bomb load of 2 500 pound bombs and in another configuration 1 1100 pound bomb. It also sported 4 30mm MK 108 cannons, capable of destroying heavy bombers. Other later variants included a two seater aircraft and even night fighters with radar capability. The HO 229 as stated previously was infact the worlds very first stealth fighter/bomber, a test done during the development of a US documentary by Boeing using a recreated HO 229 showed that it indeed could fool British home radar and give them only a few minutes time to prepare for its arrival. It was also found that if these aircraft had been mass produced they would have been extremely detrimental to the Allies and may have changed the course of the war forever. During a dog fighting test against an ME-262 it was claimed that the Horton V2 outperformed the ME-262 easily, which at that time ws the most technologically advanced fighter aircraft of its time. If ever put into production completely it would have been the most advanced line fighter/bomber of its time. What gave it its stealth capability was not only its shape but the coating that was applied allowed it to deflect certain radar waves, much akin to what we use now in modern air combat. Only one Horton survives today, and it what is left of the V3 chassis which was a later variant that was proposed, it was larger than its predecessors and was actually captured by the U.S. in an almost complete state with both wings missing on either side. Picture of the V3 chassis that was captured- [url]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Horten_Ho_229_Smithsonian_front.jpg[/url] It is safe to say that we are lucky that the Germans never really focused on such aircraft during there time, because designs such as this could have seriously, (and I mean it and many other experts do) influenced history in favor of Germany. It wouldn't have stopped at just being able to fly to Britain or stop bombers, these were also proposed for the "Amerika Bomber" project which was basically proposed for bomber raids over the eastern seaboard of the United States. We would have had a bad time trying to stop them as well. D-day could have easily been stopped, not just with ME-262's but with these zipping around with such large payloads and armament, the allied strategic bomber offensive would take massive casualties and of course Britain would still be targeted and with more chance of success. Picture, for this picture I decided it would be best to show the Horton as it would have looked completed and successful as it may have been if given time to be produced, as the worlds first stealth fighter bomber it deserves it. One final thought on this aircraft and its influence...it looks very familiar...doesn't it? [url]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/B-2_Spirit_original.jpg[/url] Thanks for reading and as always if you like this stuff feel free to follow me! If you would like me to write about a certain period during World War 2, albeit technology, offensives, anything! Please ask me!