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Post by Kereru on Aug 4, 2009 10:58:44 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 4, 2009 13:22:52 GMT 12
That photo looks interesting, but as a dial up user I'm in the dark. Is this a ful sized flying replica?? Does it fly in the film?
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Post by yak2 on Aug 4, 2009 13:53:48 GMT 12
Non flyer? Does not appear to have any control surfaces.
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Post by Bruce on Aug 4, 2009 14:16:46 GMT 12
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Post by flyjoe180 on Aug 5, 2009 18:22:01 GMT 12
The US owes much of it's aviation development to the German secrets they discovered at the end of the Second World War. I wonder if the Germans were aware of a low radar signature or if it was simply an attempt at an efficient flying body? I haven't checked the link as yet.
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Post by phas3e on Aug 5, 2009 19:09:05 GMT 12
The show is quite a laugh
They keep going on about how it was hitlers baby and was ment to flyy undetected into England and bomb them.
The truth isnt as exciting, it was never ment to carry bombs and the/any Stealth aspect was a side effect of the design one which wasnt known by the Germans at the time, the Horten Bros were fans of the flying wing like Jack Northrop.
They talk of it being a hidden secret, when its simply in storage at the Smithsonian waiting on restoration as they are doing the He219 and Ta152H at the moment.
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Post by Bruce on Aug 5, 2009 19:14:43 GMT 12
There is evidence to suggest the Germans were deliberately trying to reduce Radar signature. The Smithsonian example appears to have a carbon additive in the plywood it is made of, and the adhesive holding it together - something deliberate and unusual. Tests show that these additives were particularly effective at reducing Radar reflection in the frequency range used by the British Chain Home Radar.
Whether that was a key thing in the design ot just an experiment to try the idea, I dont know....
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Post by fletcherfu24 on Aug 5, 2009 21:06:10 GMT 12
Wasn't much of a secret the Hortens had been building tailess gliders for years before the war broke out,it really took until the end of the war until they could marry the tailless concept with a jet engine and finally make some sort of weapon out of the idea.It was built from wood and composites,such as Formholz,due to the Hortens glider building history and the fact that metals were scarce and most aircraft building was done by untrained workers.
Although a prototype flew there were questions if they could ever have ironed out the stability questions,as unlike the modern day stealth fighter computer aided controls weren't an option in 1945.Northrops YB-49 flying wing which flew after the war never overcame the stability issues involved with tailess aircraft,they werent satisfactorily resolved until the B-2 came along.
I dont think the Germans were worried about stealth technology as there was no need for it,the British didn't posess ground to air guided missiles or radar guided anti aircaft guns,the only way to shoot down a German night bomber even if you knew it was there was with another night fighter.The Horten would have been too fast for piston engine night fighters had it entered service.
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Post by Peter Lewis on Aug 6, 2009 23:10:41 GMT 12
The charcoal-in-the glue was apparently a deliberate anti-radar concept.
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Post by fletcherfu24 on Aug 7, 2009 21:59:08 GMT 12
Might have to go to Mythbusters to prove or disprove the carbon glue story.
According to National Geographics site....... "My take on it is that their goal at the time was to meet requirements for speed and range," Lee said. "The all-wing concept was [Reimar Horten's] baby, and he designed the shape for aerodynamic reasons—he never started talking about radar until after the war.
"Reimar talked about a sawdust and carbon coating to absorb radar energy, but we found no evidence of that on the Horton that we have here," Lee added.
My take on it would be that as only one powered Go229 (V2) ever flew,and only made 4 flights in Feb/Mar 1945,before being destroyed,and as this was almost a private venture by the Hortens,they would be unlikely to experimenting with stealth technology,especially when they didn't actually have a viable aircraft to test it on.The Go229 was thrown a lifeline in March 1945 when it was placed on the emergency fighter production list,so there would be no need for any stealth technology if the aircraft was being made as a fighter to be used defending Germany over its own territory.
The aircraft was made of a welded steel tube construction with plywood skinning and made use of formholz,a type of plastic wood composite on the leading edges,which would have made it stealthy,but only by coincidence.
It was an amazing plane,it would have been interesting to see if it could ever actually entered service,or whether it was to far ahead of itself for the technical abilities they had in 1945.
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