Posted on 06/27/2009 6:18:37 AM PDT by NYer
Surprising to most, the U.S. military's space-age B-2 Spirit was not the world's first stealth bomber. That honor belongs to the Horton 2-29, an experimental jet created by Nazi Germany at the tail end of World War II. However, because it was never in wide use during the conflict, the 2-29's stealth capabilities were never given much of a test. That is, until now.
Researchers hired by National Geographic studied the last remaining 2-29 in existence -- locked away in a U.S. government hangar -- and built a replica. They then tested the plane's resistance to the kinds of radar active during the Second World War.
Radar tests on the replica show that the plane's radical, smooth design would indeed have given it a significant advantage against radar, according to Tom Dobrenz, a Northrop Grumman expert in stealth, or "low observable," technology, who led the Horten replica project.
In short: The Horten 2-29 looks to have been the world's first stealth fighter.
Here's a brief video of the researchers at work. Fascinating stuff. We can marvel at the genius of the German design, while being grateful that it came too late to help the Nazis.
Video at link.
Active thread from a different source over here
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2279841/posts
There is more to the 229 than meets the eye.
The Hortens were big into a "Bell Shaped Lifting Curve" controversial in aviation circles with it's pros and cons, yet they did it.
Also the Middle effect of the bat tail (cuspidate) center section. Go over to "B2streamliners" model airplane site and look at the research they have done on the "Middle-Effect" i.e. the positive aspects of this center section. Apparently the center section less negative pitching moment i.e wanting to fly nose down, and flying wing models with it fly better.
What you have in the 229 is essentially the precursor to the Blended Wing Body.
Amazing stuff....
The B-2 has quaternary computerized flight stabilization, if I recall correctly. It would be impossible to fly without it.
Another coverup by Bush!
Look at the people congregated at the door. Behind them is the ladder leading to the coffin of the alien and the Ark.
Today's newspaper has documented Lars from Mars and.....
I thought those darn June bugs were just...well...
The Me-262 was inferior to the P-80, but was rushed into use because Germany was in dire straights. Engine life and reliability meant that it cost more to field than it could deliver.
For all of its technological wonder, the V-2 was an awful weapon. The Germans were far better off running night intruder raids with FW-190s on London than building exotic and expensive missiles to deliver a small bomb load, very inaccurately.
There are many American “wonder weapons” that were proposed from 1944 onward that were not pursued because they weren't considered necessary or likely to pan out before the war was over.
Specifically, the flying wing was a wonderful idea except that it has an inherent lack of directional stability. This posed problems for bombers and fighters alike, which is why Northrop's flying wings were canceled. Not until the advent of computer controlled stability did the flying wing become a field-able aircraft.
Yeah, to heck with whether or not the thing was “Stealthy” — I rather doubt that — could the darn thing fly.
Jack Northup did a lot of work with flying wings after the war. The chief advantage was low-drag, which translates to longer range & greater payload. But the thing was probably not considered a stable bombing platform as it’s (relative) lack of a tail would have meant yaw problems.
Actually they were correct:the objects were Uninidentified(and classified).
Hey, we’ve seen this schematic before!
Check out the ancient Maya glyphs that Von Daniken says were alien astronauts.
Maybe the Maya just had stealth technology?
Horton hears, but doesn’t “see,” a Who...
Horton hears, but doesn’t “see,” a Who...
Horton hears, but doesn’t “see,” a Who...
Horton hears, but doesn’t “see,” a Who...
Good point. Hitler was obsessed with supposedly war-winning super-weapons that, though impressive for the time, were impractical to build and had insignificant battlefield effect.
Things like the V-1 and V-2 rocket, for example, sucked up a lot of human and material resources while doing little to effect the war. Heck, the Kriegsmarine was working on an aircraft carrier until the end of the war.
Strategically, Hitler did a lot to sabotage the German war effort. His fanatical desire to take Stalingrad cost the Germans an army they couldn't replace. The German generals were more than happy to use strategic withdrawals as a way to make the Russians overextend themselves and then to cut off their forces, but Hitler always resisted giving up territory, even temporarily. Heck, his pursuit of the Final Solution tied up about 20 divisions and much material and railway resources that could have been used to aid the war effort.
Kind of like Obama's pursuit of Alternate carbon free energy? :-)...
You mean technologies that are not ready for prime time and can't support a base load like windmills can't vs. a Coal Fired Plant?
Like the Ho 229 vs the B-24?
The analogy is closer to real life than the Lefties will ever admit.
Hitler doled out money to all these little shops to work on a wonder weapons. How many German aircraft that were in the long range scheme of things revolutionary but were not ready for primetime. But like any socialist they dolled out to everyone rather than what we did, which was focus on production with an eye towards victory by reverse engineering how effective our bombing was and losses and coming up with numbers needed to win the war a.k.a. the math model that gave us the production numbers for the B-24.
Like the Reich Wonder Weapons the Cap and Tax bill will yield failure, via not concentrating on what works and what will give us energy Liberty.
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