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The 'Amerika Bomber' project was an initiative of the ''Reichsluftfahrtministerium'', the Nazi Germany Air Ministry, to obtain a long-range bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe that would be capable of striking the continental United States from Germany. Requests for designs were made to the major German aircraft manufacturers early in World War II, long before the US had entered the war.

Contents

Conventional bombers

''Huckepack Projekt''

Flying wings

Winged rockets

See also

Literature

Conventional bombers

The most promising proposals were based on conventional principles of aircraft design and would have yielded aircraft very similar in configuration and capability to the Allied heavy bombers of the day. These included the Messerschmitt Me 264 (an all-new design), the Focke-Wulf Fw 300 (based on the existing Fw 200), Focke Wulf Ta 400 and the Junkers Ju 390 (based on the Ju 290). Prototypes of the Me 264 were built, but it was the Ju 390 that was selected for production. Only two prototypes were constructed before the programme was abandoned. It is widely claimed (and widely disputed) that in early 1944 the second prototype made a trans-Atlantic flight to within 20 km (12 mi) of the U.S. coast.

''Huckepack Projekt''

One idea similar to Mistel-Gespann was to carry a Dornier Do 217, powered with an additional ''Lorin-Staustrahltriebwerk'', with a Heinkel He 177 bomber as far as possible over the Atlantic before it was released. The Do-217 could have not returned, though. When plans had advanced far enough, the lack of fuel and the loss of the base at Bordeaux prevented a test. The project was abandoned after the forced move to Istres increased the distance too much.

Flying wings

Other proposals were far more exotic jet- and rocket-powered designs, e.g. as a flying wing. The Horten brothers designed the Horten Ho XVIII, a flying wing powered by six turbojets based on experiences with their existing Ho X design. The Arado company also suggested a six-jet flying wing design, the Arado E.555.

Winged rockets

Other designs were rockets with wings. Perhaps the best-known of these today is Eugen Sänger's pre-war ''Silbervogel ("Silverbird")'' sub-orbital bomber. While the A4b rocket, winged version of the V-2 rocket and probably it's successor A9 rocket were tested several times in late 1944/early 1945, the planned as ICBM full 2-staged A9/A10''Amerika-Rakete'' remained a project.
All of these projects were deemed too expensive and ambitious and were abandoned, although the British Air Ministry considered development of the Ho XVIII for an airliner after the war, and the theoretical groundwork done on the ''Silbervogel'' would prove seminal to lifting body designs of the space age.

See also

★ Attacks on United States territory in North America during World War II

Literature

★ Luftfahrt History Heft 4 - Messerschmitt Me 264 & Junkers Ju 390 link

★ Atomziel New York - Geheime Großraketen- und Raumfahrtprojekte des Dritten Reichs