Comments on: Supersonic + (Feb, 1946)

By: vse

vse — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:16:15 +0000

And while you’re at it, take a look the 1944 Horon IX. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horten_Ho_229

By: Toronto

Toronto — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:00:14 +0000

John – thank you for noticing that tiny detail. I’ve read many of Mr. Caidin’s works, as it turns out, both fiction and non-fiction, and never really connected them. The Wikipedia article about him paints a fascinating portrait which I’m sure is incomplete.

By: John Savard

John Savard — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 03:17:58 +0000

I notice that this article was written by Martin Caidin. The famous author of Marooned and Cyborg, the book on which the succesful TV series “The Six Million Dollar Man” was based.

By: Toronto

Toronto — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:49:52 +0000

I’m just glad the Red Cross never built more of these.

By: Eliyahu

Eliyahu — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:10:10 +0000

Too little too late in any case. By the last year of the war, Germany was running on its reserves, we were bombing their factories as fast as they could rebuild them, and there was no way they could have produced these in large enough quantity to make any difference even if the design had been successful.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:15:01 +0000

You can read more about the Triebfluegel here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....l%C3%BCgel
and about the Lippisch LP-13a here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lippisch_P.13a
The drawing of the LP-13a in this article is not very accurate. You can find out much more about these remarkable aircraft, and others, in “Last Talons of the Eagle”:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-T.....038;sr=1-1
From what I have read in that book, the Triebfluegel was never in any danger of working, and was eventually abandoned. The LP-13a was promising, but the team working on it never got further than a half-completed glider which would have tested its aerodynamics. This was completed by the Americans in conditions of the deepest secrecy and went on to influence the 1950s “lifting body” X-craft which, in turn, eventually helped in the design of the Space Shuttle.