Other German Aircraft in America Under Attack
In Blog number 2, I discussed the creation of the fictional XB-35-like Gotha GO-447 used in the initial attack on New York City. Later, the much improved follow-on, the Gotha GO-460 appears. Much as the B-29 can be considered the lineal descendant of the B-17, The GO-460 is the culmination of refinements of the earlier design. The concept is for a large [200 foot wing span] six-engine flying wing that is far more refined and sophisticated than its predecessor; no longer required are external rocket boosters or droppable landing gear. It still uses aerial refueling and winglets to achieve the needed range, but carries a much larger bomb load.
Other German aircraft include a version of the Dornier DO-335 push/pull nightfighter with a jet engine in the rear [Dornier’s design concept P232/3]. This modification actually was in the design process at war’s end. It used a ‘camel hump’ intake duct on the top of the fuselage to bring intake air to the buried jet engine, much as Boeing’s 727 airliners did decades later.
The powerful looking three-engine Blohm und Voss BV-271 [Blohm und Voss design concept P170.01] was a proposed design that never went beyond drawings, but would have been a difficult opponent to the Allies had it come to realization. My personal view is that the relatively small vertical stabilizers on the ends of the two outboard engine nacelles were much too small, and would have made slow flight, including landings, a very risky task for the pilot. Its huge slab wing was intended to carry bombs, rockets, fuel tanks and externally mounted cannons in a precursor to today’s A-10.
Both the DO-335 jet and the BV-271 are shown in Luftwaffe Secret Projects, Ground Attack and Special Purpose Aircraft by Dieter Herwig and Heinz Rode, with the BV-271 as the cover art.
The Messerschmitt ME-610 in America Under Attack is based on the Messerschmitt design study P1101-92. This aircraft was intended as a heavy interceptor and would have incorporated a BK7.5 [7.5 cm. or nearly 3”] cannon in the nose. Drawings of this aircraft also appear in Luftwaffe Secret Projects, mentioned above.
The modifications to the Junkers JU-290 to make it an aerial tanker were products of my imagination. The aircraft was capable of lifting prodigious loads; with the addition of jet engines for takeoff assistance, it probably could have carried enough fuel to service two GO-460s, as mentioned in America Under Attack.
The Tank TA-152 and Heinkel HE-277 were actual aircraft.
What do you think?