Amerikabomber: The Nazi Plane for Bombing America

this video is brought to you by policy genius if you've got family members who depend on your income you need life insurance that's where policy genius comes in more about them in a bit [Music] imagine this with the second world war looking increasingly unwinnable in early 1944 a six engine junckers ju 390 america bomber lumbered skyward from a luftwaffe airstrip near bordeaux in france droning unescorted over the atlantic for more than 3 600 miles that's about 5 800 kilometers on a grueling 16 plus our voyage the weary crew of the german wonder weapon finally spied the new york skyline less than 10 miles in the distance ironically however final preparations didn't include crewmen lining up their complex sights and opening their aircraft's immense bombay doors before dropping a high explosive payload on the big apple instead they apparently congratulated one of them snapped a few quick photos to mark the occasion then swung their immense bird around 180 degrees and just headed for home as scary as this scenario is well there are a few glaring problems neither the photos nor any official records have ever been found in fact fly logs seized after germany's surrender showed that the only 390 that ever flew was undergoing preliminary testing in czech slovakia at the time of that purported mission to new york the truth is that it was probably a little more than just a fairy tale concocted by nazi pr men one was one based entirely on testimony gleaned from post-war interrogations of luftwaffe pilots and navigators who claimed to have been on board for their part the allies found it difficult to fathom that the nazis would send an expensive untested and relatively defenseless prototype on such a dangerous mission to within miles of america's heavily defended east coast apparently simply because they could [Music] the american bomber project was an initiative of the german ministry of aviation that was purportedly on the drawing board years before world war ii actually began along with upper echelon luftwaffe brass ministry officials were keen to get their hands on a strategic bomber capable of crossing the atlantic striking new york city and then returning home safely with a round-trip distance of around 7200 miles that's 11 600 kilometers it was a particularly ambitious scheme considering the technology of the day but original specs mandated that the machines have the stamina to reach america from bases in the azures not continental europe this would have cut nearly 900 miles that's 1450 kilometers off the trip but when portugal's dictator antonio salazar who'd had a historically cozy relationship with the nazis leased a base in the azores to the allies this became an impossibility regardless of where they could and couldn't fly from many designers and luftwaffe officers considered the plan just sheer folly arguing that even if a plane could be built with enough range to make the round trip it would need to be packed almost entirely with fuel and the resulting bomb load would just be laughably small even before 1940 meter schmidt designers have been tinkering with large multi-engine bomber designs behind the scenes despite being ordered to focus exclusively on more conventional aircraft which were seen as a much greater priority nonetheless the plan was submitted to rox marshall hermann goering at the end of april 1942 after which he discussed the matter with other luftwaffe bigwigs and indeed with adolf hitler himself by that time germany had what looked like a world beating air force one that was more than capable of doing its part in the conquest of europe though the luftwaffe had everything from iconic single-engine fighters like me109s and fw190s to twin engine destroyers the world's first operational jet fighter bomber and dozens of ground attack reconnaissance and medium bomber aircraft already in production unlike american britain they never had an effective mass-produced four-engine long-range bomber falker wolf's fw200c condor did arguably fit the bill but it was little more than a hastily converted airliner of which less than 300 were built and their overall contribution to the war effort was really rather minimal now nazi high command knew that at least in the early going most of the aerial combat in which their pilots would be engaged would take place within the relatively small confines of europe the mediterranean and north africa in these instances medium range bombers were usually adequate but with the increasing likelihood of america entering the war it became evident that larger and more capable machines were going to be needed perhaps even ones large enough to deliver heavy conventional and possibly even nuclear payloads to cities like new york philadelphia and washington dc as well as factories that were vital to america's war effort some of america's largest defense contractors companies like the aluminum corporation of america american car and foundry chrysler colt pratt and whitney and curtis wright had factories spread along the atlantic coast and the midwest from connecticut to michigan pennsylvania to indiana and well just about everywhere else in between [Music] as the global conflict raged b-17 fly fortresses and b-24 liberated already hammering axis targets around the globe boeing's massive b-29s that would ultimately deliver atomic payloads on hiroshima and nagasaki were close to being ready for production while on the other hand germany's america bomber hadn't even got out of the concept phase so that said the american plan to bomb america was never about pounding the country into submission even if the planes had been built in large numbers everyone knew that their effectiveness was going to be limited and that after the first mission the skies over the american coastline would just be swarming with fighters and interceptors that would have a field day with these lumbering behemoths much like the v1 and the v2 rockets even when successful the bombers would have inflicted little damage to american city and industry however they would have terrorized civilians and caused the military to use valuable resources to defend against subsequent attacks and if they did actually destabilize the country's war industries even just a little bit well i was all the better for the nazis now in this respect the scheme was also similar to the doolittle raid on tokyo though jimmy doolittle's b-25 mitchells did scan damage their attack terrified japanese citizens and as a result the military was forced to divert anti-aircraft batteries and fighters from other theaters where they were vitally needed now we'll get back to today's video in just a moment first here's a quick word from today's sponsor policy genius look nobody likes to think about life insurance but the reality is that it's an important layer of protection for many families especially for single-income households fortunately this policy genius and their award-winning policy options ranked number 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applicants can get covered in as little as a week said to policygenius.com to get started you'll be glad you did because when it comes to insurance it's nice to get it right and now back to today's video [Music] walkwolf heinkel horton junckers and messerschmitt submitted proposals for the american project but of all the initial concepts put forward most were just ultimately abandoned because they were too expensive incorporated untested systems and power plants and would require gobs of time money and resources to develop all of which were just in painfully short supply but most of the specifics were left up to the discretion of aircraft engineers the planes would need to fly high enough to put them out of range of u.s fighters and interceptors since it was envisioned that defensive armament just wouldn't be needed the most promising proposals were based on relatively conventional designs that would have resembled the allied bombers of the day though many were significantly larger and heavier horton's flying wing design was among the most revolutionary proposals submitted powered by six turbojets the futuristic tailless bomber might have had the range and payload necessary to carry out missions in america but development costs would have been absolutely astronomical and it would have been years before production models were ready to fly not surprisingly only three prototypes were built before that project was cancelled with its he-177 dornier do-217 set up heinkel submitted another radical proposal the larger hg177 bomber would carry a crude dornier do-217 on its back out into the middle of the atlantic ocean where the two planes would detach then the dornier would continue on alone on the last leg of the mission over to america however two seventeens were never intended to make the return trip to europe instead after dropping their payloads crews would ditch their planes at sea and if all went according to plan be rescued by u-boats before they drowned or were devoured by sharks or died of hypothermia sounds like a mission that absolutely nobody would volunteer for though it was the center of much discussion between luftwaffe and krieg's marine officers this setup was never tested in a classic case of into branch squabbling and rivalry the creeks marine refused to have one of its submarines act as a rescue ship and that project was also nixed famed austrian aerospace engineer jugan sanga may have secretly scoffed at his competitor's designs because what he envisioned was a suborbital rocket bomber unlike anything the world had ever seen before the war he'd been tinkering with this groundbreaking concept which was akin to a manned v2 rocket with wings and a fuselage preliminary tests were carried out in 1944 but again this technology was just in its infancy and as you know time was of the essence sanger's design had been developed it was estimated that the lifting body would launch itself into orbit skipped through the upper reaches of the nearly airless atmosphere at an astonishing speed of 14 000 miles per hour that's 22 500 kilometers an hour after which it would drop an 8 000 pound or 3 600 kilogram bomb on new york juncker's ju 390 proposal was submitted in may of 1942 and unlike most of the company's other designs it was actually selected for production though in the end only two prototypes were built based on junkers ju290 390s would be crewed by 10 airmen and have theoretical bomb loads exceeding twenty thousand pounds or about nine thousand one hundred kilograms in addition they'd be bristling with defensive armaments including three cannons and four machine guns that would have given the slow birds at least some degree of defense against the american aircraft that would have intercepted them with wingspans of 165 feet 50 meters and powered by six 1 800 horsepower bmw radial engines 390s would technically be capable of making the round trip between europe and america thanks largely to their low cruise speeds and fuel capacity of slightly more than 9 000 us gallons that's 7500 imperial cannons on the downside this would never have been possible with a full payload much of which would have been needed to be dedicated to additional fuel like many of the proposed america bombers the 390s designers were trapped in a particularly vicious circle first more engines and greater fuel loads were needed for long-range flight these of course added weight and drag both of which limited range and payload thereby making most of the aircraft wholly unsuited for the jobs for which they'd been designed [Music] designed by kurt tank of fw 190 fame and incorporating elements from a number of existing aircraft farkawolf's ta-400 featured shoulder-mounted wings and six bmw 801 radial engines to which tank proposed adding jet engines to increase range speed and payload like bowen's b-29 superfortress ta-400s would feature tricycle landing gears pressurized cabins bubble cockpits at the front of their fuselages and a number of remotely operated cannon and machine gun turrets fuel would have been distributed to engines from nearly three dozen individual tanks strategically placed around the aircraft for optimal weight distribution 53 000 pounds that's 24 000 kilograms the proposed bomb load was in a class of itself cruising at just over 200 miles per hour 325 kilometers an hour ta-400s driven by piston and jet engines may have had ranges exceeding eight thousand miles or about thirty thousand kilometers but though hochevolf was considered a legitimate contender for the america bomber competition its ta-400 was never anything more than an unfinished prototype messerschmitt's me264 was another conventional if relatively promising design of which only three aircraft were built based on the company's long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft 264s were all metal four-engine high-wing airplanes powered by bmw radials producing 1700 horsepower and later daimler-benz inverted v12s rated at 1 900 horsepower each with maximum takeoff weights of approximately 123 000 pounds that's 56 000 kilograms and top speeds of approximately 340 miles per hour 264's were among the fastest of the american bombers that ever flew though cruise speed was more than 100 miles per hour slower features included a number of remotely operated turrets as well as crew beds and a small galley for preparing and flight snacks defensive armaments and creature compressor side with a service ceiling of just 26 250 feet that's 8 000 meters they weren't capable of flying out of reach of american flights and interceptors and though their ranges exceeded 9 000 miles that's about 14 500 kilometers bomb loads on long distance missions would have been less than 6 000 pounds or about 2 700 kilograms as such the luftwaffe favored other american bomber designs namely the je390 ta-400 and the heichel hg277 of the three units built two were destroyed during allied bombing raids before they'd ever even taken to the air [Music] in addition to the aforementioned 390 flight to america there were other uncorroborated and uh probably fictitious accounts of long-range america bomber missions the second ju390 prototype was said to have flown non-stop from germany to south africa in 1944 but again there's little evidence that it did aside from a hazy story told by the test pilot it was also claimed that the seoul me264 made multiple flights between berlin and tokyo though these stories probably sprouted from the rumor that the plane was kept in reserve to transport hitler and his cronies to japan if the plot to assassinate him led by klaus von schtafenberg couldn't be thwarted stories also arose about the me264 being retrofitted with a 5500 horsepower steam turbine engine that would turn a single propeller nearly 18 feet in diameter that's 5.5 meters in the end however the story's fanciful nature pegs it for what it was just a bit of a tall tale [Music] in the days before aerial refueling when engines were relatively anemic and consumed tons of fuel bombers capable of flying nearly 10 000 miles with massive payloads were more just a dream than a reality had adequate resources been earmarked for the project german designers could have conceivably pulled it off but as more than a few noted historians pointed out germany lacked a clear central authority to oversee concepts like the american bomber in addition piston engines of the day were lucky to crank out 2 000 horsepower but though more powerful power plants were available most were just a bit unreliable to the consternation of his subordinates throughout the war hitler was inclined to waste vast resources on projects that had little chance of success likewise in the media wars allied bombing severely disrupted german manufacturing and supply chains which meant that everything from steel and aluminium to gasoline and ammunition became increasingly scarce as the war drew to a close and enemies closed in from well just about every side nancy germany was forced to recall great quantities of men and material for the defense of the fatherland perhaps if germany had been farther along in its development of nuclear weapons the program may have taken on a new urgency but the truth was the cost for delivering small conventional bomb loads on new york city just wasn't justified ultimately each proposed american bomber was abandoned but after the war their advanced design elements became of great interest to aerospace engineers in europe and america in fact eugene sanger's lifting body would be the foundation on which america's space shuttle program was eventually built so i really hope you found today's video interesting if you did smash that like button below don't forget to subscribe if you've got a suggestion for a future mega projects video utilize the comment section below and let me know what you want to see and i'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 236,177

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Id: 6DHLyrRXI14

Length: 18min 43sec (1123 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 23 2022