The Nuking of Japan

[Anomalocaris]

On track: So THAT was the 163?? I remember seeing a documentary about bombers in WWII and there is this one where it shows one of those planes diving right into and then through a B-25 Mitchell. Didn't even go for the wing, the thing just cut the bomber clear in half. The jet kept dropping, went straight down, no ejection; the pilot was probably killed by the impact, even though the plane was largely intact. Fuck, you had to be crazy to basically plow your plane into another and actually hope to survive to eject. Crazy or brainwashed. Or stupid. Or all of the above. Most likely all of the above. These WERE Nazis, after all.

I DID actually forget to mention the Ho-229 as being the forerunner to modern stealth aircraft. It wasn't remarkably stealthy but for its time it was cutting edge...and in all likelihood inspired modern stealth designs. Maybe not designs like the F-117 but certainly designs like the F-22 and F-35 JSF...and DEFINITELY it was a heavy influence on the design of the B-2 Spirit.

1. To say Ho-229 was the forerunner of modern stealth aircraft is total sensationalist bullshit. Ho-229 was conceived without any inkling that radar invisibility was possible, much less with the intention of achieving it. The flying wing concept embodied in ho-229 was neither ahead of its time, nor did its actual implementation have any impact on subsequent flying wings.

Ho-229 had no impact on subsequent aviation history, and got luckY in achieving effects it didn't know existed. The rest is German wonder weapon fantasy.

2. Me-163 was not designed to ram. It was designed to take down bombers with 30 mm cannons and then land back on skids. The Germans did actually make special fighters for ramming, but those were modified conventional propeller fighters. There was indeed a flying wing ram fighter, but it wasn't designed by fanatical nazis, it was designed by non-fanatical Americans. Specifically it was designed by jack Northrop and designated xp-79. Look it up.