Luftwaffe: Secret Designs of the Third Reich

[newsdeskdan]

Another selection of completely unknown designs and not-very-well-known designs upon which I think I can shed a little more light.

Luftwaffe: Secret Projects of the Third Reich?

That takes it a little close to the Schick/Herwig books, not to mention Griehl's US books. I'll think of something. 

[Wurger]

You could always put the experimental or projected engines and armament within the aircraft content. I wonder if you could publish more on that Arado aircraft turret report of yours...

[newsdeskdan]

You could always put the experimental or projected engines and armament within the aircraft content. I wonder if you could publish more on that Arado aircraft turret report of yours...

There are a few missiles in Luftwaffe: Secret Designs and I will probably include at least one potentially hugely destructive, but also rather zany, air-to-air weapon that I don't think has ever been detailed before in the next one. I might well include a bit more of the Arado turrets report. Other items on the list of potential subjects include what DFS Eber really looked like, Heinkel's 'zombie' bomber and a previously unknown, and radical, version of the Ta 152.

[gatoraptor]

I suppose there weren't enough designs of helicopters and other rotorcraft to fill up an entire issue?

[newsdeskdan]

I suppose there weren't enough designs of helicopters and other rotorcraft to fill up an entire issue?

There were, and that might be one for the future.

[Wurger]

Dan, the lesser known german aircraft manufacturers/design bureaus aren`t well represented in literature. Do you have material on AGO, Fieseler, Siebel, Bücker, Hütter Klemm, Gotha, Skoda-Kauba or Zeppelin?

[newsdeskdan]

Dan, the lesser known german aircraft manufacturers/design bureaus aren`t well represented in literature. Do you have material on AGO, Fieseler, Siebel, Bücker, Hütter, Klemm, Gotha, Skoda-Kauba or Zeppelin?

I have a lot from Gotha and scraps from Fieseler, Hütter, Skoda-Kauba and Zeppelin (which worked almost exclusively on other people's projects). AGO, Siebel and Bücker were all captured by the Soviets and therefore 'lost'. This has resulted in large gaps in our knowledge of German WW2 'projects'. While the western Allies got most of the major manufacturers' material, Heinkel's projects material almost all went to the Soviets (though Ernst Heinkel was initially under the impression that he'd made sure the western Allies would get it) along with the likes of Henschel and the others mentioned. Anecdotally, most of Skoda-Kauba's documents were burned, and there does seem to be some truth in that. A lot of Focke-Wulf material survived but mostly from Flugmechanik L under Wolff and (to a lesser extent) Flugmechanik E under Mathias. Documents from the actual Focke-Wulf projects office under Mittelhuber are conspicuous by their absence. Robert Forsyth has said that these were destroyed and it seems as though that might indeed have been the case.
Klemm ought to have been captured by the western Allies but if that was the case I've no idea what happened to their documents. Junkers is interesting because all of that company's documents ought to have been captured by the Americans but if that is the case then very few 'projects' documents seem to have survived for some reason. Messerschmitt and Arado material was, again, captured by the western Allies but as with Focke-Wulf there are plenty of gaps in the projects material.

[steelpillow]

I suppose there weren't enough designs of helicopters and other rotorcraft to fill up an entire issue?

There were, and that might be one for the future.

The not too distant future I trust.

[sienar]

Personally I'd like to see the Focke Wulf 159 design studies and the late 30s Arado radial fighter you mentioned. The 309 would be nice too, especially details on the radiator installation.

[newsdeskdan]

Personally I'd like to see the Focke Wulf 159 design studies and the late 30s Arado radial fighter you mentioned. The 309 would be nice too, especially details on the radiator installation.

The 159 design studies are a candidate for the next one, thanks to Jemiba's efforts in transcribing and translating the accompanying notes for me. The Arado fighter's still on the shelf. There appears to have been a huge amount of work done on the 309's radiator and I could certainly expand a great deal on that. One of the potential options for the next Luftwaffe: Secret was piston-engined fighters, but I decided against it because the Ta 153 vs Me 209 and Me 409/Me 155/Me 109 H/Me 309 H/Me 209 H/P 1091/BV 155 stories are proving too complex to pull together in the short term. I need more time on those.

[steelpillow]

I need more time on those.

Luftwaffe: Secret Rotorcraft of the Third Reich should buy you that time, while the current popularity of VTOL drones and "flying car" autogyros would make it an excellent eyecatcher. Only problem is, you already used the Triebflûgel cover art.

[newsdeskdan]

I need more time on those.

Luftwaffe: Secret Rotorcraft of the Third Reich should buy you that time, while the current popularity of VTOL drones and "flying car" autogyros would make it an excellent eyecatcher. Only problem is, you already used the Triebflûgel cover art.

I doubt helicopters will follow the next 'unknowns' but we'll see.

[gatoraptor]

I guess the Triebflugel is technically a rotorcraft.

[newsdeskdan]

I guess the Triebflugel is technically a rotorcraft.

Yes. I think I have at least one design drawing of the Triebflugeljager that's not been in print before (discovered after I wrote about it in Luftwaffe: Secret Jets). The Heinkel Lerche and Wespe are also technically rotorcraft.

[sienar]

Personally I'd like to see the Focke Wulf 159 design studies and the late 30s Arado radial fighter you mentioned. The 309 would be nice too, especially details on the radiator installation.

The 159 design studies are a candidate for the next one, thanks to Jemiba's efforts in transcribing and translating the accompanying notes for me. The Arado fighter's still on the shelf. There appears to have been a huge amount of work done on the 309's radiator and I could certainly expand a great deal on that. One of the potential options for the next Luftwaffe: Secret was piston-engined fighters, but I decided against it because the Ta 153 vs Me 209 and Me 409/Me 155/Me 109 H/Me 309 H/Me 209 H/P 1091/BV 155 stories are proving too complex to pull together in the short term. I need more time on those.

Do you know what type of airfoil the 309 used? Lots of books claim it was a laminar section but I'm pretty sure that is not the case.

Have you uncovered anything on the swept wing 309 development?