newsdeskdan said:
...Is there a period drawing accompanying the article or is the magazine's drawing a speculative design?
The article says, that Ernst Wagner presented the design of a twin engined private aircraft with push-pull configuration
in 1958. And when introducing this design to the public, the designer mentioned, that it was based on this design for a
fighter, submitted to the German airforce in 1944 ... "intensive research of the author didn't bring out any original document,
nor about the company owned by Ernst Wagner back then ..."
The whole shown project is based on the Ernst Wagners memories, and the author of the article in the FR X points to some
details, where this memory obviously already was fading.
I fully agree with Scott and newsdeskdan about the mass of projects "flooding the market" after the war, because Messerschmitt,
Heinkel, Junkers and so on no longer existed in the form, they did until the end of the war. Lockheed, Boeing, Hawker or Bristol had
no reason to show to the public, what they were developing just a few years ago !
But I agree to Scott, too, in his point about the fascination of "Nazi secret weapons" to many people. And I cannot think of
an article in quite a reputable magazine about aviation history dealing with a design drawn by, say, Bill Smith (insert any other
unknown name here) one day in the war submitted to the USAF/RAF, because he thought it to be a good idea to win the war.
And if so, I think the letters to the editor would just say "meh", definitely not creating such a fuss as the "Heinkel He X/He 519",
or the "Junkers/Klagenfurt Klf 255", started as an April fool hoax, and even announced as such, but still having numerous loyal
believers.