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You know, I’m sometimes a bit sceptic about some “Secret German Projects” and have doubts, that
there ever was an official mention for this and that.
Now I’ve finished reading Manfred Griehls „Luftwaffe Over America“. Got it for a bargain price (post
& package actually cost more, than the book itself), so I ran the risk. But apart from the fact, that
the English written in that book suggests, that the author, a native German, had done the translation
by himself, it was an interesting read. But I was sometimes surprised to read about projects and variants,
I’ve never heard from before:
- A 5-engined Fw 200, with the fifth engine in the nose (page 119)
- A Me 264 with a gun turret in the nose, resulting without doubt in a considerable change of the
Shape of the nose (page 76)
- A combination of the fuselage of the He 177B with the wings/engines of the Me 264 (page 171)
The author lists his sources, of course, including several books we already know, but “approximately
5,500 individual documents has not been included for reasons of space”.
Judging the content, it seems probable to me, that those documents mainly were protocols from the
vast number of meetings and conferences of the Luftwaffe brass and the heads of the aviation industry.
So maybe those “projects” were only ideas, or suggestions from participants of those conferences ?
Who ever attended a meeting with high-ranking staff perhaps can confirm, that ideas from such
people will find their way into the protocol, even if all others have raised their eyebrows, because
of its “realism”.
It is mentioned, too, that Göring for example more than once mixed up several types, e.g. he mistook
the Me 261 with the Me 264. Such errors quite probably hadn't any results back then, but recorded in
writing they may have misguided researchers after the war. Anyway, they were mentioned in an
authentic, historic document, so how could it be wrong ?
Just a theory, of course, but I can imagine, that this is the way, that keeps many myths alive, because
they actually and without doubt are mentioned in authentic sources.
there ever was an official mention for this and that.
Now I’ve finished reading Manfred Griehls „Luftwaffe Over America“. Got it for a bargain price (post
& package actually cost more, than the book itself), so I ran the risk. But apart from the fact, that
the English written in that book suggests, that the author, a native German, had done the translation
by himself, it was an interesting read. But I was sometimes surprised to read about projects and variants,
I’ve never heard from before:
- A 5-engined Fw 200, with the fifth engine in the nose (page 119)
- A Me 264 with a gun turret in the nose, resulting without doubt in a considerable change of the
Shape of the nose (page 76)
- A combination of the fuselage of the He 177B with the wings/engines of the Me 264 (page 171)
The author lists his sources, of course, including several books we already know, but “approximately
5,500 individual documents has not been included for reasons of space”.
Judging the content, it seems probable to me, that those documents mainly were protocols from the
vast number of meetings and conferences of the Luftwaffe brass and the heads of the aviation industry.
So maybe those “projects” were only ideas, or suggestions from participants of those conferences ?
Who ever attended a meeting with high-ranking staff perhaps can confirm, that ideas from such
people will find their way into the protocol, even if all others have raised their eyebrows, because
of its “realism”.
It is mentioned, too, that Göring for example more than once mixed up several types, e.g. he mistook
the Me 261 with the Me 264. Such errors quite probably hadn't any results back then, but recorded in
writing they may have misguided researchers after the war. Anyway, they were mentioned in an
authentic, historic document, so how could it be wrong ?
Just a theory, of course, but I can imagine, that this is the way, that keeps many myths alive, because
they actually and without doubt are mentioned in authentic sources.
