[kach22i]

https://culturepics.org/on-this-day/index.php?year=&month=05&day=07&source=AAM#

First Lieutenant Warren Borges. Pilot, 306th Bomb Group The Reich Wreckers. He flew 35 missions from May/June to December 1944 in the 306th BG. Then flew Mosquitos Mark XVI from December 1944 to August 1945 for photo and Weather Recon in the 25th BG, 653/

NICO BRAAS COLLECTION
No. 5041. Flettner Fl 285
https://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Braas/5041.htm

The type was never flown.

THE Fl 282 'KOLIBRI'
http://www.germanaircraftwwii.org/2015/02/the-fl-282-kolibri.html

Some 50 pilots were trained to fly it, most of them by Flettner's test pilot, Hans Fuisting. It was extremely manoeuvrable and very stable and at forward speeds in excess of 60km/h (37mph) could be flown hands-off once the controls were balanced. .................

SEA TRIALS
From 1942, trials at sea aboard the cruiser Köln demonstrated that the aircraft was usable even in very poor weather conditions, and by the following year, 20 were in service with the Kriegsmarine in the Mediterranean and the Aegean. In 1944, an order for 1000 Fl 282s was placed with BMW, which began tooling up for production at its Munich and Eisenach plants, but before manufacture could begin, both they and the Flettner works at Johannisthal were very badly damaged by Allied bombing. Anton Flettner went on to design a 20-seat passenger helicopter, the Fl 339, but never got beyond the development stag.

German interest in flying wings and tailless aircraft
http://www.germanaircraftwwii.org/2015/04/german-interest-in-flying-wings-and.html

A classic Horten design, the Ho IIIe Motorglider was powered by a Volkswagen engine and was flown during 1944.

As World War 2 progressed, German aircraft designers became increasingly convinced that jet and rocket powered tailless designs represented the next generation of high-performance warplanes. Most of the major aircraft manufacturers produced tailless proposals, with many being tested as wind tunnel models. Only a few reached the early stages of construction. Had the war taken a different course and lasted longer, it is a certainty that some of these impressive designs would have entered operational service. Indeed, once hostilities ceased, the Allies wasted no time securing German aircraft research documentation and equipment while making every effort to track down those scientists and engineers who had worked on the most advanced projects.

http://www.germanaircraftwwii.org/2015/02/arado-ar-232.html



Messerschmitt Bf 109X

After the Focke-Wulf "Fw 190" entered duty with the "BMW 801 A" engine the project "Bf 109 X" was cancelled. The plane was destroyed in early 1942.