Feb 8
A German Horten Ho 229 is readied for a test flight - Germany, Feb 1945
Designed by brothers Walter and Reimar Horten, the Ho 229 was a jet-powered flying-wing aircraft developed in the final months of WW2. It was conceived to meet the ambitious “3×1000” requirement: an aircraft capable of carrying a 1,000-kilogram payload over 1,000 miles at a speed of 1,000 kilometres per hour. Although the Horten brothers produced some of the most advanced designs of the era, due to a shortage of resources, none of the Ho 229 prototypes entered active service. After the war, surviving aircraft were transferred to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip for evaluation by American and British scientists.
