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the lancaster kicks ass said:apparently at one point the germans were sending the japs a copy of the plans for their A-bomb when they knew they'd loose the war, but it never got to japan...........
Jup, You´re right. B-weapons are to be used since VERY ancient times.
(indeed, I had an excavation at Monkodonja/Croatia, an early to middle bronze age settlement/fortification (around 1900 BC-1200BC, excavation still under progress)and it seems, after all, that the only water source was poisoned -well there were huge amounts of animal bones (mostly bos taurus)- somehow. So you are right, Botulinum wasn´t the first B-weapon
Anyway it was too much a danger to the germans as well. I have read somewhere (try google) that a He-177 was/should be refitted in the closing months of WW2 to carry a nuclear bomb. That should happen at around Prague, but again I doubt. There is simply no reliable source to proof that claim. I doubt that Hitler was even informed about the nuke. Probably not. Heavy water has not much to do with enrichment of Uranium, but you neeed it for other things (here again the Uranbrenner of Kummersdorf), which have more in common with power plants (and of course, IF you have a working power plant you can easily get the nuclear material you need to build a nuke). And think of all the coal which would have been saved for other needs (weapon production). But all the ressources could have made a greater impact eslewhere, I think. Back to the topic: A9/A 10 ICBM against Japan /maybe also US terretory? They wouldn´t have been very reliable. They would have costed years in development (A9 was in progress with A4b) and you could only hope to hit one of Japans isles! Imagine a nuke warhead exploding somwhere at Peenemünde during a failed rocket launch in 1948! And how to ferry all the troops and tanks??? Impossible for the germans. Look at their sweet tiny fleet (exceptions would be granted for the type XXI submarines), they could never provide protection for their transporters with KM....[/i]
Which was first is not known with any precision, but to say that the B2 came from the Horten design is a bit of a stretch
Comments:
First flown in January 1945, the Ho 229 was the innovative design of Walter and Reimar Horten, both former Luftwaffe officers. The test programme showed the 229 to have outstanding speed and handling characteristics but developement was halted when US troops overran the research facility. Some dispute has arisen over whether the 229 should be classified as the Go 229 or Ho 229. Since Gothar was supposed to build 229 and didn't really design it, I'm arbitrarily going with the Ho 229 designation in honor of the designers.
http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/ho229.html
In 1944 the RLM issued a requirement for an aircraft with a range of 11000 km (6835 miles) and a bomb load of 4000 kg (8818 lbs). This bomber was to be able to fly from Germany to New York City and back without refueling. Five of Germany's top aircraft companies had submitted designs, but none of them met the range requirements for this Amerika Bomber. Their proposals were redesigned and resubmitted at the second competition, but nothing had changed. The Hortens were not invited to submit a proposal because it was thought that they were only interested in fighter aircraft.
After the Hortens learned of these design failures, they the went about designing the XVIII A Amerika Bomber. During the Christmas 1944 holidays, Reimar and Walter Horten worked on the design specifications for their all-wing bomber. They drew up a rough draft and worked on weight calculations, allowing for fuel, crew, armaments, landing gear and bomb load. Ten variations were eventually worked out, each using a different number of existing turbojets. Several of the designs were to be powered by four or six Heinkel-Hirth He S 011jet engines, and several of the others were designed around eight BMW 003A or eight Junker Jumo 004B turbojets.
The version that the Hortens thought would work best would utilize six Jumo 004B turbojets, which were buried in the fuselage and exausted over the rear of the aircraft. They were fed by air intakes located in the wing's leading edge. To save weight they thought of using a landing gear that could be jettisoned immediately after takeoff (with the additional help of rocket boosters) and landing on some kind of skid. The Ho XVIII A was to be built mainly of wood and held together with a special carbon based glue. As a result, the huge flying wing should go largely undetected by radar.
The Hortens were told to make a presentation for their Amerika Bomber design on Febuary 25, 1945 in Berlin. The meeting was attended by representatives of the five aircraft companies who originally submitted ideas for the competition. No one challenged their assertion that their flying wing bomber could get the job done. A few days later the Hortens were told to report to Reichsmarshall Göring, who wanted to talk to the brothers personally about their proposed Amerika Bomber. There they were told that they were to work with the Junkers company in building the aircraft.
Several days later Reimar and Walter Horten met with the Junkers engineers, who had also invited some Messerschmitt engineers. Suddenly it seemed that the Horten's design was to be worked on by committee. The Junkers and Messerschmitt engineers were unwilling to go with the design that the Hortens presented several days earlier. Instead, the committee wanted to place a huge vertical fin and rudder to the rear of the Ho XVIII A. Reimar Horten was angry, as this would add many more man-hours, plus it would create drag and thus reduce the range. The committee also wanted to place the engines beneath the wing, which would create additional drag and reduce the range even further. After two days of discussion, they chose a design that had huge vertical fins, with the cockpit built into the fin's leading edge. Six Jumo 004A jet engines were slung under the wing, three to a nacelle on each side. The bomb bay would be located between the two nacelles, and the tricycle landing gear would also be stored in the same area. The committee would present the final design to the RML and recommended that it be built in the former mining tunnels in the Harz Mountains. Reimar was unhappy with the final design, so he went about redesigning the aircraft, to be known as the Ho XVIII B.
Span: 40 m (131' 4") Length: Unknown Max. Speed: 900 km/h (559 mph)
http://www.luft46.com/horten/ho18a.html
After being dissatisfied with the committee designed Ho XVIII A, Reimar Horten redesigned the flying wing Amerika Bomber. The proposed Ho XVIII B had a three man crew which sat upright in a bubble-type canopy near the apex of the wing. There were two fixed main landing gear assemblies with two He S 011 turbojets mounted to each side. During flight, the tires would be covered by doors to help cut down on air resistance and drag, a nose wheel being considered not necessary. Overall, the aircraft would have weighed about 35 tons fully loaded. Fuel was to be stored in the wing so that no auxiliary fuel tanks would be required. It was estimated that the Ho XVIII B would have a range of 11000 km (6835 miles), a service ceiling of 16 km (52492 feet) and a round-trip endurance of 27 hours. Although armament was considered unnecessary, Reimar Horten proposed that two MK 108 30mm cannon could be mounted directly below the cockpit. It was decided that construction was to be done in two bomb-proof hangers near Kala, which had concrete roofs 5.6 meters (18.4 feet) thick. In addition, extra long runways had been constructed so the aircraft could be test flown there too. Work was supposed to start immediately, and the RLM expected the Ho XVIII B to be built by the fall of 1945, which Reimar Horten reported to be impossible. At any rate, Germany surrendered two months later before construction could begin.
Span: 40 m (131' 4") Length: unknown Max. Speed: 850 km/h (528 mph)
http://www.luft46.com/horten/ho18b.html