Cub Driver wrote:
Someone wrote:

Does anybody know what it was (I'm asking strictly about planes
that saw combat, not the "blueprint superfighters")?

It never saw combat, but it had been flight-tested and was on the
"production line" at the Gotha works: the Horten all-wing
fighter-bomber.

German flying wing fighters might have been relatively quick and
simple to manufacture for the beleagured Nazi war machine but the
Horten flying wings designs would have been easy pickens for allied
Spits, P-38's, -47's, -51's etc.

Fighters must be capable of performing aerobatics with ease but
a flying wing fighter would have a terribly tough time turnin' and
burnin' with more conventional allied fighters.

For example, if you attempt to loop a flying wing and blow it you
don't have the luxury of getting a second chance to recover
whereas in a conventional aircraft recovery from a blown loop
and the subsequent stall/spin is fairly routine....

http://www.pegasus-usa.com/tech/tumble.mpg

--
Mike Marron
pegasus912 at tampabay dot rr dot com