nazi germany

In 1929 physicist Hermann Oberth coined the idea for a behemoth space mirror that would reflect sunlight onto Earth during night time, thus creating an everlasting day, and significantly boosting crop yields. Sometime in late World War II, the concept was discovered by the Nazis, who sought to...

In 1940 Austrian inventor Paul Baumgärtl created the world's first backpack helicopter, the Heliofly. The first design (Heliofly I) was essentially designed as a parachute, which would allow soldiers to descend from mountains and hills (and potentially engage in combat while flying). It weighed...

What would civilian aviation look like had Nazi Germany won World War II? Since the outlook was optimistic for them until about 1942, many German manufacturers invested in designing and even building luxurious transatlantic airliners for planned post war use. What were some of these projects...

CONTENTS GUNS Ikaria MG FF (20-mm) Mauser MG 151 Series (15/20-mm) Rheinmetall-Borsig MK 103 (30-mm) Rheinmetall-Borsig MK 108 (30-mm) Mauser MG 81 (7.92-mm) Rheinmetall-Borsig MG 131 (13-mm) Mauser MG/MK 213 C Rheinmetall-Borsig BK 3.7 (37-mm) Rheinmetall-Borsig BK 5 (50-mm) Mauser...

By mid-1942 the shortage of tungsten needed for production of anti-tank artillery shells was so critical that the Heereswaffenamt issued a specification calling for a Panzerabwehrrakete (anti-tank missile) fitted with hollow charge warhead. Early in 1943, Dr. Otto Kramer began the development...

In the late-war period a battery of the ill-fated 5cm FlaK 41 was directed by a remote controlled system, overcoming it`s manual traverse problems and testing what would be the Gerät 58 5,5cm control system. Does anyone know about this development?

Everyone knows about the Dormier P.85 aircraft project, a Do17Z with, among other differences, floats and straight wings. It wasn`t included in the attached table, taken from a BA/MA file on the contest for a seaplane bomber, known as "Kampfflugzeug See" or as See-Stuka, as may see. There were...

Those who tought, like me, that all the German engineering expertise on hardware airships ended with the Hindenburg, are wrong. The BA/MA in Freiburg has a file (included in RM 7/2382), dated 12.2.1938,and stemming from the Kriegsmarine, refering to a proposal, serious enough to the point of...

The Bundesarchiv/Militäraarchiv listened to my prayers and made available the plans for a German fleet submarine project I was looking after since I bought Eberhardt Rössler`s "Geschichte des Deutschen Ubootbaus", in the early1990`s. All we had was a cross section and the general specifications...

Henschel Zitterrochen The Messerschmitt P 1111 (January 15,1945 jet fighter project) was fast, climbed very fast and high, manoeuvred exceedingly well at low speed, had enough room to transport a lot of fuel and armament, could be built in wood and was surprisingly small and nice to look at...

Hi! I am new to this forum, looking for both basic and deeply technical information on the famous German battleship, Bismarck. My aim is to gather technical and scientific information about this ship, then recreate it rigorously in an ambitious university project and, subsequently, publish it...

Hi! Competitor Focke-Wulf FW.57. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fww2/fw57.html

So, I’ve acquired this WW2 German Gyro. I would appreciate any information on what it was used in. It’s about 400mm long and 100mm diameter.

This, the last Flakpanzer designed by Rheinmetall-Borsig from late 1944, was incited by the SS-Führungshauptamt and fathered by SS-Hauptsturmführer Wabnitz. It proceeded to the last days of WW2, and not just a wooden mockup was made since metal was cut. All the plans were destroyed in a air...

Eugen Sänger and the Nazi space program

Hi all, The purpose of this thread is to collect and present source material for German bomb types, fuzes and tactics used over the Mediterranean (with particular reference to Malta). I am looking for both British and German sources, both primary and secondary, however, I would especially like...

I heard rumour that TsAGI analysis found that the Ta-183 Design II would have shed its tail (although the IAe 33 Pulqui II seems to have eventually managed to make a somewhat similar t-tail work). What other issues did late war WWII designs have? Ju EF 128 intakes might have had a lot of duct...

Hi Guys I came across information on the internet that the Japanese used: Messerschmitt Bf.109G Dornier Do. 215 Focke-Wulf Ta.154 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Reggiane Re.2000 Japanese homegrown Mistel project similar to the Germans (N1K fighter on a modified J5M bomb) Could this be a case of...

Looking through a book about Wehrmacht Field Artillery, I came across a list of which type of vehicle was supposed to tow each type of artillery piece. I'm looking for a similar list for Wehrmacht towed Anti-Tank Guns. Can anyone help ? cheers, Robin.

A one-off design by Ernst Jachtmann who had famously set endurance records in gliders including a 41 hour flight in 1937, he can be seen in the cockpit in the media below.