Question About This Historical Aircraft

CatholicFlyer

Active member
The Horten Ho 229

It first was used as a giant gilder, but was one actually able to get engines on it?

Horten_H.IX_line_drawing.svg.png


Seems like they got one flying, "In the early 1930s, the Horten brothers had become interested in the flying wing design as a method of improving the performance of gliders. The German government was funding glider clubs at the time because production of military and even motorized aircraft was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I. The flying wing layout removed the need for a tail and associated control surfaces and theoretically offered the lowest possible weight, using wings that were relatively short and sturdy, and without the added drag of the fuselage. The result was the Horten H.IV.[3]
In 1943, Reichsmarschall Göring issued a request for design proposals to produce a bomber that was capable of carrying a 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) load over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) at 1,000 kilometres per hour (620 mph); the so-called "3×1000 project". Conventional German bombers could reach Allied command centers in Great Britain, but were suffering devastating losses from Allied fighters.[3] At the time, there was no way to meet these goals—the new Junkers Jumo 004B turbojets could provide the required speed, but had excessive fuel consumption.
The Hortens concluded that the low-drag flying wing design could meet all of the goals: by reducing the drag, cruise power could be lowered to the point where the range requirement could be met. They put forward their private project, the H.IX, as the basis for the bomber. The Government Air Ministry (Reichsluftfahrtministerium) approved the Horten proposal, but ordered the addition of two 30 mm cannons, as they felt the aircraft would also be useful as a fighter due to its estimated top speed being significantly higher than that of any Allied aircraft.
The H.IX was of mixed construction, with the center pod made from welded steel tubing and wing spars built from wood. The wings were made from two thin, carbon-impregnated plywood panels glued together with a charcoal and sawdust mixture. The wing had a single main spar, penetrated by the jet engine inlets, and a secondary spar used for attaching the elevons. It was designed with a 7g load factor and a 1.8× safety rating; therefore, the aircraft had a 12.6g ultimate load rating. The wing's chord/thickness ratio ranged from 15% at the root to 8% at the wingtips.[1] The aircraft utilized retractable tricycle landing gear, with the nosegear on the first two prototypes sourced from a He 177's tailwheel system, with the third prototype using an He 177A main gear wheelrim and tire on its custom-designed nosegear strutwork and wheel fork. A drogue parachute slowed the aircraft upon landing. The pilot sat on a primitive ejection seat. A special pressure suit was developed by Dräger. The aircraft was originally designed for the BMW 003 jet engine, but that engine was not quite ready, and the Junkers Jumo 004 engine was substituted.[1]
Control was achieved with elevons and spoilers. The control system included both long-span (inboard) and short-span (outboard) spoilers, with the smaller outboard spoilers activated first. This system gave a smoother and more graceful control of yaw than would a single-spoiler system.[1]"

Has anyone built one in RC Form?
 

quorneng

Master member
It is not clear if John 'Jack' Nprthrop was fully aware of the Horton brothers work, although he probably was of their competition gliders, but during the war he developed very similar powered flying wing prototypes which ultimately lead to the huge XB35 and YB46. On this basis it is probably incorrect to say it was influenced by German captured information.
Of note is that the Grumman Northrop B-2 has exactly the same wing span (172 ft) as the Northrop YB46! ;)
 

CatholicFlyer

Active member
It is not clear if John 'Jack' Nprthrop was fully aware of the Horton brothers work, although he probably was of their competition gliders, but during the war he developed very similar powered flying wing prototypes which ultimately lead to the huge XB35 and YB46. On this basis it is probably incorrect to say it was influenced by German captured information.
Of note is that the Grumman Northrop B-2 has exactly the same wing span (172 ft) as the Northrop YB46! ;)

cool, very interesting. when I watched that large RC Horton fly, it was smooth and cut through the air, more smooth than the Flite Test Wings, maybe they could use the Horton shape for their next flying wing, @fliteadmin @flitetest I've never seen a more smooth flying RC Plane than the Horton IX. I'm still awe struck by it.

Back to what you were saying, yeah I bet he was aware of the gliders, which was the first one of the Horton Brothers, there has to be something in the design to allow it fly so smooth, even at lower altitudes, whatever is the reason why Jack's planes looked similar to the Horton Brothers, is some sort of genius behind it. Also, whoever was the Engine man with the Horton Brothers, if they knew how to tune Jet Engines, I am sure they would of got more speed out of the two jet engines to make it faster than 600+ mph. Because my Grandpa who was in World War Two, learned about the ME Jet plane and how the Allied Forces took the P-38 with the double prop engines, tuned it so well, it caught up with the ME Jet Plane and shot them down. So they needed a better engine tech and thankfully, they didn't.