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View Full Version : TV Alert: National Geographic Channel to air program on the Horten 229


Larry Jacks
26-June-2009, 08:50 PM
I just received this notice (http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2009/090624stealth.html?WT.mc_id=&wtmcid;&WT.mc_sect=gan) via AOPA. Since it's very short and it's possible that non-AOPA members may not be able to read it, here's the text:

Hitler’s stealth fighter show to air
By Alton K. Marsh

If you get the National Geographic Channel, you may want to watch “Hitler’s Stealth Fighter” on June 28 at 9 p.m. Working jointly, National Geographic Channel and Northrop Grumman Corp. built a Horten 229 flying wing replica to determine if it had stealth capabilities three decades before the United States.

With the construction and testing completed, the model has gone to the San Diego Air and Space Museum for display. The model was placed on a 50-foot pedestal at a formerly secret location in the Mojave Desert so that it could be hit with radar returns from every angle. Did the wooden aircraft prove to be stealthy? You’ll have to watch.

The U.S. government has hidden a German-built prototype of the flying wing in a warehouse since World War II.

It looks like an interesting program, at least to airplane nuts like me. That last line about the warehouse sounds a little like hype to me. That warehouse belongs to the Smithsonian Institution and holds aircraft awaiting restoration. The sentence as it reads brings to mind the closing scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

If you can get to the linked webpage, they have a short video exerpt from the program.

Fazor
26-June-2009, 09:18 PM
That last line about the warehouse sounds a little like hype to me. That warehouse belongs to the Smithsonian Institution and holds aircraft awaiting restoration. The sentence as it reads brings to mind the closing scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

That is precisely the first image that came to my mind. :) "Top men."

Anyway, that does indeed sound interesting. I've jotted it down on a piece of paper so as to remind myself to set it to record when I get home. Of course I know full well that I'll forget that there's a note in my pocket, thus forget to remind myself. But it's worth a try anyway.

danscope
26-June-2009, 10:05 PM
"Which top men?"
........"Top Men!"
Dan

Fazor
26-June-2009, 11:21 PM
I checked both my History and my History International listings (from the cable box) for Sunday. Neither have the show mentioned in the OP, though History International has a bunch of Hitler-related shows on all night.

GeorgeLeRoyTirebiter
26-June-2009, 11:43 PM
That's probably because NatGeo is completely unrelated to History/History International.

Fazor
27-June-2009, 01:52 AM
D'oh, I could have sworn the OP said History. Hmm. Well, I'll check again later.

danscope
27-June-2009, 03:03 AM
A most interesting design. Imagine this craft with a composite skin and a modern spar with turbo props or even a williams turbine.
Another interesting design is the Westland pterodactyl... to be found here:
http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/west_pterodactyl5.php .
This one had a 600 HP RR engine, a MK 5 . Imagine this ..built with modern materials. :) I always liked flying wings.
Best regards,
Dan

Ara Pacis
27-June-2009, 08:40 AM
The cat is already out of the bag on the wikipedia entry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horten_Ho_229