The Horten Ho-229 (also designated Horten Ho IX or Gotha Go-229) was a late World War II German twin-engine flying-wing jet fighter-bomber. In cooperation with the Luftwaffe Sonderkommando 9 experimental center, the Ho-IX fighter project was created in 1942 with a flying wing system equipped with two BMW 003A-1 jet engines. Construction of the V1 and V2 prototypes began soon after and was completed in 1942. Problems with the BMW engine led to the first Ho-IX V1 prototype flying as a glider in the summer of that year, without engines and with a fixed front landing. mechanism. However, the second prototype, the Ho-IX V2, was redesigned and fitted with Jumo 004 B-1 (2x8.5 kN) engines. Summer tests with these engines began in January 1945. In the first flight, the aircraft developed a speed of about 800 km/h, but after 2 hours of testing, the flash of one of the engines led to a complete crash of the prototype during landing. try. However, before that, the task of preparing for production was assigned to the Gothaer Waggonfabrik plant, where the construction of prototypes under the designation Go-229 V3-V7, as well as preparation for the production of the experimental Go-229 A-0, began. number. The first prototype built at the Goth factory (Go-229 V3), equipped with Jumo 004C engines (2x10kN), was ready for testing, and work on the remaining prototypes (some of them in two-seat night fighters) was seriously advanced when the factories were captured by American troops. Technical data: length: 7.47 m, wingspan: 16.76 m, height: 2.81 m, maximum speed: 977 km/h, lift: 22 m/s, maximum ceiling 16000 m, armament: stationary - 4 guns MK108 caliber 30 mm Suspension - up to 1000 kg of bombs.
