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A particular subcategory I enjoy is what is variously known as "German Paper Projects" and "Luftwaffe 1946." Germany was working on jet and rocket technology throughout World War Two, and some of the designs were amazingly imaginative and futuristic, while some were just cobbled together from parts. It sparks my imagination to wonder what kind of trouble the Allies would have been in if some of these had gotten into mass production.


Click to Enlarge		 Focke-Wulf Ta-183 Huckebein.
A proposal for a jet fighter that was never built, but was well into development at war's end, with wind tunnel models built and tested. One can see many features already appearing that would be used on jets in coming years. In fact, the design was used by Russia as the basis for the MiG-15 fighter. This model even carries wire guided air-to-air missiles, which were in limited use at war's end.

Markings are conjectural for JG1 Richtofen.
AMtech 1/48 scale kit. Research for AMtech provided by Dan Johnson of the Luft '46 website.



Click to Enlarge		 Messerschmitt BF-109Z "Zwilling" (Siamese twin).
One of these was built early in the war to try to come up with an easily produced heavy fighter based on two joined Bf-109s. It was unsuccessful, but I wondered what it would have looked like if it had gone on to be developed into a production night fighter.
A coversion using two 1/48 Hobbycraft Bf-109G-10s and the Cutting Edge Zwilling conversion kit, plus radar antenna and flame damper exhausts from the DML Ju-88G. The right cockpit has a radar set on the panel


Click to Enlarge		 Messerschmitt Me-209A.
In an attempt to improve on the Me-109's shortcomings, Messerschmitt developed an improved "209" featuring wide-track landing gear, a tall tail and a more powerful engine. While it was a good airplane, the pace of the war didn't allow for 109 production to be stopped and a new design started.
Classic Resin Airframes 1/48 scale kit with Aeromaster decals in a Reich defense color scheme.


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 Dornier Do-335A-12 Pfiel (Arrow).
The Dornier Do-335 Pfiel (Arrow), an experimental heavy fighter in flight test at the end of the war. It was one of the fastest piston-engined planes ever, but jets were already in service in 1944 and the 335 was obsolete before it got started. This is the 2-seat trainer version, referred to as the "Anteater" for its humpback and long snout.
The Tamiya 1/48 kit. I like 'what if' scenarios, so I painted this in desert camouflage as if the plane had gone into service with 9./ZG26 in the North African desert. Decals borrowed from an Aeromaster Bf-110 sheet. Tropical filters taken from bf-109 kits.
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 Dornier Do-335B-2 Pfiel (Arrow).
This was the heavy fighter verion, or "Zerstorer" (destroyer) of the Pfiel. Armed with an additional pair of 30mm cannon in the wings and an armoerd windshield, it was optimized for bomber interception.
Another version of the Tamiya 1/48 kit. The markings are for Stab. II/ZG-26 in late 1944/45, when the unit was detailed to Germany flying Me-410s against bomber formations. Aeromaster decals from an Me-410 sheet.

Click to Enlarge		 Dornier Do-335B Nachtjaeger.
What can I say ? I love this plane. This is the night fighter variant. One was indeed built and test flown.
The DML kit of the night fighter, with the wing cannon transplanted from their 335B zerstorer kit. I wanted to see just how much crap I could hang on the wings - radar antennae, drop tanks, cannon...

Click to Enlarge		 Blohm und Voss Projekt 193.01.
The Stuka dive bomber was already obsolete at the beginning of World War Two. It was too slow, too big, and too awkward to avoid getting shot down all the time. This BV project was a proposed replacement with radical features such as a pusher propellor, mid-engine, and large ventral fin. Here's what it might have looked like in desert camo.
Planet Models 1/72 scale.

Click to Enlarge		 Focke-Wulf Treibflugel ("Thrust Wing").
A proposal for a vertical take-off interceptor. The propulsion would have been provided by 3 ramjet-powered rotary wings rotating around a gyro-stabilized fuselage. It was never built. Probably a good thing for the test pilots.
The 1/72 scale Huma of Germany kit.

Click to Enlarge		 Horton Ho-229B.
A jet fighter that reached prototype stage. This is a projected 2-seat night fighter version of a flying wing that was actually built and flown just before the war ended. It's two jet engines made it fast, its thin frontal area and plywood skin made it radar-resistant, and it was to be equipped with ejection seats, all in 1944/45.
The 1/48 scale DML kit of the proposed but unbuilt Ho-229B radar-equipped night fighter with four wire-guided air-to-air missiles (which also were in production in 1945).


Click to Enlarge		 Messerschmitt Projekt 1101.
This was the most advanced jet fighter to be built during WWII. Its most novel feature was ground-adjustable wing sweep. A prototype was built, but the war ended before it could fly. The U.S. captured the prototype and used the design in the Bell X-5 swing-wing test plane. The Russians used the design to develop the MiG-15, the hottest fighter of the Korean War period.
The top photo is he standard day fighter version, as it may have looked in the markings of JG54 if they were still in Russia in the spring of 1946.
The lower photo is what a night fighter version probably would have looked like, featuring the optional T-tail and wire-guided air-to-air missiles.
DML 1/72 scale kits, thermoform canopies, night fighter with etched brass seat belts.

Click to Enlarge		 Blohm und Voss Projekt 212.03.
A jet fighter proposal that didn't go anywhere, but is one of the more radical and interesting designs of the period, showing how far afieled the Germans were experimenting with aerodynamics.
Special Hobby 1/72 scale kit.


Click to Enlarge		 Gotha P.60C Night fighter project.
A radical delta flying wing with 2 turbojets arranged novelly, over-and-under the aft fuselage.
The Planet Models resin kit with Meteor Productions decals.

Click to Enlarge		 Heinkel Projekt 1079a.
Another night fighter concept. Fuselage-mounted, faired-over engines, a tapered, swept, mid-wing... features to be used by jet aircraft for the next 20 years.
Planet Models 1/72

Click to Enlarge		 Focke Wulf Flitzer.
Focke Wulf was well into building a wooden mockup of this twin-boom fighter at war's end. The fuselage housed a single jet engine, as well as an internal rocket engine for scramble takeoffs. The planform was used in the 1950s on British jets such as the D.H. Vampire and Venom, but I think the Flitzer was prettier than any that came after it.
Special Hobby's 1/72 scale kit. I did a little cockpit and canopy detailing, and put it in the markings of JG27 in the North African desert.

Click to Enlarge		 Messerscmitt P.1110/1.
Messerscmitt's ultimate wartime project is essentially a modern jet fighter. With the exception of the flush air intakes, just about every feature of this advanced concept was used on aircraft for the next 2 decades. The design was in fact built by Willy Messerscmitt for India as the Marut fighter, and scarfed by Folland Aircraft in England as the Gnat. Germany's first monoplane fighter was built inly 10 years before this design.
Planet Models 1/72


Click to Enlarge		 Arado E555.
This was a proposal for a New York bomber. The flying wing format allows for large amounts of internal fuel as well as a large bomb load. Had the war continued into he late 40's one of these may have been able to deliver an atomic bomb on New York, Boston, Washington....
Revell of Germany turned out this excellent kit in 1/72 scale. It's lght-years better than the limited-run kits featured on this page.


Click to Enlarge		 Henschel Hs P87.
A number of radical features were worked into this fast bomber design; canards, a tailless fuselage with blended wings, and a buried aft engine driving contra-rotating pusher propellors.
Planet Models 1/72 resin kit.


Click to Enlarge		 Arado Ar E580.
This little fighter was an entry in the Volksjaeger competition, and shares many features of the plane that was finally selected, the Heinkel He162 - spine-mounted engine, twin tails, short straight wings. The intent was to design an easily-made interceptor to be flown by minimally trained pilots in defencse against Allied bombing attacks. Probably the cockpit stuck in the middle of the freaking jet intake would have had adverse effects on its performance!
The Planet Models resin kit in 1/72 scale, with scavenged decals for II/JG27.


Click to Enlarge
 Junkers EF 128.
Another of the many tailless designs of the period, and quite a pretty one, I think.
The camouflage based upon the "Schlange" (snake) scheme postulated in the book Luftwaffe Project Aircraft No.1 - Junkers EF 128 by Dan Johnson and Daniele Sabatini, available at Dan's Luft '46 website (see the link below).
Huma 1/72 plastic kit.
It's amazing to think that at the start of the war most countries, Germany included, still had biplanes in their military air arms, and before the end of the war, anything with a piston engine was fading into obsolescence and stealthy, tailless, swept-wing, radar-equipped, missile-carrying turbojets were flying. In the space of ten years aviation advanced many generations, spurred on by the necessities of war.

Get lots of information about German WWII aircraft projects at Luft '46 and check out the Luftwaffe '46 webring.

More models:
Model page 1, some German planes of World War Two.
Model page 2, some German planes that might have been.
Model page 3, some planes that ain't German.
Model page 4, some sci fi models.

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