Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Did Germany have a stealth bomber prototyped during WW2?
In early 2008, Northrop Grumman paired up television documentary producer Michael Jorgensen and the National Geographic Channel to produce a documentary to determine whether the Ho 229 was, in fact, the world's first true "stealth" fighter-bomber.[12] Northrop Grumman built a full-size non-flying reproduction of the V3, made out of wood primarily, unlike the original aircraft which had an extensive steel space-frame to which the wooden skin was bolted. The space-frame for the real aircraft was made from steel tubes up to 160mm in diameter, and provided the entire structure for the center section of the aircraft[14]. After an expenditure of about US$250,000 and 2,500 man-hours, Northrop's Ho 229 reproduction was tested at the company's RCS test range at Tejon, California, where it was placed on a 15-meter (50ft) articulating pole and exposed to electromagnetic energy sources from various angles, using the same three HF/VHF-boundary area frequencies in the 20–50MHz range used by the Chain Home.[12]
Under the Ural bomber programme, he began secret talks with two of Nazi Germany's leading aircraft manufacturers - Dornier and Junkers - requesting designs for a long-range bomber. The two companies responded with the Dornier Do 19 and the Junkers Ju 89, respectively, and the "Reichsluftfahrtministerium" (RLM) ordered prototypes for both aircraft in 1935. The RLM request asked for two prototypes and a prototype series of nine aircraft.
In 2005, Stealth expanded into running its own events with a series called Stealth Live! The events have grown into a recurring series of club parties in major electronic music markets such as: The Netherlands, Germany, England, Spain and the U.S.
During World War I, the Germans experimented with the use of "Cellon" (Cellulose acetate), a transparent covering material, in an attempt to reduce the visibility of military aircraft. Single examples of the Fokker E.III "Eindecker" fighter monoplane, the Albatros C.I two-seat observation biplane, and the Linke-Hofmann R.I prototype heavy bomber were covered with "cellon". In fact, sunlight glinting from the covering made the aircraft even more visible. The material was also found to be quickly degraded both by sunlight and in-flight temperature changes so the attempt to make transparent aircraft was not proceeded with.
By 1976, these programs had progressed to a position in which a long-range strategic stealth bomber appeared viable. President Carter became aware of these developments during 1977, and it appears to have been one of the major reasons the B-1 was canceled. Further studies were ordered in early 1978, by which point the Have Blue platform had flown and proven the concepts. During the 1980 presidential election campaign in 1979, Ronald Reagan repeatedly stated that Carter was weak on defense, and used the B-1 as a prime example. In response, on 22 August 1980 the Carter administration publicly disclosed that the United States Department of Defense was working to develop stealth aircraft, including a bomber.
The Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) program began in 1979. Full development of the black project followed, and was funded under the code name "Aurora". After the evaluations of the companies' proposals, the ATB competition was narrowed to the Northrop/Boeing and Lockheed/Rockwell teams with each receiving a study contract for further work. Both teams used flying wing designs. The Northrop proposal was code named "Senior Ice" and the Lockheed proposal code named "Senior Peg". Northrop had prior experience developing the YB-35 and YB-49 flying wing aircraft. The Northrop design was larger while the Lockheed design included a small tail. In 1979, designer Hal Markarian produced a sketch of the aircraft, that bore considerable similarities to the final design. The Air Force originally planned to procure 165 of the ATB bomber.
During assembly, the second prototype XO-27 was converted to a bomber prototype, dubbed the XB-8. While the XB-8 was much faster than existing biplane bombers, it did not have the bomb capacity to be considered for production. Two YB-8s and 4 Y1B-8s were ordered, but these were changed mid-production to Y1O-27 configuration.
Construction of the grass airfield at RAF Bitteswell was started in March 1940 and it opened in June 1941. The original grass runways were replaced between February and June 1943 with concrete and asphalt. During WW2 it was used by the RAF for bomber operations and training. During and after WW2 it was also used for aircraft assembly, maintenance, and jet engine development.
In 1979, public leaks about the stealth fighter began to appear in the aviation press, but at the time it was little more than gossip. During the summer of 1980, the pace of stealth leaks picked up. In the week of 10 August, Aviation Week and Space Technology, The Washington Post, and ABC News all carried stories on stealth. (Up to this point, the popular press had ignored stealth). The stories said that stealth technology was being developed for several types of aircraft, including bombers. They reported that it used RAM and curved surfaces to reduce the radar return.(The latter was entirely inaccurate).
Some sources contend that contrary to popular belief, it was not Kesselring who killed off the Ural bomber concept; rather it was Hermann Göring who ceased strategic bomber development in Nazi Germany before the start of World War II, upon the advice of Kesselring, Ernst Udet and Erhard Milch. Kesselring was a vocal supporter of twin engine bombers and backed up Udet who preferred dive bombers. This was the questionable decision that was made to convert the Ju 88 medium bomber and the even more disastrous decision to convert the Heinkel He 177 heavy bomber, into a form of "Big Stuka" dive bomber, on the very day it was given its RLM airframe number of 8-177 on November 5, 1937. This move countered the request of Ernst Heinkel one year later, for the third and fourth He 177 V-series prototypes to be specifically built as true, four-separately-engined heavy bomber prototypes, rather than with the specified pair of DB 606 "twinned DB 601" power systems, weighing some 1.5 tonnes apiece, required for the He 177A to have the streamlining to accomplish dive-bombing missions.
It was reported in 2011 that the Pentagon was evaluating an unmanned stealth bomber, characterized as a "mini-B-2", as a potential replacement in the near future. In 2012, Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz stated the B-2's 1980s-era stealth technologies would make it less survivable in future contested airspaces, so the USAF is to proceed with the Next-Generation Bomber despite overall budget cuts. In 2012 projections, it was estimated that the Next-Generation Bomber would have an overall cost of $55 billion.
Polsten Guns, magazines and ammunition boxes were also made in Australia by General Motors Holden's in South Australias Woodville and Beverley Plants during WW2.
They were used by the Australian Army onshore and on small boats. Several prototype gun mountings were also developed but did not see service.
The M-34 was used in an unusual system, first tried by Imperial Germany in 1918 with a Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI, that used an external supercharger to supply pressurized air to the aircraft's M-34FRN engines. The first installation, designated ATsN-1 ("Agregat tsentral'novo nadduva" – central boosting unit), used an auxiliary M-34 fitted inside the fuselage to drive a central supercharger with ducts leading to the engines in the wings. This was flight-tested in a Tupolev TB-3 in 1935. It was adapted for use in a Petlyakov Pe-8 bomber prototype with a smaller Klimov M-100 engine substituted for the M-34 as the ATsN-2. It was flight-tested during 1938–39, but was not approved for production. The same idea was revived in 1943 by Nazi Germany with the Henschel Hs 130E bomber prototype series, with the "Höhen-Zentrale Anlage" unit.
As early as 1975, West Germany is known to have conducted research into the field of stealth aircraft. During 1981, work commenced at MBB on developing a design for a viable stealth aircraft; the effort was supported by a contract that had been issued by the German Air Force. Also known as the "Medium Range Missile Fighter" (MRMF), it had been conceived that a fighter could be both lighter and cheaper if it was so superior at mid-range combat as to allow it to discard the requirement to perform close-range combat. Having been developed independently of other stealth aircraft, such as the American Lockheed Corporation's Have Blue technical demonstrator and its follow-up F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft, the Lampyridae nonetheless utilized a similar approach to achieving its low-observable characteristics.
Development of modern stealth technologies in the United States began in 1958, where earlier attempts in preventing radar tracking of its U-2 spy planes during the Cold War by the Soviet Union had been unsuccessful. Designers turned to develop a particular shape for planes that tended to reduce detection by redirecting electromagnetic waves from radars. Radar-absorbent material was also tested and made to reduce or block radar signals that reflect off from the surface of planes. Such changes to shape and surface composition form stealth technology as currently used on the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit "Stealth Bomber".
In February 2003, during a session with the House Committee on Armed Services, Air Force Secretary James Roche said that he envisioned a force of 150 FB-22s would equip the service. In 2004, Lockheed Martin officially presented the FB-22 to the Air Force to meet its requirement for a potential strategic bomber as an interim solution to become operational by 2018. Because of the work already done on the F-22, the cost of developing the FB-22 was estimated to be as low as 25% of developing a new bomber, with development expected to be US$5–7 billion (2002 dollars), including the airframe cost of US$1 billion (2003 dollars). It was later revealed that six different versions of the bomber were submitted, as targets, payload and range had yet to be defined. In addition, as a stealth bomber, the FB-22 was designed to carry weapons externally while maintaining stealth with the assistance of detachable and faceted pods dubbed "wing weapons bay"; previously, an aircraft could only remain stealthy if it carried its weapons internally. However, the FB-22 in its planned form appears to have been canceled in the wake of the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review and subsequent developments as the Department of Defense favored a bomber with much greater range.
The R.VI was the most numerous of the R-bombers built by Germany, and also among the earliest closed-cockpit military aircraft (the first being the Russian Sikorsky Ilya Muromets). The bomber was reputedly the largest wooden aircraft to be produced in any quantity during World War I, with only the Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII prototype bomber of 1918–1919 being larger, with the Staaken R.VI's wingspan of nearly equaling that of the World War II Boeing B-29 Superfortress, and somewhat less than the span of the Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII.
Glenn was considered an expert in matters of science and technology due to his background. He was a supporter of continuing the B-1 bomber program, which he considered successful. This conflicted with President Carter's desire to fund the B-2 bomber program. Glenn did not fully support development of the B-2 because he had doubts about the feasibility of the stealth technology. He drafted a proposal to slow down the development of the B-2, which could have potentially saved money, but the measure was rejected.
On 25 October 2013, Boeing and Lockheed Martin announced their teaming up for the LRS-B. Boeing will be the prime contractor. The two companies previously joined together for the program in 2008, but the partnership ended in 2010 when requirements shifted. Boeing believes that as the program had evolved, they can readdress their partnership to specifically address requirements. The team has Boeing's bomber experience and Lockheed Martin's stealth experience. At the time of the announcement, official details about the LRS-B were that it will likely be optionally manned and use stealth technology. On 30 January 2014, Northrop Grumman stated their intention to invest in developing needed technology for the bomber, such as stealth designs, mission management systems, and autonomous controls.
During World War I, the Germans experimented with the use of "Cellon" (Cellulose acetate), a transparent covering material, in an attempt to reduce the visibility of military aircraft. Single examples of the Fokker E.III "Eindecker" fighter monoplane, the Albatros C.I two-seat observation biplane, and the Linke-Hofmann R.I prototype heavy bomber were covered with "Cellon". In fact, sunlight glinting from the material made the aircraft even more visible. "Cellon" was also found to be quickly degraded both by sunlight and in-flight temperature changes so the attempt to make transparent aircraft was not proceeded with.
The B-24 bombers of the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy) joined the Chinese Battlefield in March 1944 as the heavy bombers of the Fourteenth Air Force to fight against the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War (WW2 in China). About 48 B-24Ms were provided by the U.S. to the Chinese Nationalists Airforce after WW2 and were used during the Chinese Civil War. The PLAAF had two B-24Ms captured from the Chinese Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War and operated until 1952.
During the Battle of France, the prototype SNCAO 200 may have been used to defend the SNCAO factory at Villacoublay, and may even have shot down an attacking Heinkel He 111 bomber. The prototype was taken to Germany for evaluation following the 22 June Armistice between France and Germany.
The ability to approach a target unseen was rendered obsolete by advances in radar in the 1940s and 1950s. Since the development of stealth technology, Yehudi lights have attracted renewed interest, first in 1973 when McDonnell Douglas researched a "Quiet Attack" aircraft for the Office of Naval Research, modifying the F-4 Phantom with Yehudi lights on its underside, and later in the 1970s when Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works was contracted to develop a stealth aircraft prototype "Have Blue", which helped to guide the development of the F-117A stealth fighter and the B-2 stealth bomber. The "Have Blue" prototype was disruptively camouflaged to disguise its shape from casual onlookers, as well as being constructed of angled facets to reduce its radar cross-section. The use of any form of active camouflage, whether Yehudi lights or microwave emissions, was however rejected.
The He 177B, the later Heinkel He 274 high-altitude design; and by February 1943, the paper-only Heinkel He 277 "Amerika Bomber" — as the Heinkel firm's trans-Atlantic range design competition's candidate, forming the eventual trio of "four-engine" development programs emerging from the He 177A design, each being done entirely separate from the others — came the closest to providing the Luftwaffe with a true heavy bomber from the Heinkel firm's engineering departments. The original He 177A design, with its troublesome coupled Daimler-Benz 606 and 610 "power system" engines, was the basis for the He 177B and He 274 and the initial inspiration for the BMW 801 radial powered He 277, whose nosewheel-equipped fuselage for its "Amerika Bomber" design entry had much more of the general appearance of an enlarged Heinkel He 219 for its fuselage lines and layout. The conversion of four He 177As of various models was the method of creating the flying prototypes of the initial trio of He 177B prototypes built in Austria (with the V104 fourth prototype airframe underway), and the start of the construction of a pair of He 274 prototypes to be built in France. Both the quartet of commissioned He 177B prototype airframes and pair of He 274 prototypes used four individual Daimler-Benz DB 603 engines apiece, with the 274's powerplants having additional turbocharging for high-altitude flight, and would have provided the Luftwaffe with a bombing capability on par with RAF Bomber Command's Avro Lancaster.
The B-2 Stealth Bomber is a long-range strategic bomber, that features stealth technology that makes it far less visible to radar. The B-2 was a major technological advance; however, it was designed during the Cold War for military scenarios that some argued were less relevant following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its total program cost was estimated in 1997 at over US$2.2 billion per airplane.
The bomber force was drawn from the two squadrons which had been issued the Lancaster: No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron and No. 97 Squadron. The aircraft would leave in the afternoon, cross northern France to Germany, make their attack as light faded, and then fly a direct return under the cover of darkness. 44 Squadron had the longest experience with the new aircraft, having received the prototype in September 1941. In command of the raid was Squadron Leader John Nettleton of 44 Squadron. A South African, he was an experienced pilot nearing the end of his first tour. 97 Squadron would be led by Squadron Leader John Sherwood.
Bomber Command crews were trained to fly on their own at altitude in trail and during the night. The crews were unfamiliar with low level flying, and they did not perform formation flying. A week before the operation the two squadrons were withdrawn from the bomber offensive and began training in low level formation flying. Each squadron would prepare seven Lancaster crews for the mission, but only six aircraft would go, with the seventh prepared as a spare. 