Horten H IV
The Horten H IV was a flying wing glider test the Horten brothers.
History
Was designed and built the first H IV 1940/41, in Königsberg as a high- performance glider. Since no official approval or order was present, took place the building in secret. In the first flight in May 1941 with the pilot Heinz Scheidhauer fly for has already been achieved over an hour. The construction of three additional specimens was carried out in Göttingen who started flight testing in the first half of 1943. In December 1944, a further copy of Bad Hersfeld was built with a laminar airfoil and designated as H IVb. You copied the profile of a North American P- 51 after this surprisingly low resistance values were measured in wind tunnel tests of the DVL. In a trial flight on January 18, 1945 in the vicinity of Göttingen, crashed the fallen into a tailspin aircraft, the pilot could indeed get out, but his parachute did not open up. The production of further copies of the 10 H IVb was stopped after the accident.
Construction
The aircraft had a tailless flying wing without side strakes in composite construction. The pilot was in the bow in the prone position with the legs sticking up in a fuselage gondola.
Specimens received
An H IV from 1943 is on display in the flight Schleißheim.