The subject of this column is a quite remarkable German aircraft from World War II (WW2): the Horten Ho-229. This was a single-seat fighter/bomber aircraft with a steel and laminated plywood airframe, powered by two turbojet engines, and designed and built by the Horten brothers, Walter and Reimer. Its maximum speed was close to 1000 km/h. It looks for all the world like a modern-day stealth aircraft - but from 75 years ago. A prototype aircraft flew in test flights in February 1945 - just three months before the end of WW2 in Europe. The results were encouraging, but there was no time and no manufacturing capability to develop it to operational status. The prototype was recovered as the Allies overran Germany, and now-declassified documents in the British National Archives show that the airframe was carefully inspected and the performance assessed. It is not clear how much of this information may have been used in the design of the Northrop XB-35 (1946) and YB-49 (1947) "flying wing" aircraft. The prototype aircraft lay in storage for many years, but has now been taken to the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy museum, close to Dulles airport, VA, USA, where it is being restored.

中文翻译：

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霍滕Ho-229飞机[历史专栏]

本专栏的主题是第二次世界大战（WW2）的一架非同寻常的德国飞机：霍滕Ho-229。这是一架单座战斗机/轰炸机，具有钢质和层压胶合板机身，由两个涡轮喷气发动机提供动力，由霍滕兄弟沃尔特和雷默设计和制造。它的最高速度接近1000 km / h。它看起来像是一架现代隐形飞机，但在世界上却可以追溯到75年前。一架原型机于1945年2月试飞，距第二次世界大战欧洲结束仅三个月。结果令人鼓舞，但没有时间，也没有制造能力将其开发成可运行状态。原型在盟军占领德国后被回收，英国国家档案馆中现已解密的文件显示，已经仔细检查了机身并评估了性能。目前尚不清楚在诺斯罗普公司的XB-35（1946年）和YB-49（1947年）“飞翼”飞机的设计中可能使用了多少信息。原型飞机已经存放了很多年，但是现在已经被带到史密森尼大学乌德瓦·哈兹博物馆，该博物馆靠近美国弗吉尼亚州杜勒斯机场，正在对其进行修复。