The sun cannon and other giant projects of the Third Reich

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Nothing promotes human engineering like another major war. In any case, it is precisely this impression that is created when studying the history of the 20th century. Three major power conflicts from World War I to the Cold War have fueled scientific and technological breakthroughs. At the same time, Germany reached special heights in the design of weapons during the Second World War.

1. Land cruiser Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster

While all sorts of "boring engineers" were creating really practical things in the spirit of "fauspatrons", MG-42 and "Panthers", the real Aryans tried to appease the Fuhrer with the release of another monster machine. The land cruiser Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster was to be the largest super tank in Nazi Germany. Suffice it to say that this installation is a huge tank on which they wanted to install the famous Dora super-heavy cannon. And although the Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster looked formidable, there was very little benefit from such a machine. Moreover, the cruiser never saw the light of day.

2. Glider Ju 322 "Mammoth"

They wanted to use their gliders at the front in Germany. What it is? In fact, this is an airplane, only without an engine. A towing bomber was supposed to lift the Ju 322 "Mammoth" into the sky. It was assumed that such silent machines would be extremely effective for conducting unexpected air strikes. Specifically, the Ju 322 was the largest. With his help, the Germans wanted to land tanks on the British Isles. As a result, the car turned out to be so heavy that at the very first start it almost killed a towing plane.

3. Sun cannon

Some of the engineering projects of the Reich were bordering on insanity. For example, in 1945, the work of the scientist Hermann Obert fell into the hands of the Allies, who, back in 1923, seriously thought about creating a solar cannon. The idea of the weapon (as a whole) was quite simple. Install a huge lens at an altitude of 36,000 meters with a diameter of 1.5 km. The project was sluggish, but still began to be implemented in the Reich. They wanted to build a solar cannon in 15 years.

4. Transport aircraft Me.322

The gigantomania of Nazi engineers during the Second World War is striking in its absurdity. I wonder what old Sigmund Freud would say about this? However, some projects have been crowned with, albeit relative, but success. This is exactly what the Me.322 transport plane was. A total of 200 of these air giants were made. Each could take on board up to 120 troops. The carrying capacity of the vehicle was 23 tons.

5. Rifle Zielgerät 1229 Vampir

But this is a really interesting development of German engineers. While the Zielgerät 1229 Vampir turned out to be complex and expensive, it definitely influenced the ideas of weapon designers around the world. This weapon, in fact, was a redesigned StG 44 rifle, on which an optical sight and a flash suppressor were installed. A total of 300 copies of The Vampire were produced. They entered the Nazi troops in February 1945.

6. Rocket Ruhrstahl X-4

I wonder how modern rocketry would have developed without the contribution of German engineers to this industry? History, however, has no subjunctive mood. The Ruhrstahl X-4 project was very interesting just because it is, in fact, the first air-to-air cruise missile. The Nazis planned to guarantee themselves with the help of such missiles final dominance over the sky. They wanted to produce at least 1,000 Ruhrstahl X-4s a year. The plans broke the Allied bombing raids in 1944, during one of which the BMW plant that produced the X-4 engines was destroyed.

7. Helicopter Flettner Fl 282

They tried to create in Germany during the Third Reich and their own helicopter. It was the Flettner Fl 282. However, the Germans were not the first here, because during the Second World War, prototypes of such machines were developed and even tested in other countries. By the end of the war, Germany wanted to build 1,000 of these machines, but did not have time.