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224 Comments
- ruskicommi, on 06/26/2009, -2/+242Lots of things have been based off Nazi German designs.
- ShyGuy91284, on 06/26/2009, -3/+135So.... The US stealth planes may have been born from Nazi designs?
- SpeedSteamBoat, on 06/26/2009, -3/+120The thin threads of history laid bare.
If the German war machine that produced this kind of technology in the 1940s had had competent military leadership (i.e. NOT Adolf Hitler) World War II could have turned out very differently. Hubris and delusion saved us all a dark fate. - ByrcheWroot, on 06/26/2009, -2/+90It was a "Nazi" that helped put us on the moon.
- Wareznuke, on 06/26/2009, -0/+80It belongs in a museum!
- inactive, on 06/26/2009, -1/+56Operation Paperclip was the code name for the 1945 Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency O.S.S. recruitment of German scientists from Nazi Germany to the U.S. after VE Day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip - 2Deluxe, on 06/26/2009, -5/+58In before it becomes self aware and Jessica Beil and Josh Lucas have to save the day.
- jayjayjoni, on 06/26/2009, -1/+45Aside from the fact that they were Nazi's, the German war machine was beyond its time.
- bigteebo, on 06/26/2009, -0/+37The company that makes the guns on our M1 tanks are from Germany, IIRC. Didn't they also make the ancestor to the AK-47 as well? Let's face it, they had all the fun toys!
- tgc1, on 06/26/2009, -1/+37Science and knowledge doesn't pick sides.
- monodelasno, on 06/26/2009, -0/+27Hitler had plenty of people in subordinate roles, who, given the opportunity would have done things differently. Rommel for one knew North Africa was a lost cause and they should have abandoned it.
- Skitals, on 06/26/2009, -0/+24They have been playing previews for this show for a while. It will only be cool if they build a FLYING replica! I don't want to see some full scale model...
- ifruit, on 06/26/2009, -0/+22You chose, wisely.
- SpeedSteamBoat, on 06/26/2009, -0/+22You're right Hitler was not a military leader, but he had a bad habit of pretending to be one anyway. He hated his generals and often arguing with/had them murdered. Hitler did bite off more than he could chew, but, again, that was HITLER pretending he knew jack ***** about waging a war. Had he actually listened to his generals, or let them run the war as you suggest, things would have been different. Imagine if Germany hadn't wasted its time in Africa for so long or driven countless resources into the meat grinder of the eastern front. These were serious points of contention in the German high command, and they only turned out the way they did at the direct command of Adolf Hitler.
Oh, and Germany was working on a nuclear weapon as well. They probably could have finished it too if they hadn't spread their army so thin over half the globe and thus rendered themselves weak at home. The article states that the Germans were working on a larger version of this "stealth" plane when the war ended. It would have had enough range to cross the Atlantic. It would have been a bomber. - quelcertoleo, on 06/26/2009, -8/+27Buried for the sensational title.
It was absolutely not intended to be stealth and no one at the time realized concepts like Radar Cross Section.
By the way, history would not have changed a dime even with this fighter, as with the 262. By 1944 they simply didn't have guys skilled enough to fight in the air war, they had a small amount of amazing pilots and a mass of undertrained kids.
It could have been different if the jets showed up in widespread numbers by '43, allied bomber offensive would have been bitter. However no matter what jets or rockets, they would not be able to stop a multifront war with Russia and the Allies. - norman619, on 06/26/2009, -3/+19Hitler was not a military leader. He had generals who were running the war for him. No matter what Hitler was destined to lose. He bit off more than he could chew. The only thing that may have won the war for him would have been the atomic bomb. Once the US had the bomb the war was pretty much over. What we did to Japan would have been done to Germany as well.
- solid12345, on 06/26/2009, -0/+15Why do people call them "Nazi" Scientists. Most scientists were just normal German civilians who were put to work by their government. Some may have held allegiance, most probably didn't. And for those who criticize us swooping in and bringing them to America, remember the Soviets wanted them as well, they certainly didn't give a ***** that they were German, when it comes to winning a cold war you'd take Satan if he was available.
- youngdb, on 06/26/2009, -4/+18Nazi Germany was so frightening, so evil, that it would be considered the stuff of sci-fi or action movies if it had not been real. Gassing millions of people in chambers, marching over nation after nation. It is frightening what people are capable of.
- p51d007, on 06/26/2009, -2/+15Read some history. Jack Northrup was flying something similar. In the mid 30's-40's he designed and flew the X9M, which was a pure "flying wing" design. There were a lot of people who were flying "pure wing" designs. More efficient, less drag. Where the germans had an advantage was in "jet" technology.
- StEligius, on 06/26/2009, -1/+14Let's kill millions of your ethnic group, family and friends to see if you and your descendants are pissed about it. Oh wait I'm not a cold hearted killer like Hitler or an insensitive prick like you.
- GiggleStick, on 06/26/2009, -2/+15That's why I think the Jews saved the world, if indirectly. It seems so crazy the National Socialists' desire to exterminate the Jews. Not only did they chase out some of their best scientific minds, but then they spent so many resources on this single minded and ultimately pointless endevour. Imagine if they put all that effort into actually winning and fighting, they might have actually one. I guess they had to live up to their previous rhetoric.
- darkwing81, on 06/26/2009, -0/+12don't digg him down. This is the only time in his life that the skills he learned will be remotely relevant to the conversation.
- VitriolAndAngst, on 06/26/2009, -0/+12Legend has it that Hitler didn't invade England earlier because he was afraid to travel over water.
Who knows if that was true. But the guy was crazy before he end, and it was his idea to have a two-front war.
I mean, just simple heading East first, and consolidating his power before heading West, would have changed history. The guy was a military idiot, leading some of the most brilliant generals. The intellectuals in Germany were some of the best in the world, and the brown shirts were recruited willing fools from soup lines. The SS were merely aggressive and loyal.
That's the problem with totalitarian regimes: They value loyalty over competence and thus are their own undoing. - cyberdork, on 06/26/2009, -0/+12This won't air until Sunday.
- losman, on 06/26/2009, -0/+11Lucas Arts mid 90's video game Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe featured the Horton Ho 229 as well as the Lockhead P-80 Shooting Star. The stealth aspects were more likely serendipity due to its use of wood and glue which was meant for mass production and lack of strategic metals much like its contemporary the Heinkel He 162. I hope they mention Jack Northop who working on all wing designs at the same time and was the father of the B-2 Spirit.
- cyberdork, on 06/26/2009, -0/+11They should build a flying version.
Just like those guys at www.stormbirds.com managed to rebuild fully functional ME262s. - tgc1, on 06/26/2009, -0/+11I was with you up to the point where you said "They might have actually one" -- *facepalm*
You sounded so eloquent up to that point. But I do agree with your assessment however. - Number23, on 06/26/2009, -1/+11As I understood it , what ever radar evading properties it may have had were a happy side effect of the design. BTW the sole remaining example may be found at the Smithsonian aircraft restoration facility in Prince George's county in MD. You can visit the place by request, so if you're in DC to see the sights, make time to drive out the suburbs to check it out. When I went ,they were working on a full restoration of a Hawker Harrier.
- monodelasno, on 06/26/2009, -0/+10The Nazi's were working on time travel technology, perhaps you could pop forward to Sunday and view the show.
- MOJIRA, on 06/26/2009, -1/+11Who cares about the pic of the plane, check out those still of her ass in that waterfall scene. http://schonheit.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/jessi ...
- GhostRidr, on 06/26/2009, -2/+11Von Braun joined the Nazi party in 1937, and became a member of the SS in 1940 until the end of WII. By all accounts these were done for political reason so he could be part of the rocket program. But one thing is certain, his rocket programs used slave labor under horrible conditions. He chose to be part of this, and for this alone, he is a tainted figure in Nazi history.
- Procure, on 06/26/2009, -1/+10national geographic is really, really awesome.
- balla786, on 06/26/2009, -0/+9The torrent of the show may not be out yet. According to the article:
"ON TV Hitler's Stealth Fighter airs Sunday, June 28, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel."
So I guess a torrent will be out after it airs? - bryceman111, on 06/26/2009, -0/+9The Germans, you know they always make good stuff...
- foopirata, on 06/26/2009, -0/+8Keep clicking refresh every 5 seconds until sunday.
- tgc1, on 06/26/2009, -1/+9I should have given it to the Marx Brothers.
- Maddoktor2, on 06/26/2009, -0/+8it turns into plywood?
- inactive, on 06/26/2009, -0/+8After the war so many German scientists went to work at the US rocket research facility known as the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama, the town was nick-named Krauts-ville. It stuck and was used all through the fifties and early sixties.
You still see a great many German names in the people of that area like Beck, Bock, Muller and Schmit. - directedition, on 06/26/2009, -0/+8Was Van Braun a nazi? Or just German?
- Skitals, on 06/26/2009, -0/+8I know... I just don't see the point of building a non-flying replica when we HAVE A REAL ONE in storage somewhere. I guess it's still cool, but I really want to see it fly :(
- rizzo2008, on 06/26/2009, -0/+8During the invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany came within an inch of winning the war twice. His first mistake was invading too late in the year and having to endure the Russian winter only 30 kilometers from Moscow. His second was not bypassing Stalingrad (this was an even bigger one).
Had Hitler bypassed Stalingrad instead of taking the battle into the city (his generals did NOT want this) the German army would have reached the huge oil fields near the Caspian Sea and had all the resources to win the war (most dont understand that Germany was cut off from oil supplies for the ending years of the war and that mistake not to secure Caspian Oil probably was the final nail in the coffin). - sooter8, on 06/26/2009, -1/+9The invasion of Russia opening a second front is what saved us all.
- daschupa, on 06/26/2009, -2/+10pfft, conspiracy theorists, we all know we got our technology from aliens.
- Lavarock, on 06/26/2009, -4/+12He wasn't a Nazi. He had to work for them during the war just like every other German but he was no Nazi.
- SarcasticPirate, on 06/26/2009, -2/+9" I find it funny that you feel a simple long range bomber would have changed the course of the war. That's not how things work. That may be how it is in videogames and the movies but real life is much different."
Actually, one of Nazi Germany's greatest weaknesses militarily was that they never really developed a strategic bomber on the level of something like the b-17 or 24. The US and UK built and effectively utilized these type of bombers to destroy the German war machine on the home front by decimating industrial production and transportation infrastructure. Had the Germans had this kind of technology in the early war years (when the Luftwaffe was still technologically relevant to the conflict, say, 1939-42), they could have devastated the British isles, making a Western front much more difficult to create (if not impossible), and softened up Soviet cities so that the large urban conflicts in the East would have been largely avoided/lessened in severity. - MikeyToo, on 06/26/2009, -0/+6As was mentioned in the article, the stealth component was merely a byproduct of the materials used in construction. The de Havilland Mosquito achieved low-observability in the same fashion and flew years before.
- SpeedSteamBoat, on 06/26/2009, -0/+6Spoilers: It's non-flying (read the article).
- lacrimosa2008, on 06/26/2009, -0/+6yup, the Flecktarn (camouflage battle dress) was invented by the Waffen-SS, f.i.
@steamboat>
the whole ideology consisted of hybris and delusion. you probably refer to hitlers cardinal error by stopping shortly before moscow - at a time stalin already absented himself into the deep ural because he thought the german wehrmacht was undefeatable. instead hitler ordered to get control of the ukrainian ressources first, which made the wehrmacht later stuck with the equipement in stalingrad.
hitlers other big delusion was the evaluation of politics. he thought that the west is seeing the bigger threat by the communists and when he is keeping the russians out of europe, the west will accept the 3rd reich.
i'm not sure if the military was THAT competent. there were people in the wehrmacht with direct contact to hitler and they still didn't dare or didn't see the imperative to stop this madness.
whatever. we know the outcome. I'm glad the nazis didn't make it. otherwise I probably would have to parade right now, instead of enjoying beer and sun in the garden with my laptop^^. - fightingforair, on 06/27/2009, -0/+6So do you!
Throw him over the side!
*Crash of lighting* - DrSnugglebunny, on 06/26/2009, -0/+6I wish *I* had a wunderwaffle..
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