March 1944, flying wing by brothers Horten, 40 years befor B2

The Horten Ho-IX (often erroneously called Gotha Go 229 or Ho 229 due to the identity of the chosen manufacturer of the aircraft) was a late-World War II prototype flying wing fighter/bomber, designed by Reimar and Walter Horten and built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik. It was a personal favourite of German Luftwaffe chief Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, and was the only aircraft to come close to meeting his infamous "1000, 1000, 1000" performance requirements.



The first Ho IX V1, which was an unpowered glider, flew on 1 March 1944. It was followed in December 1944 by the Jumo 004-powered Ho IX V2 (the BMW 003 engine was preferred but unavailable at the time). Göring believed in the design and ordered a production series of 40 aircraft at Gotha with the RLM designation Ho 229 before it had taken to the air under jet power. The program was undeterred when the sole Ho IX V2 crashed after an engine caught fire on 18 February 1945 after only two hours of flying time. In fact, an order was put in for further prototypes and 20 pre-production aircraft. On 12 March 1945, Ho 229 was included into the Jäger-Notprogramm for accelerated production of inexpensive "wonder weapons."

Apparently it took 40 years to develop proper "fly by wire" technologies to make flying wings flyworthy. What came out of it is B2 Spirit, flying wing stealth bomber.