Scientists who worked in the Third Reich are credited with inventing the most amazing things, including flying discs capable of lifting into space. Such data, most likely, is a newspaper duck, although the Germans really designed a space bomber.
Eugen Senger project
While studying the Peenemünde rocket range, Soviet counterintelligence officers accidentally discovered a top-secret description of a German space bomber aircraft developed by Eugen Senger. According to a German report, the plane was called the Silver Bird. He fired into the sky using a three-kilometer catapult at a speed of 23,000 km / h. To an altitude of 200-300 km. The plane was able to circumnavigate the globe several times and then land safely. Moreover, Eugen Senger was well known to rocketry lovers from his 1933 book "Rocket Flight Technique". So, the project could well have been implemented not only on paper, but also in practice. It is not surprising that the Soviet command ordered to clarify all the details of this project.
Shortsighted Fuhrer
When the question was seriously studied, interesting things became clear. When Hitler was informed about a scientist about to build an orbital bomber capable of carrying up to 30 tons of bombs, he immediately invited Zenger to his place. Soon, the Austrian scientist headed the Research Institute of Rocket Technology. However, a few months later, Hitler was informed that this project would not only result in billions of marks, but also decades of work. Considering the project impractical, Hitler ordered to curtail all work on it. After his resignation, Zenger and his wife left for Paris and then moved to London. He was remembered in 1944, when the war was drawing to a close. Hitler unexpectedly decided by any means to implement the project of an orbital bomber of an Austrian engineer. His plans included dropping a bomb filled with radioactive quartz on New York. However, the German agents failed to find the inventor.
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Bomb the USA
When Skorzeny's scouts were unable to locate Zenger, the Germans decided to turn to a two-stage FAU missile, placing a bomb on it, to destroy New York. Several saboteurs were sent to the United States to install radio beacons to guide the missile. Fortunately, all of them were identified and arrested in time. Nevertheless, work on the preparation of the launch of the rocket, codenamed America, continued. It was decided to make it manned. Several pilots were trained for the flight, among which the SS Sturmbannführer Rudolf Schroeder stood out. He had the honor to control the rocket, which was supposed to rise into space, and then crash on New York.
At the start of "America" was attended by the father of rocketry first of the Third Reich, and then the United States, Werner von Braun. According to German data, the rocket was launched on January 24, 1945. At first everything went well, but then Schroeder shouted over the radio: "My Fuhrer, I am on fire." After these words, communication with the rocket was interrupted. However, according to the instruments, she nevertheless went into space, but did not reach the United States, lost her course and fell into the ocean. Was Rudolf Schroeder alive while in space? It is unlikely, because the cockpit with him ignited during the passage of the atmosphere, after which the German pilot suffocated.