What are experimental aircraft and what are the purposes of using and developing them?
Experimental aircraft are aircraft that are not in production that test a certain idea, design, structure, and or effectiveness. Countries use and develop experimental aircraft to explore advanced technologies to see if they can implement those technologies in the next generation of aircraft. Nazi Germany was one of the first countries to heavily develop experimental aircraft, pushing the boundaries of flight and warfare farther than anyone in that time had dreamt of.
Image taken at the Deutsches Technikmuseum by the author.
Why did Nazi Germany prioritize pushing the boundaries in aviation development?
Hitler had a firm belief that Germany was the best and most advanced people group and country in the world. Completely confident in his ability to win World War Two, he had already began to construct “Germania”, his vision of Berlin and Germany as the capital of the world. Evidence of this can still be found in Berlin in the form of the Tempelhof Airfield, the 1936 Olympic Stadium, the Air Ministry building, and many more long standing and impressive structures. Hitler needed his Luftwaffe, (Air Force) to reflect the same vision of “Germania” as the rest of his impressive structures and military had already begun doing.
1936 Olympic Stadium. Image taken by the author.
Hitler’s motivation for pushing the development of experimental aircraft came more from the desire to show the world that Germany was the best country in the world both during and after the war than it did in effort to win the war itself. Hitler had already assumed that he was going to win the war, so to develop advanced aircraft that the world had never seen before was driven by his personal pride and ego, not out of necessity for victory.
Image taken at the Deutsches Technikmuseum by the author.
Motivations Changing: End of the War
But by the end of the war, the mindset had changed. As desperation attempts to keep Germany in the war, he thought that pushing the development of these advanced experimental aircraft and using them against the allied air powers would be the silver bullet he needed to win the war. He went to great lengths to continue building and testing these weapons, like constructing underground complexes and tunnels to ensure that even if the allies had advanced past that position, they could still develop these weapons in secrecy.