[Graham Boak]

I thought the "Stalin" confusion was with Petlyakov over the Bf110 and the Pe2? Tupolev was arrested before he designed the Tu2. The type number has been said to be that of his cell.

However that was, this somewhat simplifies the matter of slats to give all the credit to Lachmann. HP was using the idea before contacting Lachmann. Bringing him into the company managed to avoid expensive patent legislation whilst being a fairly good idea in itself. The HP company did indeed survive, it is said, largely on the income from the patents on the slats, but Messerschmitt was a fairly small contributor to it. At least, prewar.

I think there are two points to be made on the matter of "national" aircraft. One is that even the Chief Designer is only one contributor to the whole. Many other individuals play their part. The second is that all aircraft are designed and made to national criteria. Such things as chosen alloys (or woods), metal thicknesses, screw fittings, aircraft loading limitations, will all differ from nation to nation. As Eric Brown and others have said, German aircraft smelt differently, presumably due to differing oils and greases rather than crew diet!