Horten 229: What is real, what is exaggeration?

[Stephan Wilkinson]

For an article I'm writing for Aviation History magazine, I am interested in the thoughts of knowledgeable commenters on the true merits of the Horten 229, the supposed "Hitler's Stealth Fighter."

On the one hand, we have the mini-industry of "German Wonder Weapon" fanciers who feel that every German jet, rocket, pulse jet, Natter, orbital atmosphere skimmer, Amerika Bomber and looks-good-on-paper proposal could have won the war if only it had gone on for a month longer (I exaggerate, obviously), and for them, the Ho 229 is the wonderplane shown in model-kit box art blazing through formations of B-17s.

On the other, we have the fact that the Ho 229 never really existed--just a single Ho IX V2 prototype that flew successfully just twice (plus perhaps several unlogged short flights) and then crashed fatally on its third official flight. All that exists of actual Ho 229s is never-completed partial airframes. (Whether or not one Ho 229 was fully assembled in the U. S. after the war is irrelevant.) Of course the NASM has a partial Ho IX V3 artifact that they are calling an Ho 229.

Yet this Horten flying wing has been called the progenitor of the Northrop-Grumman B-2 and the first true stealth aircraft.

Where does reality end and exaggeration begin? I don't want to be a cynic--that's too easy--but I also don't want to be taken in by the fantasies of the wonder-weapon fanboys.

Opinions?