Initially designed in the late 1930s, the Silbervogel, German for “Silver Bird,” was to be a liquid-propellant rocket-powered sub-orbital bomber for Nazi Germany. Basically, an intercontinental space plane that could be used as an extreme long-range bomber, hence its consideration for the “Amerika Bomber” mission. It was designed to carry an 8,000 lb bomb, with a unique surveillance system, believed to make it immune to detection. Sounds like the ultimate weapon, right? Well, it was way too advanced for the period and engineers ran into all kinds of technical difficulties. Prototypes kept overheating and eventually the whole project was put on hold in 1942. Money and resources were subsequently diverted to other projects.

The whole project was the brainchild of aerospace engineer Eugen Sänger and engineer-physicist Irene Bredt. Interestingly enough, after the war Sänger and Bredt were highly sought after aerospace experts and assisted the French space program. Their Silbervogel winged-spacecraft design was later implemented into America’s space shuttle, and its regenerative engine cooling design, now referred to as the “Sänger-Bredt design,” is now used on all modern rockets. So, a failed Nazi attempt to create a long-range bomber to attack the United States ultimately contributed to the successful space programs of numerous nations. A better legacy, I would say.