Conversations With Reimar Horten Volume 1

In the winter of 1982, the author Dr David Myhra, boarded an evening flight to Cordoba, Argentina to interview one the most forward-thinking and original aircraft designers in German aviation. Upon arriving, Dr. Myhra retrieved his bags (containing a cassette recorder and 100 2 hour cassettes, among his personal effects) and exited the terminal. After a short time, a white half-ton short-bed Ford pick-up pulled up. Inside was Reimar Horten. Reimar was one of the 2 people Dr Myhra has met that has the gift of total recall. Contained in these pages are direct transcripts of the conversations shared by Dr Myhra and Reimar Horten, close to 400 pages. Volume 4 contains an exclusive sneak preview of the next ebook by David Myhra, “The Day the Horten Ho 229 Jumo 004B Powered All-Wing Project Died”.

In the winter of 1982, the author Dr David Myhra, boarded an evening flight to Cordoba, Argentina to interview one the most forward-thinking and original aircraft designers in German aviation. Upon arriving, Dr. Myhra retrieved his bags (containing a cassette recorder and 100 2 hour cassettes, among his personal effects) and exited the terminal. After a short time, a white half-ton short-bed Ford pick-up pulled up. Inside was Reimar Horten. Reimar was one of the 2 people Dr Myhra has met that has the gift of total recall. Contained in these pages are direct transcripts of the conversations shared by Dr Myhra and Reimar Horten, close to 400 pages. Volume 4 contains an exclusive sneak preview of the next ebook by David Myhra, “The Day the Horten Ho 229 Jumo 004B Powered All-Wing Project Died”.

In the winter of 1982, the author Dr David Myhra, boarded an evening flight to Cordoba, Argentina to interview one the most forward-thinking and original aircraft designers in German aviation. Upon arriving, Dr. Myhra retrieved his bags (containing a cassette recorder and 100 2 hour cassettes, among his personal effects) and exited the terminal. After a short time, a white half-ton short-bed Ford pick-up pulled up. Inside was Reimar Horten. Reimar was one of the 2 people Dr Myhra has met that has the gift of total recall. Contained in these pages are direct transcripts of the conversations shared by Dr Myhra and Reimar Horten, close to 400 pages. Volume 4 contains an exclusive sneak preview of the next ebook by David Myhra, “The Day the Horten Ho 229 Jumo 004B Powered All-Wing Project Died”.

This volume contains the transcript of one of many conversations the Dr David Myhra had with Walters and Reimar Horten beginning in the summer of 1942. Excerpts of this and other taped conversations have been previously used in five books written by Dr Myhra and published by Schiffer Publishing and the out-of-print Monograph book about the Horten Brothers. Walter was a beautiful individual, possessing the gift of attracting and making life-long friendships with all those he met. During the course of these numerous interviews with Walter in Baden-Baden, he didn't provide details of the Ho 9 V1 and V2, however, he described how he was able to provide Reimar with all his needs to futher research on the twin-jet powered Horten Ho 9.

In the winter of 1982, the author Dr David Myhra, boarded an evening flight to Cordoba, Argentina to interview one the most forward-thinking and original aircraft designers in German aviation. Upon arriving, Dr. Myhra retrieved his bags (containing a cassette recorder and 100 2 hour cassettes, among his personal effects) and exited the terminal. After a short time, a white half-ton short-bed Ford pick-up pulled up. Inside was Reimar Horten. Reimar was one of the 2 people Dr Myhra has met that has the gift of total recall. Contained in these pages are direct transcripts of the conversations shared by Dr Myhra and Reimar Horten, close to 400 pages.

In February of 1982, I flew to Buenos Aires then on to Cordoba, Argentina to meet with Dr Reimar Horten, (1915-1994) the designer of a series of sail and powered all wing flying machines. He lived in retirement on a ranch 15 to 20 miles from the small town of Villa General Belgrano. After an over night flight from Miami,Florida I arrived at the Cordoba. Reimar Horten, with a full head of white hair, met me and we drove off to his ranch in a white Ford pickup truck. Reimar had total recall. I have met only two such people in my life. We spoke only in English and our conversations were recorded on cassette tapes...which several years later I donated to the National Air & Space Museum library. After several days of speaking only English, Reimar was speaking English to everyone, his wife, helpers on his ranch, shop keepers in Villa General Belgano, and families he'd meet walking on the road into town when he offered them a ride in the back of his truck. Few English-speaking people ever visited this remote area of Argentina at the foot hills of Andes Mountains. His wife, Gisela ,frequently had to remind her husband that all these Argentines had no idea of what he was saying to them so please speak Spanish. I lived at the Horten ranch for one month recording my conversation with Reimar Horten. I returned the following year (1983) for another month. Our two month conversation resulted in 86 two hour taped cassettes. The material presented in this volume (a second volume contains conversations with Walter Horten over numerous visits to his home in Baden Baden, West Germany) has been used in my five copyrighted books on the Horten Brothers. I thank them immensely and now the world hears their voice, their personal struggles, failures, as well as their successes in seeking to perfect the performances of the all-wing aircraft.

In February of 1982, I flew to Buenos Aires then on to Cordoba, Argentina to meet with Dr Reimar Horten, (1915-1994) the designer of a series of sail and powered all wing flying machines. He lived in retirement on a ranch 15 to 20 miles from the small town of Villa General Belgrano. After an over night flight from Miami,Florida I arrived at the Cordoba. Reimar Horten, with a full head of white hair, met me and we drove off to his ranch in a white Ford pickup truck. Reimar had total recall. I have met only two such people in my life. We spoke only in English and our conversations were recorded on cassette tapes...which several years later I donated to the National Air & Space Museum library. After several days of speaking only English, Reimar was speaking English to everyone, his wife, helpers on his ranch, shop keepers in Villa General Belgano, and families he'd meet walking on the road into town when he offered them a ride in the back of his truck. Few English-speaking people ever visited this remote area of Argentina at the foot hills of Andes Mountains. His wife, Gisela ,frequently had to remind her husband that all these Argentines had no idea of what he was saying to them so please speak Spanish. I lived at the Horten ranch for one month recording my conversation with Reimar Horten. I returned the following year (1983) for another month. Our two month conversation resulted in 86 two hour taped cassettes. The material presented in this volume (a second volume contains conversations with Walter Horten over numerous visits to his home in Baden Baden, West Germany) has been used in my five copyrighted books on the Horten Brothers. I thank them immensely and now the world hears their voice, their personal struggles, failures, as well as their successes in seeking to perfect the performances of the all-wing aircraft.

Germany’s air ministry was quick to grasp the potential of the jet engine as early as 1938 and by 1939 several German aircraft manufacturers were already working on fighter designs that would utilize this new form of propulsion. Rocket engines too were seen as the way of the future and companies were commissioned to design fighters around them. As the Second World War began, the urgent need to bring these advanced new types into production saw a host of innovative aircraft designs being produced which would eventually result in Messerschmitt’s Me 262 jet fighter and the Me 163 rocket-propelled interceptor. And as the war progressed, efforts were increasingly made to find better ways of utilizing jet, rocket and latterly ramjet engines in fighter aircraft. Aviation companies from across Germany set their finest minds to the task and produced some of the most radical aircraft designs the world had ever seen. They proposed rotating wing ramjet fighters, arrowhead-shaped rammers, rocket-firing bat-winged gun platforms, sleek speed machines, tailless flying wings, tiny mini fighters and a host of others ranging from deadly looking advanced fighters to downright dangerous vertical launch interceptors. Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Volume 1: Jet Fighters 1939-1945 by Dan Sharp, based on original research using German wartime documents, offers the most complete and authoritative account yet of these fascinating designs through previously unseen photographs, illustrations and period documentation from archives around the world.