Ho 229, artists impression

This was a flying-wing fighter-bomber project whose first rototype made its maiden flight in 1945.
It´s expected performance and armament were great and it was the first flying-wing
with turbojets. There was a B version planned which was intended as nigh fighter with radar and a
2. crew member. One of the main drawbacks of this design was that it was limited in the choice of
engines; for example, the sronger HeS 011 turbojet, which was in development, would have had a
too big diameter for fitting it into the engine slots of this flying-wing. This was one of the main reasons
why the Gotha engineers which recieved the Ho IX plans for production preparations designed the
Gotha project Go P.60 with each one tubojet over and under the centerline.

My comment:
I expect that the large wing area of this design would have made it impossible to operate
at low altitudes with high speed; it would have been too sensitive to gusts of wind.
Otherwise, it would have been a great interceptor, night interceptor and recon plane at
high-altitude with its low wing load, heavy armament, high payload and long range/endurance.
Given only the expected performance data, I believe that this plane was clearly superior over the famed
Me262 and also over all jet fighters until the maiden flights of the MiG-15, F-86 and Saab 29 in 1947 to 1948.

I found a superb homepage about this and other Horten flying-wing designs. Here it is!
(There are further links at the end of this page).