Walter and Reimar Horten Interviews [Myhra]

Scope and Contents

This collection contains interviews with Reimar and Walter Horten taped by David Myhra, author of . It includes various topics relating to the Hortens, and comprises sixty original tapes donated by Myhra, as well as two copies made by NASM, one consisting of sixty-one master reel-to-reels, and another of 120 reference CD-Rs. A box of "transcripts" for some of the tapes is also included in the collection, although it is unclear which transcripts go with which tapes.

Arrangement

This finding aid was generated from the original recording labels. Mr. Myhra labeled most of the tapes, but each group of tapes is labeled differently. Dates are included when provided but the list does not follow a chronological order, which is irrelevant anyway considering the wandering nature of Mr. Myhra's interviews. The finding aid is arranged in groups, which roughly correspond to each set of interviews. In addition, NASM has given each tape a new number which runs consecutively from one through sixty. The original number given by David Myhra is listed in the description of each tape. The new NASM numbers for the original tapes correspond to the NASM reel numbers and the NASM CD-R numbers as to make locating each copy more convenient.

Biographical / Historical

Reimar Horten and his brother Walter, two largely self-taught aircraft designers, were born in Bonn, Germany; Walter on March 3, 1912, and Reimar on March 12, 1915. Their interest in aircraft began as early as 1925 when they joined a fliers' club in Bonn. In 1932 Reimar and Walter commenced work on their first piloted all-wing sailplane the Ho I. The basic concept of the flying wing dates from the dawn of aviation, but the Horten brothers became the virtuosos of this aircraft. The Horten all-wing sailplanes were gliders without a fuselage or tail section. Because the fuselage and the tail section of a regular plane produced 30% to 50% of an airplane's drag, the benefit of the sailplanes was clear. During the time preceding World War II the brothers improved upon the Ho I glider, creating other models including the Ho II, Ho III, and the Ho IV--none of which had any engines. Reimar and Walter joined the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) during the course of the war where Walter flew Messerschmitt Bf-109s for six months and Reimar worked for Operation Sea Lion, whose objective was the invasion of England. Upon the cancellation of this operation the Horten brothers went on to continue their projects, developing many enhanced versions of their original flying-wing. In 1942 Reimar began working on the Ho VII at the Luftwaffe's request, a machine equipped with two pusher-type propellers and a pulse jet engine. However, the Ho VII was not strong enough to fly safely at the greater speeds made possible by the jet, so the brothers began work on the new Ho IX (code named "Go 229"), the first functional jet propelled flying wing. The arrival of the American army in 1945 ended the construction of this type of aircraft. After the war, Reimar moved to Argentina where he continued to develop his unorthodox aircraft designs; Walter stayed in Germany. Walter died in 1988 and Reimar died in 1994.