This Was Hitler's Attempt to Build a Jet Fighter Out of Wood. He Failed.
To cut manufacturing costs, the so-called Volksjäger — “People’s Fighter” — used primarily wooden components, designed to be simple enough to assemble using unskilled and slave labor, although the cheap acidic glue holding the components together tended to eat through the plywood components. During the prototype He 162A-0’s second test flight in December, this flaw caused the ailerons to fly off, leading to a fatal crash.
However, the Volksjäger’s flaws were inextricably tied to the fact it was one of the last gasps of a murderous regime ready to throw away the lives of unwilling slaves and patriotic youth alike in a desperate effort to escape a doom of its own making.
This article first appeared in 2019.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
