The Hütter Hü 136 was an experimental
dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
design produced by German
engineers Wolfgang and Ulrich Hütter during
World War II.
Design
The Hütters, best known as glider designers, responded to
Reich Air Ministry calls for high-performance, strongly built dive bombers. The ''Sturzbomber'' or ''Stubo'' specification came in two parts: Stubo 1, a single-seater with the flight capabilities of a fighter but armoured and with a bombload; and Stubo 2, a two-seat bomber with similar performance but a bombload.
The Hü 136 design was highly innovative, with the pilot sitting far to the rear of the aircraft, his cockpit forming part of the vertical tail surface. The design had no
undercarriage
Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include:
*The landing gear of an aircraft.
*The ch ...
, with a jettisonable dolly for takeoff and a
retractable skid for landing. To overcome the likelihood of contact between the propeller and the ground on landing, the
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
would be blown off before landing and descend separately by
parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...
.
The
German Air Ministry
The Ministry of Aviation (german: Reichsluftfahrtministerium, abbreviated RLM) was a government department during the period of Nazi Germany (1933–45). It is also the original name of the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus building on the Wilhelmstrasse ...
(Reichsluftfahrtministerium) did not pursue the design, preferring to adopt the existing
Henschel Hs 129.
Specifications
Replica
One replica is on display at the
Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
References
See also
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutter Hu 136
1940s German bomber aircraft