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 Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while consider ...

Wolfgang and Ulrich Hütter during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Design

The Hütters, best known as glider designers, responded to

Reich Air Ministry The Ministry of Aviation (, 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 in central Berlin, Germany, which ...

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. Like the later Me 163 Komet, 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 (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 a working flu ...

would be blown off before landing and descend separately by

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

. The

German Air Ministry The Ministry of Aviation (, 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 in central Berlin, Germany, which ...

(Reichsluftfahrtministerium) did not pursue the design, preferring to adopt the existing

Henschel Hs 129 The Henschel Hs 129 was a ground-attack aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Henschel Flugzeugwerke AG. Fielded by the ''Luftwaffe'' during the Second World War, it saw combat in Tunisia and on the Eastern Front. ...

Specifications

Replica

One replica is on display at the

Military Aviation Museum The Military Aviation Museum is located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and houses one of the world's largest private collections of warbirds in flying condition. It includes examples from Germany, France, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the ...

in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Design

Specifications

Replica

References

See also