Operation Sea Horse was the naval part of Operation Lusty. Lusty's purpose was to locate and recover top secret German weaponry, e.g. aircraft and weapons. [1]
The escort aircraft carrier HMS Reaper took part in the operation, being used to ferry captured airframes. On 23 July 1945, Reaper left Cherbourg for Newark, New Jersey. [2] The news of the Japanese surrender came through during the voyage.
On the ocean voyage to Allied bases, the planes were covered in protective "shrink wrap'" to protect them from sea spray. [3] It was reported [1] that the following aircraft were captured:
In thanks for British help for providing the services of one of their aircraft carriers, the Americans gave them five Messerschmitt Me 262s for testing. The other five Messerschmitt Me 262s stayed with the AAF, and were flown to an airfield in Indiana known as Freeman Field where tests could be carried out relatively secretly. On 19 August, one of two Messerschmitt Me 262s travelling to Freeman Field via Pittsburgh crashed into a field during landing, with all that remained of the aircraft salvageable parts. [2]
The Focke-Wulf Fw 187 Falke ("Falcon") was a German aircraft designed in 1935. It was conceived by Kurt Tank as a twin-engine, high-performance fighter, but the Luftwaffe saw no role for the design, perceiving it as intermediate between the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110. Later prototypes were adapted to two-seats to compete with the Bf 110 in the heavy fighter (Zerstörer) role, but only nine aircraft were built in total.
The MK 108 is a 30 mm caliber autocannon manufactured in Germany during World War II by Rheinmetall‑Borsig for use in aircraft.
The MG 17 was a 7.92 mm machine gun produced by Rheinmetall-Borsig for use at fixed mountings in many World War II Luftwaffe aircraft, typically as forward-firing offensive armament. The MG 17 was based on the older MG 30 light machine gun, as was its defensive flexible-mount counterpart, the MG 15 machine gun.
Mistel was the larger, unmanned component of a composite aircraft configuration developed in Germany during the later stages of World War II. The composite comprised a small piloted control aircraft mounted above a large explosives-carrying drone, the Mistel, and as a whole was referred to as the Huckepack ("Piggyback"), also known as the Beethoven-Gerät or Vati und Sohn.
The Henschel Hs 127 was a German bomber that was built as two prototypes, but cancelled without entering mass production.
In the years leading up to the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939, there was some significant collaborative development in heavy industry between German companies and their Japanese counterparts as part of the two nation's evolving relations. This was one major factor in Japan's ability to quickly exploit raw materials in the areas of the Empire of Japan that had recently come under their military control.
Wunderwaffe is a German word meaning "wonder-weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by Nazi Germany's propaganda ministry to some revolutionary "superweapons". Most of these weapons however remained prototypes, which either never reached the combat theater, or if they did, were too late or in too insignificant numbers to have a military effect. The V-weapons, which were developed earlier and saw considerable deployment, especially against London and Antwerp, trace back to the same pool of highly inventive armament concepts. In the German language, the term Wunderwaffe now generally refers to a universal solution which solves all problems related to a particular issue, mostly used ironically for its illusionary nature.
Operation LUSTY was the United States Army Air Forces' effort to capture and evaluate German aeronautical technology during and after World War II.
The Slovak Air Force, between 1939 and 1945, was the air force of the short-lived World War II Slovak Republic. Its mission was to provide air support at fronts, and to protect Bratislava and metropolitan areas against enemy air attack.
The Focke Wulf Fw 159 was an experimental German fighter of the 1930s, designed by Kurt Tank which never reached production, as it was considered inferior to the He 112 and Bf 109. It was a heavier variant of the Focke-Wulf Fw 56, with several improvements, such as a retractable landing gear and enclosed cockpit.
The German Air Ministry had a system for aircraft designation which was an attempt by the aviation authorities of the Third Reich to standardize and produce an identifier for each airframe type produced in Germany. It was in use from 1933 to 1945 though many pre-1933 aircraft were included and the system had changes over those years. As well as aircraft of the Luftwaffe, it covered civilian airliners and sport planes, due to the RLM handing all aviation-related matters in the Third Reich, both civilian and military in nature.
The Aviation Museum Hannover-Laatzen is a permanent exhibition in Laatzen of the history of aviation. 38 airplanes, 800 aircraft models, and more than 30 aircraft engines are displayed on 3,500 m2 (38,000 sq ft).