Amerikabomber

Overview

The Amerikabomber (lit. 'America bomber') project was an initiative of the German Ministry of Aviation (German: Reichsluftfahrtministerium) to obtain a long-range strategic bomber for the Luftwaffe that would be capable of striking the United States (specifically New York City) from Germany, a round-trip distance of about 11,600 km (7,200 mi). A Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor of the Luft Hansa made a direct flight from Berlin to New York in August 1938. The Amerikabomber concept was raised in the same year, but advanced plans for such a long-range strategic bomber design were not presented to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring until early 1942. Various proposals were put forward, but these plans were all eventually abandoned as they were too expensive, too reliant on rapidly diminishing matériel and production capacity, and technically infeasible.