Walter Horten
Horten Ho 33
The Horten Ho 33, produced by Walter Horten’s small post‑war aeronautical workshop, was a single‑seat, high‑performance flying‑wing glider that first flew on 12 May 1949 at the Rheine‑Bentlage airfield. Conceived by Walter Horten as a continuation of the brothers’ World‑War‑II experimental wing concepts, the Ho 33 combined the sleek, tailless planform of earlier Horten prototypes with a refined airfoil series (H‑24E) that delivered a remarkable 34 : 1 glide ratio. Its 18.2‑metre span wooden‑frame wing was sheathed in plywood and fabric, while the lightweight fuselage pod accommodated a pilot in a semi‑enclosed cockpit and housed a modest 60‑hour endurance fuel tank for auxiliary motor‑gliding missions. Key features included adjustable wing‑tip flaps, an integrated air‑brake system, and a dual‑control provision for advanced training. Though only ten units were completed, the Ho 33 proved instrumental in demonstrating that a pure flying‑wing could achieve both superior lift‑to‑drag performance and stable handling without conventional tail surfaces. Its operational record in gliding clubs across West Germany and later exhibitions in the United Kingdom helped inspire post‑war research into high‑efficiency sailplanes and laid conceptual groundwork for modern stealth aircraft that employ blended‑wing designs.
Classification
Production & History
- First Flight
- 1954