ArGo-249 "Amerika Bomber"The Amerika-Bomber project was an initiative of the German Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) to obtain a long-range strategic bomber for the Luftwaffe that would be capable of striking the contiguous United States from Germany, a distance of about 5,800 km (3,600 mi). The concept was raised as early as 1938, but advanced, cogent plans for such a long-range strategic bomber design did not begin to appear in Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring's offices until the spring of 1942. Various proposals were put forward but they were all abandoned as unsuitable or too expensive.
Following the develpment of an atomic weapon in 1944, the RLM issued a revised specification. The Ho-229 had completed its acceptance trials and its inhearently low radar signature had aroused significant interest. Arado agreed to a collaborative venture with the Horten brothers and Gotha Waggonfabrik to develop an aircraft capable of meeting the requirements. The ArGo-249, with its 3 man crew, ( comprising pilot, navigator/bomb-aimer and flight engineer/gunner ) and pressurised cabin, proved to be considerably superior to the other, more conventional, designs. The ArGo-249 was of mixed construction, with the center pod made from welded steel tubing and wing spars built from wood. The wings, which housed the fuel tanks, were made from two thin, carbon-impregnated plywood panels glued together with a charcoal and sawdust mixture. Reimar Horten later said the mixture of charcoal dust in with the wood glue absorbed electromagnetic waves which shielded the aircraft from detection by early warning ground-based radar that operated at 20 to 30 MHz. The wing had a single main spar, penetrated by the jet engine inlets, and a secondary spar used for attaching the elevons.
The internal bomb bay could be configured to carry both conventional and nuclear munitions.