Wunderwaffe

Wunderwaffe (German pronunciation: [ˈvʊndɐˌvafə]) is German for "wonder weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by the German propaganda ministry to a few revolutionary "superweapons". Most of these weapons reached the combat theatre too late, and in too insignificant numbers (if at all) to have a military effect. A derisive abbreviation of the term emerged: Wuwa, pronounced "voo-vah".^[1]

The V-weapons, which were developed earlier, and saw considerable deployment especially against Great Britain, trace back to the same pool of highly inventive armament concepts which surpassed anything the Allies could field at that time. Therefore, they are also included here.

Although the Wunderwaffen failed to meet their strategic objective of turning the tides of World War II in Nazi Germany's favor at a time when the war was already strategically lost, they represented designs and prototypes that were extremely advanced for their time.

Naval vessels

Aircraft carriers

Graf Zeppelin - a 33,550 ton aircraft carrier laid down in 1936, never completed
Flugzeugträger B - planned sister ship to the Graf Zeppelin

Battleships

H class battleship - a series of proposals for battleships, culminating in the H-44, a 110,696 ton battleship with eight 20 inch guns

U-boats

Oceangoing U-boats

Rocket U-boat - a planned ballistic missile submarine
Type XVIII U-boat - a U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion; several were under construction when the war ended
Type XXI U-boat "Elektroboote" (Electric boat) - the first U-boat designed to operate completely submerged, 118 were built
Type XXIV U-boat - a planned U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion
Type XXVI U-boat - a U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion; several were under construction when the war ended

Littoral U-boats

Type XXII U-boat - a U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion; two were under construction
Type XXIII U-boat - a U-boat designed for littoral missions
Type XXV U-boat - a planned all-electric U-Boat designed for littoral missions

Submarine aircraft carrier

Type XI - a U-boat designed to carry the Arado Ar 231 collapsible floatplane; four were laid down but canceled at the outbreak of World War II

Armored vehicles

Super-heavy tanks

Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" (Rat) - a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 1000 metric tons and armed with two 280mm cannons
Landkreuzer P. 1500 "Monster" - a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 1500 metric tons and armed with an 800mm cannon
Panzer VII "Löwe" (Lion) - a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 90 metric tons and armed with a 105mm cannon
Panzer VIII "Maus" (Mouse) - a super-heavy tank, weighing 180 metric tons and armed with two cannons of 128mm & 75mm calibre, two operable prototypes completed
Panzerkampfwagen E-100 - a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 140 metric tons and armed with 170mm cannon

Gliders

Junkers Ju 322 "Mammut" (Mammoth) - a flying wing heavy transport glider.

Piston engine aircraft

Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 - a planned tilt-rotor VTOL fighter
Focke-Wulf Ta 152 - a high-altitude interceptor
Focke-Wulf Ta 400 - a planned Amerika Bomber with six radial engines and two jet engines with a range of 13,000 km in bomber configuration
Heinkel He 111Z - a five engined aircraft created by combining two He 111s and designed to tow large gliders
Heinkel He 274 - a high altitude heavy bomber with four in-line engines with a range of 3,440 km
Heinkel He 277 - a planned, advanced long range bomber design, intended to be an Amerika Bomber candidate, to be powered with four BMW 801 radial engines
Junkers Ju 390 - an Amerika bomber with six radial engines with a range of 9,700 km
Junkers Ju 488 - a heavy bomber with four radial engines with a range of 3,395 km
Messerschmitt Me 264 - an Amerika bomber with four radial engines and a range of 15,000 km
Messerschmitt Me 323 "Gigant" (Giant) - a heavy transport with six engines

Jets and rocket-propelled aircraft

Arado Ar 234 - the first operational turbojet bomber
Arado E.555 - a planned jet-powered Amerika bomber
Bachem Ba 349 "Natter" (Adder) - a rocket-powered vertical takeoff interceptor
Blohm & Voss P.178 - a turbojet dive bomber
DFS 194 - a rocket-powered experimental aircraft
DFS 228 - a rocket-powered high altitude reconnaissance aircraft
DFS 346 - a rocket-powered research aircraft
Fieseler Fi 103R "Reichenberg" - a manned version of the V-1 flying bomb
Focke-Wulf Fw "Triebflügel" (Powered Wings) - a planned ramjet tailsitter interceptor
Focke-Wulf Ta 183 "Huckebein" - a planned swept wing turbojet fighter
Focke-Wulf Ta 283 - a planned swept wing ramjet and rocket-powered fighter
Heinkel He 162 "Volksjäger" (People's Fighter) - a turbojet fighter
Heinkel He 176 - a rocket-powered experimental aircraft
Heinkel He 178 - the first turbojet aircraft
Heinkel He 280 - the first turbojet fighter
Heinkel He 343 - a planned four engined jet bomber based on the Arado Ar 234
Henschel Hs 132 - a planned turbojet dive bomber and interceptor
Horten Ho 229 - a turbojet flying wing jet fighter/bomber
Horten H.XVIII - a planned flying wing jet bomber based on the Horten Ho 229
Junkers EF 132 - a planned turbojet bomber
Junkers Ju 287 - a forward-swept wing turbojet bomber
Lippisch P.13a - a planned ramjet delta wing interceptor
Lippisch P.13b - a planned ramjet delta wing interceptor developed from the Lippisch P.13a
Messerschmitt Me 109TL - a turbojet fighter designed as an alternate/back-up for the Me 262
Messerschmitt Me 163 "Komet" (Comet) - the first and only operational rocket-powered fighter
Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe" (Swallow)- the first operational turbojet fighter/bomber
Messerschmitt Me 263 - a rocket-powered fighter developed from the Me 163
Messerschmitt Me P.1101 - a variable-sweep wing ramjet fighter
Messerschmitt Me P.1106 - a jet fighter based on the Messerschmitt Me P.1101
Silbervogel (Silverbird) - planned sub-orbital antipodal bomber

Helicopters

Flettner Fl 184 - a night reconnaissance and anti-submarine autogyro
Flettner Fl 185 - an experimental helicopter
Flettner Fl 265 - an experimental helicopter
Flettner Fl 282 "Kolibri" (Hummingbird) - a reconnaissance helicopter
Focke Achgelis Fa 223 "Drache" (Dragon) - an anti-submarine, search and rescue, reconnaissance, and freight helicopter
Focke-Wulf Fw 61 - an experimental helicopter

Bombs and explosives

German nuclear energy project

Artillery

Schwerer Gustav (Heavy Gustav) - an 800mm railway gun
V-3 cannon "Hochdruckpumpe" - "High Pressure Pump" a supergun

Missiles

Aggregate series
- A1 - the first German experimental rocket
- A2 - an experimental rocket, gyroscopically stabilized
- A3 - an experimental rocket with an inertial guidance system
- A4/V-2 - the first ballistic missile and the first human-made object to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight
  - A4-SLBM - a planned submarine-launched ballistic missile
  - A4b
- A5 - an experimental reusable rocket
- A6 - an improved A4b
- A7 - an improved A4
- A8 - a planned submarine-launched ballistic missile
- A9 Amerikarakete - a planned intermediate-range ballistic missile to be used to strike the eastern United States
- A10 - a planned lower stage for the A9 to upgrade it to an intercontinental ballistic missile
- A11 - a planned satellite launcher
- A12 - a planned rocket, capable of putting 10 metric tons into low Earth orbit
Enzian - a planned surface-to-air missile with infrared guidance
Feuerlilie F-25 "Fire Lilly" - a surface-to-air missile
Feuerlilie F-55 "Fire Lilly" - a two-stage, supersonic surface-to-air missile
Fieseler Fi 103/V-1 flying bomb/Vergeltungswaffe 1 - the first cruise missile
Fliegerfaust "Pilot Fist" or "Plane Fist" / Luftfaust "Air Fist" - the first man-portable air-defense system
Fritz X - an air-launched anti-ship missile
Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling "Butterfly" - a manually guided surface-to-air missile
Henschel Hs 117H - a manually guided air-to-air missile
Henschel Hs 293 - a manually guided air-to-ship missile
Henschel Hs 294 - a manually guided air-to-ship torpedo
Henschel Hs 298 - an air-to-air missile
R4M Orkan "Hurricane" - an air-to-air rocket
Rheinbote "Rhine Messenger"- the first short-range ballistic missile
Rheintochter "Rhinemaiden" - a manually guided surface-to-air missile
Ruhrstahl X-4 - a wire-guided air-to-air missile designed for the Ta 183
Taifun "Typhoon" - a planned unguided surface-to-air missile
Wasserfall Ferngelenkte Flakrakete "Waterfall Remote-Controlled A-A Rocket" - a supersonic surface-to-air missile
Werfer-Granate 21 - an air-to-air rocket

Orbital

Sun gun - a parabolic mirror in orbit designed to focus sunlight onto specific locations on the Earth's surface

Rifles

Jagdfaust - an automatically firing airborne anti-bomber recoilless rifle for use on the Me 163
Mauser MG 213 - a 20 mm aircraft mounted revolver cannon
Mauser MG 213C - a 30 mm aircraft mounted revolver cannon
Sturmgewehr 44 - the first assault rifle
- "Krummlauf" - a curved barrel for the StG44
Sturmgewehr 45 - prototype

Mission equipment

Zielgerät 1229 "Vampir" - active infrared for the Sturmgewehr 44
FG 1250 Tank Mounted night-vision equipment

Other

Notes

^ Willy Ley, "V-2: Rocket Cargo Ship" Astounding Science Fiction, May 1945, repr. Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space, (ed. J. Francis McComas, Raymond J. Healy, [1946], 1957), p.359).

Reiner Merkel: Hans Kammler - Manager des Todes, 2010 August von Goethe Literaturverlag, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-3-8372-0817-7.

[1] Willy Ley, "V-2: Rocket Cargo Ship" Astounding Science Fiction, May 1945, repr. Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space, (ed. J. Francis McComas, Raymond J. Healy, [1946], 1957), p.359).

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