Gotha Go P.60A/B

Gotha Go p. 60A/B History

The Gotha P. 60 is a heavily modified version of the famous Horten Ho 229 Nurflugel, which appeared with the Luftwaffe in the late WWII. Designed to be as service friendly and modular as possible (in terms of different engines, weapons and crew arrangements), the Gotha failed to convince the imperial aviation authorities of the advantages of its improved artillery platform compared to the Ho 229.

As such, the promising page 60 exists only in paper form, with only estimated performance specs and blueprint designs to dissect. By all accounts, the P.60 actually performs quite well compared to its more popular rivals.

Of course, despite Germany's ongoing war effort during WWII, German aircraft companies sometimes competed with each other to try and get potentially lucrative long-term production deals in the walls of the Imperial fortresses that were crumbling around them. This was the case in the summer of 1944, when the Gothaer Waggonfabrik group received a production order from the Reich Aviation Department (RLM) to build up to 20 of the famous "flying wing" fighter jets from the Holden Brothers - the Ho 229.

RLM believes in this concept, Ph.D. Gotha's chief engineer Rudolf Gothert understood that the Ho 229 had inherent limitations as an artillery platform for the Luftwaffe for its new fighters and interceptors.

As a day fighter and interceptor responsible for attacking the assembled formations of Allied bombers, the P.60 was not equipped with any kind of radar, only artillery. 4 x 30mm MK 108 guns were proposed for the base model of the Hohenjager, with two guns located on the wing roots spanning both sides of the cockpit, each providing 170 rounds of ammunition. For heavy fighters, this should be replaced by 2 x 30mm MK 103 guns. Arranged to carry a 1,100-pound bomb under the fuselage in case the plane was forced to strike.

The scope of the P.60 program does not extend beyond the use of new German guided missiles under the fighter's wings. It must be mentioned that the designers intended to armour the cockpit area, which would serve the crew well in the air combat/low-altitude strike role.

In summary, P. 60 faces the insurmountable possibility of overturning the Ho 229 initiative. In resource-constrained, war-torn Germany, requiring two crew members was out of the question.

No viable pilot ejection program has emerged, and prone flight, although exploratory, has not yet been successfully implemented on a large scale at the operational level. Additionally, the Go P. 60 design calls for the use of both engines, whereas a single-engine defensive fighter makes more sense.

P.60C is a related P.60 item detailed elsewhere on this website. It is equipped with radar as an all-weather night fighter.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

VARIANTS