Horten Ho-229 A-1
Luftwaffe '46 Build

Tunisia, Fall of 1946

After stopping the red Army with nuclear strikes in Poland and the US/British Forces during the Ardennes Offensive (which destroyed all the allied Northern Armies) the war entered a stalemate in Europe. This gave Germany time to rebuild its forces including its jet fighters. Desperately in need of Oil, the Germans launched a surprise attack on Northern Africa. The Allies were taken by surprise as hundreds of Germans parachuted into the supply dumps set up by the allies. With enough supplies to last a good while, the Germans flew in their most effective fighters and fighter bombers to support their forces.

The Ho-229's acted as long range fighter and attack aircraft using their 30mm cannons to great affect. The 229's and Ta-183's enjoyed huge successes against the allied piston engine fighters. However by the fall of 1946, the allies were once again closing the loop on Germany's Africa adventures. A major offensive launched by the British and lead by their new Comet Tank has broken through the lines. The Germans have thrown the last of their 229's against the British to try to hold them off. Up ahead the Germans can see at least 50 Vampire fighters circling above the breakthrough. Waiting for the Ta-183's to knife through the formation and break it up, the 229's will then dive for a low level attack using their camo to hide them from above. Hopefully they can get in and break up the attack or all is lost for the new Afrika Korps...

The Ho-229 was a German prototype fighter/bomber designed by Reimar and Walter Horten and built late in World War II. It was the first pure flying wing powered by jet engines. At least one prototype flew several times and crashed killing the test pilot. One aircraft was captured in later stages of construction and is currently being restored for display at the Smithsonian.

This was an ex-Pioneer model reboxed by Matchbox. It's a simple build and I spent more time working on the camouflage than the actual build. The cockpit was completely open and I added extra detail in there. I mounted the model as an in-flight display using my reference photo as the mounting image. I used scrap decals to mark the plane. A fun build of a very basic kit.