Wunderwaffe is German for "wonder-weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II
by the Third Reich propaganda ministry to a few revolutionary "superweapons". Most of
these weapons however remained more or less feasible prototypes, or reached the combat
theater too late, and in too insignificant numbers to have a military effect. A derisive
abbreviation of the term emerged: Wuwa, pronounced "voo-vah".
The V-weapons, which were developed earlier and saw considerable deployment, trace back
to the same pool of highly inventive armament concepts. Therefore, they are also included
here. In Germany, the term Wunderwaffe is still
used today to describe a powerful tool.
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; scrapped before launching.
I (1942) – a planned 56,500 ton aircraft carrier, converted from a transport; cancelled
before work started. Battleships
H-class battleship – a series of proposals for battleships surpassing both the U. S.
Navy's Montana-class battleships and the IJN's Yamato-class battleships in armament, culminating
in the H-44, a 140,000 ton battleship with eight 20 inch guns. Two only laid down; scrapped
on slipways U-boats
Oceangoing U-boats Rocket U-boat – a planned ballistic missile
submarine; project abandoned 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 "Elektroboot" – 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; 67 were built
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
Anti-aircraft weapons Flakpanzer "Kugelblitz" – a self-propelled
anti-aircraft gun Anti-tank weapons
Sturer Emil – an experimental tank destroyer Super-heavy tanks
Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" – a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 1000 metric tons
and armed with two 280mm cannons, 128mm anti-tank gun, 8 20mm flak guns and 2 15mm heavy machine
guns Landkreuzer P. 1500 "Monster" – a proposed
super-heavy self-propelled gun, weighing 1500 metric tons and armed with the 800mm Schwerer
Gustav/Dora gun Panzer VII "Löwe" – a planned super-heavy
tank, weighing 90 metric tons and armed with a 105mm cannon
Panzer VIII "Maus" – a super-heavy tank, weighing 180 metric tons and armed with two
cannons of 128mm and 75mm calibre, two operable prototypes completed
Panzerkampfwagen E-100 – a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 140 metric tons and armed with
either 128, 149 or 170mm cannon Gliders
Junkers Ju 322 "Mammut" – 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 candidate with six radial engines and two
jet engines with a range of 13,000 km in bomber configuration
Heinkel He 111Z – a five engined Zwilling 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, two completed by France after the
war Heinkel He 277 – a planned, advanced long
range bomber design, never built as a complete aircraft, evolved to be an Amerika Bomber
candidate, to be powered with four BMW 801 radial engines and up to 11,000 km range
Junkers Ju 390 – an Amerika Bomber candidate with six radial engines with a range of 9,700 km,
two airworthy prototypes built and flown Junkers Ju 488 – a heavy bomber with four
radial engines with a range of 3,395 km Messerschmitt Me 264 – an Amerika Bomber
candidate with four inline or radial engines and a range of 15,000 km, three airworthy
prototypes built and flown Messerschmitt Me 323 "Gigant" – a heavy
transport with six engines Jets and rocket-propelled aircraft
Arado Ar 234 – the first operational turbojet bomber and reconnaissance aircraft
Arado E.555 – a planned jet-powered Amerika bomber
Arado E.560 – a series of tactical bomber projects
Bachem Ba 349 "Natter" – 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 "Triebflügel" – a planned tip jet rotorcraft, 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" – a turbojet fighter
Heinkel He 176 – the world's first liquid-fueled rocket-powered experimental aircraft
Heinkel He 178 – the world's first experimental turbojet aircraft to fly
Heinkel He 280 – the first turbojet fighter design, prototypes only
Heinkel He 343 – a planned four engined jet bomber based on the Arado Ar 234's general
design 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 128 – a planned turbojet fighter
Junkers EF 132 – a planned turbojet bomber Junkers Ju 287 – a forward-swept wing turbojet
bomber Lippisch P.13a – a planned supersonic 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" – the first
and only operational rocket-powered fighter Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe"- the first
operational turbojet fighter/bomber Messerschmitt Me 263 – a rocket-powered
fighter developed from the Me 163 Messerschmitt P.1101 – a variable-sweep
wing turbojet fighter Messerschmitt P.1106 – a jet fighter based
on the Messerschmitt Me P.1101 Skoda-Kauba Sk P.14 - a ramjet-powered emergency
fighter Sombold So 344 - a rocket-powered plane with
a detachable explosive nose Silbervogel – planned sub-orbital antipodal
bomber Zeppelin Fliegende Panzerfaust – a rocket-powered
very-short-range interceptor Zeppelin Rammer – a rocket-powered ramming
interceptor Helicopters
Flettner Fl 184 – a night reconnaissance and anti-submarine autogyro
Flettner Fl 185 – an experimental helicopter Flettner Fl 265 – an experimental helicopter,
the world's earliest known airworthy synchropter Flettner Fl 282 "Kolibri" – a reconnaissance
"synchropter" helicopter Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 "Drache" – an anti-submarine,
search and rescue, reconnaissance, and freight helicopter, based on the prewar Fw 61
Focke-Wulf Fw 61 – an experimental helicopter Bombs and explosives
German nuclear energy project Artillery
Schwerer 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
V-1 flying bomb/Fieseler Fi 103/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 unpowered air-launched, MCLOS-guided
anti-ship missile, the pioneering wartime example of a PGM
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 – an MCLOS-guided air-to-ship missile
Henschel Hs 294 – an MCLOS-guided air-to-ship missile/torpedo
Henschel Hs 298 – an air-to-air missile R4M Orkan "Hurricane" – an unguided air-to-air
rocket Rheinbote "Rhine Messenger"- the first short-range
ballistic missile Rheintochter "Rhinedaughter" – 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 – a heavy-calibre unguided air-to-air rocket, in use by the summer of
1943 G7es/Zaunkönig T-5 – acoustic homing torpedo
used by U-boats 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 Directed-energy weapons
Rheotron/betatron Among the directed-energy weapons the Nazis
investigated were x-ray beam weapons developed under Heinz Schmellenmeier, Richard Gans and
Fritz Houtermans. They built an electron accelerator called Rheotron to generate hard x-ray synchrotron
beams for the Reichsluftfahrtministerium. The intent was to pre-ionize ignition in aircraft
engines and hence serve as anti-aircraft DEW and bring planes down into the reach of flak.
The rheotron was captured by the Americans in Burggrub on April 14, 1945.
Röntgenkanone Another approach was Ernst Schiebolds 'Röntgenkanone'
developed from 1943 in Großostheim near Aschaffenburg. The Company Richert Seifert & Co from Hamburg
delivered parts. Mission equipment
Zielgerät 1229 "Vampir" – active infrared for the Sturmgewehr 44
FG 1250 Tank Mounted night-vision equipment Fictitious
Die Glocke Nazi UFOs
Directed-energy weapon See also
Nazi propaganda Secret and special weapons in Showa Japan
German military technology during World War II
Notes
Reiner Merkel: Hans Kammler – Manager des Todes, 2010 August von Goethe Literaturverlag,
Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-3-8372-0817-7.