File:Horten H.VI V2 – NASM Udvar Hazy Center - 51173165663.jpg

The Horten H.VI was one of a series of experimental ‘flying-wing’ research gliders built by Horten, which ultimately led to the H.IX jet-powered fighter/bomber prototype, otherwise known as the Ho229 or Go229. Based on, but much larger than, the Horten H.IV, the H.VI was intended for high altitude flight and was fitted with an oxygen system. The pilot lay in a prone position, which had proven effective with the H.III f and helped to reduce drag. This is the second of two H.VI airframes built, both of which were flying by the summer of 1944. It was shipped to the United States after the end of WW2 and was allocated the Foreign Evaluation identity FE-5040, which was later changed to T2-5040. Allocated for museum use in 1946, it was put in store at Park Ridge, Illinois, but went to the Northrop Aeronautical Institute during 1947 for research purposes, along with the other surviving Horten gliders. Returned to storage, it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institute in 1960 and was restored by the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin between 1994 and 2004. Seen on display suspended in the Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center as part of the National Air and Space Museum. Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia