Designed in the 1930s by Eugen Sanger and Irene Bredt using the lifting body principle the idea was presented to the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium) in December 1941 as a 900 page document which they turned down due to the complex nature of the craft. The vehicle was to be launched on a 2 mile long rail track on a powered sled and once airborne the crafts own rocket motors would take over, It was calculated that by doing a series of sub-orbital hops from an altitude of 90 miles at a speed of approximately 13,500mph the vehicle could reach America, drop it's payload of up to 4000kg (see my German Atomic Weapons build) and then continue on to the Japanese held Pacific region. The proposal was resubmitted in September 1944 but never got beyond mockup tests. Postwar analysis of the proposal showed it was flawed and the craft would have burnt up on re-entry without augmenting the heat shield which would have reduced the payload.
So what's in the kit from AMP? 58 pieces of softish grey plastic, 2 of which form the main body, 1 clear upper nose section, a decal sheet offering one option, we'll see about that!!, masks for the cockpit glazing and main wheels and surprisingly, as you won't see much in the cockpit, a set of 3D decals for the controls!! The one glaring difference in the kit is that the cockpit is for two pilots not the original one. As it's a 'What if' it's not a problem as I can say it's a later production model.
