Andy Davies delves into the murky world of German ‘Wonder Weapons’ and builds Squadron Models’ imposing new Haunebu II
HAUNEBU II
German ‘what-if’ subjects are a burgeoning area of interest, and since the end of World War Two several have linked advanced German aviation projects with so-called UFO technology.
Chief among these ‘Wunderwaffe’ or Miracle Weapons, were the Haunebu series of flying discs. According to these counterfactual histories, after successful testing of the smaller Haunebu I, the enlarged 85 1/3 ft (26m) diameter Haunebu II was ready for flight testing in 1942. The craft had a crew of nine and could supposedly achieve hypersonic speeds of between 3,700 and 13,000mph (6,000 and 21,000km/h), with a flight endurance of 55 hours. A few models of these machines have been released in the past, notably Anigrand’s 1/144 resin kit of the larger Dornier Do-Stra version, Wave’s 1/72nd kit (although this was based more on the ‘Adamski’ UFO than a Haunebu design) and recently Pegasus Model’s 1/144th injection-moulded version (see p. 60), but there’s a new flying saucer in town…
Box of delights
Squadron’s all-new 1/72 offering comprises approximately 112 parts on 13 styrene runners, a single clear …
