Amerika: Silverbird – Germany's Space Plane

The Sänger Silbervogel “Silverbird” bomber developed from the idea of an intercontinental bomber that would glide around the world on the fringes of space and the Earth’s atmosphere. Launched from a base in Nazi Occupied Europe, it would travel down an approximately three-mile long monorail track, launched initially by V-2 rocket engines into space at a speed so fast, it would circle the earth in only a few hours. Its payload was to be a single composite bomb containing nuclear particles in a fashion similar to “chaff”, with an initial detonation in the higher atmosphere above a city to ensure complete coverage of the nuclear material.

The bomb itself was a 5,000-pound high explosive warhead wrapped in special insulated blankets of radioactive silicone, detonating at about 2,000-3,000 feet above the target city. The end result would be radioactive sickness and death for those on the receiving end.

After mission completion, the bomber would glide back to Germany reentering the atmosphere gradually and landing at a specially designated airfield. The cost of producing the bomb and the bomber itself though would render this weapon as a relatively expensive endeavor suited mostly for preemptive strikes against heavily fortified cities with the aim to wipe them out quickly.

-description from publisher