This is the story of the world's first attempt at perfecting a true,
tail-sitting vertical take off and landing (VTOL) interceptor flying
machine - Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau's proposed "Triebflügeljäger" or thrust
wing fighter project of 1944. The Triebflügeljäger was not intended to
be an air-superiority dogfighter, but a bomber killer rising straight up
from its hiding place in the forest or urban area to meet and attack
Allied bombers head on. With its mission completed it would return to
its hiding place on the forest floor and wait to arise again. The
Triebflügeljäger would have been a point-defense interceptor intended
for the Luftwaffe home defense squadrons and its most important virtue
was that it would not need a runway. Highly unusual, then as well as
today, the "Triebflügeljäger" was an amazing prototype.