Channel 4 (UK) Documentaries

Hitler's Plan to Atom Bomb New York (2004x27)

Air date: Jan 26, 2004

In 1944, the Nazi top brass believed that a rudimentary nuclear weapon might soon be within their scientists' grasp. Hitler, desperate to turn the tide of the war, hatched a secret plan for an aircraft that would usher in the age of global terrorism – the 'Amerika Bomber'. This would deliver the hoped-for 'wonder weapon' directly on to the biggest target of them all: New York City. Hitler's Plan to Atom Bomb New York uncovers the astonishing competition that was held between Germany's top aviation designers to build a completely new aircraft capable of carrying and dropping the bomb on the towers of Manhattan. They included a giant V-rocket that would later provide the basis for the Apollo missions, and a high-altitude craft with fundamental similarities to the modern space shuttle. The winner of the competition – a huge V-winged jet plane capable of crossing the Atlantic and returning in a single flight – was rushed into production. The film tells the story of how close the 'Amerika Bomber' came into being before an Allied mission put an end to the project once and for all.