By the closing year of WW II the German army was in a headlong retreat, but the German engineering team kept up innovating. One of their most unique designs was for a heavy bomber that, unlike the propeller-driven versions, would be able to climb higher and fly faster than any of the pursuing enemy fighter planes. Instead of straights wings and propellers it would have swept wings, giving more control at takeoff and landings, and turbojet engines.

On this day, August 16, in 1944, the Junkers Ju-287, the brainchild of the Dr. Hans Wocke and his team at Flugzeug und Motorenwerks AG, made its test flight.

Controlled experiments showed the plane, powered by six turbojets, could achieve maximum speeds topping off at over 500 mph, indeed faster than most anything on the Allied side (consider the most widely produced fighter during the war, the British Spitfire, topped out near 380 mph). Only several prototypes were ever produced, however, because the German industry was suffering heavy losses from Allied bombing campaigns. One of the prototypes was eventually captured by the Russian army, advancing their aeronautics significantly.