In the autumn of 1945, American military forces discovered what appeared to be a half-destroyed German factory in Friedrichroda, where they found four incomplete fuselages, later referenced as V3 to V6. These belonged to the Horten Ho 229, an experimental flying wing aircraft designed by the self-taught engineers Reimar and Walter Horten. The aircraft's design, featuring a single wing in the shape of an arrow, was unlike any known aircraft of the time. The most advanced of the four, the Ho 229 V3, was only about half completed, lacking engines, paint, and featuring a structure made of tubular steel and plywood panels mixed with charcoal. The U.S. military disassembled the aircraft three days after its discovery, indicating the strategic importance they assigned to it. The V3 fuselage was later repatriated to the United States and eventually entered the collections of the Smithsonian Institution in 1952. It remained in storage for years before preservation work began in 2011, focusing on stabilizing the structure rather than restoring it to a fictional flying state. Today, the central fuselage and separated wings of the aircraft are on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. The Horten Ho 229 V3 was part of a program funded by Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe, with half a million Reichsmarks. The project aimed to produce up to 100 units as a fighter-bomber. However, only one prototype, the Ho 229 V2, managed to fly, with its final flight ending in a crash on February 18, 1945, killing the test pilot. This crash, along with resource shortages and the collapse of Nazi Germany, halted the program. Despite never flying, the Horten Ho 229 V3 has remained a subject of fascination. In 2008, radar tests conducted by Northrop Grumman showed that the aircraft was not significantly stealthy compared to a sheet of plywood, challenging its reputation as a pioneering stealth aircraft. The aircraft's design, however, was ahead of its time, with the flying wing concept being a radical departure from conventional aircraft designs of the era.