During WW2, the Imperial Air Ministry of the Third Reich issues multiple specifications for several aircraft. From regular fighters to fighter bombers, many of those designs went on to become the most known aircraft of WW2. The Ta 154 is, however, not one of these aircraft.
Designed by Kurt Tank (mostly known for the Fw 190) at Focke Wulf to counter the RAF Mosquito, it first flew on July 1st 1943. The 154 was also to be constructed in wood, with a especial glue (Tegofilm) to be used. As luck would have it, when the RAF bombed the city of Wupertal (Germany), they also destroyed the factory that produced the Tegofilm
In a hurry, a new glue was sought after. This glue, however, was acidic, which reacted with the wooden areas of the Ta 154, causing the wings to literally fall off. One of the prototypes crashed due to this failure, and Tank ordered to halt production of the plane until a solution could be found. Hermann Göring accused Tank of sabotage and, after many arguments between Tank and Göring, the project of the Ta 154 was cancelled.
31 aircraft were manufactured in total, all of them prototypes with several radar and armament installations. Armament was to be comprised of two 20mm heavy machineguns and two 30mm MK 108 cannons.
There were several more attemps by the German aircraft indsutry to produce a nightfighter which could effectively hunt down the British Mosquito and destroy RAF Lancasters, such as the Heinkel He 219 and the Me 262B-1a/U1. None of them were produced in sufficient numbers, and the task of protecting the Third Reich’s sky was given to the obsolete Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4 and the Junkers Ju 88C-6b.
