No reference source on the Sänger-Bredt project known to the author indicates that any RaBo hardware was built at Lofer. But a 1947 US technical intelligence manual on the Lofer base contains this fascinating, maddeningly blurry photograph (below) of what appears to be the incomplete nose and forward fuselage of a very unconventional aircraft. The caption reads simply, "A futuristic airplane in a plant near Lofer. It was never flown." There are no references to this aircraft in the text of the report.

The fuselage appears to have a flat upper and lower surface, and there appears to be a cockpit area at the right end of the structure. The general shape and size agree with extant RaBo illustrations. Was this a full-scale wooden mockup of the hypersonic bomber? If so, there is little wonder that the Soviets were so impressed with the design. But it raises questions about the lack of documentation on this important prototype.

What was this "futuristic airplane?" Who designed it? What was its intended mission? Why has it been lost? Was it a forgotten part of the Sänger-Bredt program, an ancestor of the US Space Shuttle and Soviet Buran orbiters? If it was not related to the RaBo, what was it?