The overall aircraft design was to be more akin to a delta-shaped "flying wing" with only small vertical tail fins fitted near the wingtip trailing edges (for stability) for the wing elements and fuselage were well integrated into one another - as almost a single complete piece. The cockpit would be set forward in the design (just ahead of amidships) and consist of a lightly framed canopy. The undercarriage was to be tricycle in its arrangement with two single-wheeled main legs and a single-wheeled nose leg. The nose leg was ahead and under the cockpit floor while the main legs were set along the fuselage undersides - all three fully retractable. Radar would be housed in the nose cone assembly which forced the cockpit rearwards. The aircraft's wingspan measured at just over 44 feet. Aircraft weight estimates included 18,500lbs when empty and 25,100lbs when fully laden with fuel and ammunition stores.
Proposed armament for the Project 60C was to be a battery of cannon installations. This included 4 x MK 108 series autocannons in fixed, forward-firing mounts for engaging targets ahead of the aircraft. However, one of the more interesting additions would have been the 3 x MK 108 series cannons mounted to fire obliquely upwards. What this did was allow the crew to bring their aircraft underneath the lesser-protected portions of enemy bombers and engage nearly at will. Cannons had proven to the Germans of great value, particularly when trying to bring down large bomber aircraft that could absorb a great deal of punishment (when compared to machine gun-only arrangements).
While the Project 60C was the intriguing selection to win the Air Ministry contract, there were those within the ranks that saw fit to question the viability of certain design elements inherent in the Gotha submission. This included the rather unconventional placement of the engines at a time when it made sense to fit engines within the fuselage proper and, thusly, keep an aerodynamic shape in check. The argument centered around the airflow passing over the fuselage front and wing leading edges into a rear-set, externally-mounted engine fitting - therefore degrading the power of said engine. Gotha chief engineer Dr. Rudolf Gothert successfully argued the merits of his approach, citing improved performance at high speeds.
Despite the work already underway, the war for Germany had come to a close in May of 1945. Hitler was dead via suicide and the Germans were either surrendering in droves or fighting to the last. The Soviets had captured the heart of Berlin and the war in Europe formally ended. With the end of the war so too ended the hope of many designs still on the drawing boards of various German aviation firms. As such, the Project 60C only ever existed on paper and no known mockups or prototypes were ever built. While no clear winner of the Air Ministry proposal was ever declared, many observers suggest that the Gotha Project 60C held the most advantage and was a clear favorite to win the competition.
Beyond the nightfighting version of the Project 60C, Gotha engineers also drew up plans for a dayfighter version sans the radar facility. In this design, the nose was reworked to a more aerodynamically efficient "dart-like" hollow assembly (due to the lack of radar) and the crew would have been reduced to one or two personnel. Beyond that, the basic design layout would have remained largely the same.
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