Editing DFS 228 (section)

==Design and development==
Initial design of the DFS 228 was undertaken before the outbreak of war as a [[Experimental aircraft|research aircraft]], the '''DFS 54''', aimed at developing a high-altitude escape system for [[sailplane]]s. The project was suspended by the [[World War II#War breaks out in Europe (1939–40)|commencement of hostilities]], but was revived in 1940 when the ''[[Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany)|Reichsluftfahrtministerium]]'' (RLM - "Reich Aviation Ministry") delivered the DFS with a requirement for a rocket-powered reconnaissance aircraft.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The advantages of a sailplane for [[aerial reconnaissance]] included its silence, its low speed relative to the ground (allowing for higher-quality photography), and its potential ability to loiter above an area of interest. The project gave the DFS the opportunity to investigate two additional areas that it was interested in:  the effects of [[Swept wing|wing sweep]] on sailplane design, and [[Supersonic speed|supersonic]] flight.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The DFS 228 was designed by [[Felix Kracht]] and a first [[prototype]] was completed in March 1944; it was undergoing gliding tests by that August, carried aloft piggyback and [[strut]]-mounted atop a [[Dornier Do 217]]. The aircraft was of conventional sailplane arrangement with long, [[Aspect ratio (aeronautics)|slender]] wings and designed to land on a [[Landing gear#Other types of landing gear|retractable skid]] mounted on its belly. The nose of the aircraft could be separated in an emergency and formed a self-contained, [[Cabin pressurization|pressurized]] escape capsule for the pilot.<ref name="Ford">{{cite book|last1=Ford|first1=Roger|title=Germany's Secret Weapons of World War II|date=2013|publisher=Amber Books|location=London, United Kingdom|isbn=9781909160569|pages=224}}</ref> Because of problems with the [[cabin pressurization]] system, the second prototype accommodated the pilot in a prone position.<ref name="Ford" />

Forty flights were made with the prototypes, and installation of a rocket was to have taken place in February 1945, but the project fell by the wayside as the war situation became more desperate. The second prototype was destroyed in an air raid in May 1945, and the first prototype was captured by [[United States|U.S.]] troops in June. In 1946 it was sent to the [[United Kingdom]] for study where it was apparently scrapped in 1947, although its exact fate is unknown.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}