First rocket plane photo

Although there had been gliders with solid-fueled rockets strapped to
them before, the He-176 was the first liquid-fueled rocket plane to to
fly that had designed for rocket propulsion from the ground up.
For a long time, its exact configuration had been a mystery, as the
prototype had been destroyed during WWII and only artist's impressions
existed of it.
Fairly recently, a photo of the actual aircraft surfaced, showing it to
be more sophisticated than some artist's conceptions, less so than
others: http://www.luft46.com/prototyp/he176.html
After seeing it make a very wobbly flight, Ernst Udet commented: "Those
aren't wings, those are running boards! I forbid you to fly it again!".
That may have been a mistake, as WvB was in on this program, which one
suspects he considered as the first step toward his vertical-take-off
rocket interceptor concept: http://www.luft46.com/misc/vbi.html
....and many years later, the Germans were getting ready to deploy a VTO
rocket interceptor - the Ba-349 "Natter" - just as the war ended:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachem_Ba_349
Having thousands of VTO rocket fighters ready for quick deployment when
the hoards of allied bombers started arriving over Germany might have
have made a big difference in how the air war ended up.

Pat