FLIEGENTOD
Classification: Terrestrial aircraft
Creators: Doctor Barrow, Teutonic Knight
User/Possessors: Teutonic Knight
Aliases: Flying Death, Fliegende Tod (see comments)
First Appearance: Invaders I#29 (June, 1978)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Fliegentod was a circular flying warship with a diameter of around 200 feet. It was equipped with six cannons placed on the side and on top in regular intervals around the circular hull, enabling it to fire in all directions simultaneously. The Fliegentod could fire these cannons through an automatic firing mechanism or controlled by gunners. A tele-screen on board could show events from far away. Its outer hull was made of an unrevealed metal and its windows were made out of unbreakable glass (though Captain America's shield was tougher than the glass). It possessed loudspeakers at the bottom for Teutonic Knight to spout his threats audible to everyone in the area. It used an experimental engine powered by the rare element Radium-X. The speed of the Fliegentod is unknown (though it was seen in the plans I was unable to decipher it...300 mph seems reasonable).
The crew of the Fliegentod included Teutonic Knight and around a dozen Nazi soldiers.
History:
(Invaders I#29 (fb) - BTS) - In late 1941 Teutonic Knight stole the blueprints for a flying arsenal from a warehouse on the American east coast. Captain America and Bucky, who were guarding the warehouse failed to stop him.
A short time later Teutonic Knight abducted Doctor Barrow along with his papers on an experimental engine from a train driving through England. Barrow's bodyguards Human Torch and Toro failed to stop him.
Shortly after Teutonic Knight stole a box full of the extremely rare element Radium-X from a tanker off the coast of Africa. Namor, who had been on the tanker with war correspondent Betty Dean, failed to stop him.
Teutonic Knight used the blueprints and combined with Doctor Barrow's engine and using Radium-X to power it built his own flying arsenal the Fliegentod.
Teutonic Knight attacked England with the Fliegentod. The Invaders (Captain America, Human Torch, Namor, Spitfire, Union Jack) were called in to stop the deadly, gigantic aircraft.
(Invaders I#29) - When the Invaders arrived at the scene of the attack in Namor's flagship they witnessed the Fliegentod's shooting at British airplanes in the skies over Britain while the Teutonic Knight's voice could be heard over the craft's loudspeakers.
(Invaders I#30) - The Fliegentod's multiple cannons fired in three directions shooting down British airplanes with ease. Though Namor was sure his flagship could destroy the Fliegentod he decided against it when Captain America and Union Jack pointed out that Doctor Barrow could still be alive aboard the Fliegentod. Namor maneuvered out of the Fliegentod's shooting range causing it to accidentally crash into a church's tower. Teutonic Knight didn't care because he was going to destroy the church anyway. Namor put his flagship on autopilot to prevent the tower from dropping on bystanders on the street. Captain America, Spitfire and Union Jack jumped from Namor's flagship on top of the Fliegentod and entered the Fliegentod through one of the unbreakable windows, which Cap easily broke with his shield. Meanwhile Human Torch did his best to shoot the Fliegentod's shells out of the sky before they could hit anything. Inside the Fliegentod Captain America, Spitfire and Union Jack fought Nazi soldiers the Fliegentod was set on automatic firing. Human Torch kept shooting its shells out of the sky until it stopped firing. Meanwhile inside the Fliegentod Teutonic Knight threatened to kill Doctor Barrow to force the Invaders to stop fighting, but after revealing his attack was a mere distraction to give Strucker and his Blitzkrieg Squad a shot at killing Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, the Invaders overpowered him and saved Barrow. Moments later the Fliegentod began plunging from the sky because the unstable Radium-X had lost its power. Barrow reached the Fliegentod's control, but they had stopped working. He told Captain America how he had warned Teutonic Knight of the unpredictability of Radium-X. Spitfire, Human Torch and Namor worked together to safely bring the Fliegentod to the ground.
Comments: Created by Don Glut (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils) & Frank Springer (inks)
Fliegende Tod would be the grammatically correct translation of Flying Death if flying is used as an adjective. Fliegentod is a pure word for word translation that sounds stupid in German and rather reminds me of a poison used against flies then a flying death machine, but maybe this was what Glut and Thomas were going for...though considering the broken German usually used in the Invaders series it probably wasn't.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Fliegentod has no known connections to:
Doctor Barrow has no known connection to:
(Invaders I#29 (fb) ) - The English scientist Doctor Barrow invented a powerful engine that could only be powered by an extremely rare element. In late 1941 Human Torch and Toro served as Barrow's bodyguards when he traveled through England by train. The Teutonic Knight descended from an airplane to break into the train, steal the papers on the engine and abduct Doctor Barrow, whose bodyguards were unable to use their powers against him because they could endanger the innocents in the train. After Teutonic Knight had taken Barrow up to his plane he dropped a bomb on a bridge, forcing the Human Torch and Toro to fix it to prevent a train crash. Teutonic Knight got away with Doctor Barrow and the plans for his engine.
(Invaders I#29 (fb) - BTS) - Teutonic Knight forced Doctor Barrow to install his experimental engine into the Fliegentod. The engine was powered by the rare element Radium-X. He kept Barrow on board the Fliegentod as insurance.
(Invaders I#30) - When the Invaders Captain America, Spitfire and Union Jack broke into the Fliegentod Teutonic Knight threatened to kill Doctor Barrow to force them to stop fighting his Nazi soldiers. After he explained his attack on Britain with the Fliegentod was a mere distraction for Strucker and his Blitzkrieg Squad to kill Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, Cap threw his shield Teutonic Knight. Teutonic Knight dropped Barrow, who was quickly taken out of harm's way by Spitfire. When the Fliegentod began to plunge from the sky Barrow realized the engine had stopped working because, as he had feared, the unpredictable Radium-X had lost its power. Unable to use the Fliegentod's controls because they were not working anymore, he saw no chance to stop the Fliegentod from crashing into the city below. Namor, Spitfire and Human Torch worked together to bring the Fliegentod to the ground safely.
--Invaders I#29 (Invaders I#29 (fb), [Invaders I#29 (fb)], Invaders I#30
images: (without ads)
Invaders I#30, p1 (main)
Invaders I#29, p3, pan3 (original blueprints)
Invaders I#30, p9, pan1 (Barrow, head shot)
Invaders I#29, p7, pan1 (Barrow, body shot)
Appearances:
Invaders I#29-30 (June-July, 1978) - Don Glut (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Frank Springer (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
First Posted: 08/22/2018
Last updated: 08/22/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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