In the Season 15 premiere, Josh Gates investigates one of Nazi Germany's most audacious wartime projects: the Amerikabomber, a long-range aircraft designed to bring the horrors of the Third Reich directly to American soil and incinerate New York City. Traveling to Poland, Gates explores the city of Wrocław—formerly the German stronghold of Breslau—and ventures 90 miles to the town of Leśna, where new evidence has surfaced in the oldest house in town. His quest takes him into still-sealed Nazi tunnels and forgotten subterranean weapons factories, searching for blueprints, prototypes, or any trace of the experimental aircraft that vanished without a trace when the war ended.
Historians confirm that Hitler, enraged by America's devastating bombing campaigns using B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-29 Superfortresses with ranges exceeding 5,000 miles, demanded his engineers develop a bomber capable of crossing the Atlantic. Germany's top aviation minds raced to design prototypes, but most never left the drawing board, and those that did were destroyed in Allied air raids or crashes. What makes this investigation compelling is the possibility that underground facilities in occupied Poland—where the Nazis murdered six million people and built secret weapons programs—may still contain physical evidence of how close the Third Reich came to striking American cities, potentially altering the war's outcome.
Czocha Castle
Poland · historical
Gates meets Nazi technology historian Dr. Charlie Hall at Czocha Castle to examine a recently discovered Me 163 Komet rocket engine part found in the castle's attic, and reviews documents including a Nazi bombing map of New York City and Albert Speer's diary entries about Hitler's desire to bomb America.
Leśna
Poland · historical
Gates drives to the Polish town of Leśna to meet Dr. Charlie Hall and begin his investigation into Nazi wonder weapons, with Czocha Castle — described as the oldest house in town — serving as the meeting point.
Lower Silesia Underground Complex (Project Riese)
Poland · historical
Josh Gates explored underground tunnels and bunkers of the notorious Nazi Project Riese while searching for a buried train filled with stolen gold.
Międzyrzecz Fortification Region (MRU Tunnels)
Poland · historical
Gates rappels into and explores a previously sealed section of the massive Nazi MRU underground tunnel network with researcher Pawel Pietkiewicz, discovering an intact barracks chamber containing World War II documents, a gas mask, Nazi military manuals, and an order stamped 'In the name of the Führer' dated February 1945. The team performs a 3D laser scan of the newly discovered chambers.
Nazi underground facilities, Poland
Poland · historical
Josh unearths still-sealed Nazi tunnels and long-lost top-secret weapons factories that may have been used to manufacture Hitler's Amerikabomber aircraft.
Wrocław (Breslau)
Poland · historical
Gates uses Wrocław as his base of operations and opening location, contextualizing the city's near-total destruction in World War II and its role in Nazi-occupied Poland. He walks the streets to introduce the broader story of Hitler's ambition to bring similar destruction to American cities.