What If a Single F-22 Time Travelled to Germany During WWII

It’s 1940 and a Heinkel He 111 bomber ascends,  flanked on either side by two of Germany’s main fighter aircraft – the single-engine  Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the twin-engine Messerschmitt Bf 110. It’s a formation that  Germany used to great effect in mainland Europe and it intends to do the same in taking Britain. The three planes fly confidently, knowing that the Royal Air Force, the RAF, has little in the  way of planes that can properly counter them.

Then, the unthinkable happens. Halfway over the English Channel, the Heinkel He 111 is suddenly blown out of the sky. They’ve  never seen anything like this happen before.

The pilots of the two German fighters frantically  scan the horizon for whoever or whatever just destroyed the Heinkel. But they’ll never find it. That’s because the bomber was just taken out by an  AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM.

It has a 62-mile range and is  capable of moving at Mach 4, meaning the Heinkel was destroyed long before they’d ever be  able to set eyes on whatever fired the missile. Before they have time to react, another  missile streaks through the sky, then another, and both of the German fighter planes are  turned into burning husks falling to the earth. Each pilot will never know that the missile  that hit them was just one of six carried by a single F-22A Raptor, a 21st century  marvel of technology and destructive power.

But what would really happen if an F-22A Raptor  suddenly went back in time and found itself on the frontlines of the second world war? Would it have  been able to bring defeat to the German army years earlier than the allies could using the technology  of their day? Or would Hitler have found a way to counter this advanced tactical fighter.

Entering service in December 2005, the F-22 is a technological marvel that is  far beyond anything that the Luftwaffe or any other air force of the time could send  into the skies. It’s a dual-engine fighter jet capable of reaching subsonic speeds designed  to not only handle air-to-air roles but to be an effective ground attack asset as well. Granted,  the jet didn’t have a long production run.

By April 2009, former Defense Secretary Robert  Gates announced that the F-22 production run would end as the United States Air Force  switched focus to the F-35. In the end, there were only 183 F-22 aircraft in service  in the Air Force as of 2024. Or, rather, just 182 now that one of them has time-traveled  to Europe to face off against the Nazis in 1940.

And Hitler is livid. Three of his best planes have just been shot out of the skies and he’s trying to  figure out how. Eyewitnesses barely got a glimpse at the plane that did it.

They describe a plane  that looks like no other in the world. One that moves so fast that it’s barely visible – a product  of the F-22 being able to reach Mach 2 speeds or twice the speed of sound – and that can climb  higher than any of the fighters in the Luftwaffe. Germany’s leadership can hardly believe what  it’s hearing.

The sort of technology being described simply isn’t possible and Hitler,  in his denial, believes the accounts must be faked. Something blew his planes out of the sky.  But that something couldn’t possibly be what is being described.

After all, the Luftwaffe is the  world’s most advanced aerial threat and he knows that the RAF hasn’t produced a plane that can  match his fighters in the air. So, he makes the first of what will be many mistakes when facing  off against a threat that he can’t comprehend. He orders more of his fighters to fly out  over the English Channel to scan the skies for this so-called wonder plane.

Here, we start to see just how strong an advantage the F-22 has over Germany’s  fighter planes of the time. The first indicator is the use of the word “plane,” – since Hitler’s  planes are facing off against a true fighter “jet. ” The jet engine wouldn’t become standard for  combat fighters until the late 1940s, long after Germany lost the war, so anything that Hitler  sent into the skies would be at an immediate disadvantage.

That includes the two fighters  that Germany sent out with its bomber – the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Messerschmitt Bf 110. And the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was an impressive aircraft for its time. Capable of reaching a  maximum speed of 387 miles per hour, it had a service ceiling of roughly 39,000 feet  and a range of 425 miles.

The plane came equipped with a pair of 13mm machine guns, two  20mm cannons installed in its underwing pods, and another hub-firing 20mm cannon. All suitable  weapons for the dogfights in which it would engage with British and Allied fighters. But none suitable for taking on an F-22.

Every engagement ends in disaster for the Nazis.  The majority of their Bf 109 pilots don’t even see the F-22 before it takes them out of the  skies. It has a clear advantage in the form of its AIM-120 missiles, which move far faster than  the planes and can be fired from a range that makes it impossible for a Bf 109 to see either the  missiles– or the plane that fired them – before it’s too late.

The few that are able to happen  upon the F-22 roaming the skies soon discover that their guns are no match for the firepower  the fighter jet brings to the table. The F-22 counters the 13mm and 20mm cannons of the Bf 109  easily with an M61A2 20mm gun of its own, which is loaded with 480 rounds and more than capable  of shredding through a Bf 109 at close range. Worse yet for the German pilots,  they’re facing off against a plane that moves like nothing they’ve ever seen.

Theoretically, their guns could shoot the F-22 out of the sky, should they manage to  land a shot. But the F-22 moves almost five times faster than the Bf 109 and is capable  of aerial maneuvers that make it impossible for Germany’s fighters to line up a shot. Fighter  after fighter is shot out of the sky, resulting in Germany losing more than a dozen planes  before it has to give up its initial attempts to take out the F-22.

The only thing stopping  the American fighter jet is the need to refuel and reload – the Bf 109s have nothing to offer  against it as long as the F-22 pilot is careful. The Messerschmitt Bf 110 fares no better. Hitler arranges for a dozen of these planes to engage the F-22 several days after losing so  many BF 109s.

His logic is sound – the twin-engine Bf 110 is also twin-piloted, meaning it has  a man flying the plane while another uses its guns to take out the enemy. Perhaps that’s  what’s needed Hitler argues – a gunner who can focus all of their attention on this  new demon of the skies. That gunner has access to four 7.

92mm MG 17 machine guns, as  well as a pair of 20mm MG FF/M cannons built into Bf 110s nose. The loadout is completed by  a rear-firing 7. 62mm machine gun built into the cockpit – an essential weapon that gives the Bf  110 coverage for threats that come up from behind.

Still, the German fighter faces many of the  same issues its single-engine cousin faced: None of its systems are equipped to deal with  anything that moves as fast as an F-22. As for the Bf 110s guns, they’re not even capable of  shooting the F-22’s missiles out of the sky, never mind tracking a plane that can  move at up to 1,500 miles per hour. The Bf 110s experience the same fate as the Bf  109.

In fact, the F-22 makes even shorter work of them, aided by the Bf 110 being slower  than the Bf 109 – it can only travel at 349 miles per hour – and much larger thanks to  its 53-foot wingspan. Worse yet for the Bf 110, it’s not able to climb anywhere near as high  as the time-traveling fighter jet. Its maximum service ceiling is just 33,000 feet compared to  the F-22’s which can fly higher than 50,000-feet.

The fighter jet can simply fly above the Bf-110s,  swooping down to take out isolated planes with its own 20mm cannons at will while simply blowing  others out of the skies with its AIM-120s. It’s in this battle that the  F-22 introduces a near weapon to the fray – its AIM-9 sidewinder missiles. Though it only comes equipped with two of these missiles in its standard loadout, the F-22 can  make great use of them when taking out BF 110s.

Each sidewinder comes equipped with an infrared  homing guidance system, a rocket-based motor, and an optical target detector that allows it  to easily track a Bf 110. The infrared unit is especially important – it allows the sidewinder  to home in on an enemy plane’s hot engine exhaust, leaving the Bf 110 with no escape. Even worse  for the Bf 110 pilots – as well as any other Nazi pilots unfortunate enough to come across the F-22  in the skies – the AIM-9 is a “fire-and-forget” missile.

The F-22 can simply release the missile  and rely on its internal guidance systems to guide it to its target, leaving the F-22 free  to fly out of range or move on to engage another enemy. Once released, the missile can  travel at speeds of over Mach 2. 5 – again, far too fast for the Bf 110’s gunners to  keep up – and has a range of up to 22 miles.

Fire and forget indeed. Hitler is forced to completely change how he uses the Luftwaffe, however his air  force isn’t devastated to the point where it can serve no use to him anymore. By the end of World  War II, Germany will have built 119,871 aircraft, with the Luftwaffe ending up with 3.

4  million personnel in total. As powerful as this time-traveling fighter jet may be, it  can’t take out every single one of those planes. But what it can do is add a huge element of risk  to any future bombing runs.

Hitler knows that the F-22 is packed with enough weapons to take  out around a dozen of his bombers during a single engagement. The missiles handle eight of  them – six AIM-120s followed by a pair of AIM-9 sidewinders give the F-22 a potent air-to-air  loadout. The jet’s pilot is completely unafraid of engaging more directly, too, meaning the  F-22 can take out a few more German bombers with its M61A2 gun before it needs to head back  to base to reload.

To bomb a city successfully, the Luftwaffe now needs to send dozens of  bombers for one mission – each flanked by a pair of fighter planes that not only attempt to  engage the F-22 but also have to deal with Allied fighters. Therein lies another role the F-22 can  play – decoy for Allied fighters when its weapons run dry. The plane is so fast and maneuverable  that it can bait German fighters out into the open with little risk, isolating them and leaving them  as prey for Allied fighters to pick up the scraps.

The Luftwaffe’s bombing campaigns continue,  but their potency is mitigated, with each run leading to the Nazis losing far more pilots than  they had before the F-22 came into the picture. Still, Hitler reasons, the F-22 is a fighter. Those planes aren’t designed to take out ground targets, meaning he can still rely on his  army to march in and take most of Europe.

Yes, he’ll lose more soldiers because the F-22 makes  it tough to provide true air support or engage in bombing runs. But he still has options. What Hitler doesn’t realize is that the F-22 isn’t just capable of thwarting  Luftwaffe bombing missions… it’s also more than capable of engaging in them itself.

As the Allies fight back and start using their planes to bomb cities under German control,  the F-22 plays a pivotal role. In some cases, it’s used to accompany bombers along with the  Spitfires, Mustangs, Hurricanes, and Thunderbolts that the Allies bring to the table. The F-22 isn’t  perfect in this role simply because it can’t be everywhere at once.

But it’s usually assigned  to guard one or two bombers, easily taking out any German fighters that attempt to engage  before escorting the Allied planes back to base. Far more worrying for Hitler, and unbeknownst to  him until it starts happening, is that the F-22 is a multi-role fighter. That means its weapons  loadout can be switched to allow the F-22 to focus on air-to-ground assaults, essentially  making it an impactful bomber in its own right.

The Allies take advantage of this by arranging  bombing runs in which the F-22 is the principal bomber, and it’s more than equipped for the  job. In its air-to-ground configuration, the jet can come loaded with either a pair of  AIM-120s and two GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, bombs or up to eight GBU-39B  Small Diameter Bomb Weapon Systems, or SDBs. In the former configuration, the F-22 is a terror  in the skies and on the ground.

The two AIM-120s, along with the jet’s cannon, allow it to  engage with Luftwaffe fighters that might try to get in its way. The Allies supplement this  air-to-air loadout by always ensuring the F-22 is accompanied by Spitfires and similar planes,  giving it room to maneuver when needed. Often, this is an unneeded step – the F-22 is so fast  and has such a better range than the Luftwaffe fighters that it can simply zoom past them. 

That’s if it even engages them in the first place. After all, the F-22 has an AN/APG-77 radar  – technology that doesn’t exist for the Luftwaffe – that allows it to tell when a German fighter  might be coming into range long before the fighter establishes a visual on the far faster F-22. As for the JDAMs, each can be loaded with a warhead that ranges from 500 to 2,000 pounds. 

The latter are almost twice as powerful as the 1,102-pound bombs the Luftwaffe would use on  occasion, and certainly far more powerful than the 110 and 330-pound bombs Germany’s air  force typically used. The JDAM itself isn’t actually a bomb. Rather, it’s a tail-based  guidance kit that the F-22’s pilot can use to convert free-fall bombs – such as those  typically used during World War II – into “smart” munitions that can be tuned to strike a  specific target in all weather conditions.

Its accuracy will be severely impacted by the lack  of a GPS signal, but its inertial guidance should be enough to get it close to its target. The F-22’s pilot’s job is simple – enter coordinates into the JDAM’s navigation  system before take-off, reach the target, and release. The JDAM does the rest of the  work from there.

Worse yet for the Nazis, the JDAM-guided bombs can be released from  extremely low to very high altitudes, again limiting the ability of its pilots to engage the  F-22 before it releases its bomb. Much as we saw with the battles against Luftwaffe fighters, the  F-22 can simply ascend above the maximum ceiling of any German planes sent out to stop it before  dropping its bombs – the JDAM’s 45,000-foot-plus ceiling is more than high enough for the task. As for the F-22’s SDBs, those are a little closer to the types of bombs with  which the Nazis are familiar.

Like the JDAMs, they use GPS to navigate to their  target. However, they’re usually smaller than the bombs onto which the JDAMs are installed – each  SDB weighs 250 pounds, putting it somewhat in line with the strength of the bombs the Luftwaffe uses  in its own bombing runs. However, that smaller size presents a new problem for the German ground  forces.

With the JDAM bombs, the F-22 is limited to hitting two targets before it has to fly  back to base and reload. But with eight SDBs, which are precision bombs rather than free-fall  bombs, the F-22 can strike up to eight individual targets with ease before it has to fly back. Worse  yet, an SDB can travel up to 46 miles – or 40 nautical miles – to reach its target, meaning the  F-22 can again launch a bomb without ever having to engage a Luftwaffe fighter to do so.

These bombing runs are devastating to Germany’s operations in Europe. Every command center it sets up becomes a target. Every operation involving large groups  of soldiers is peppered with bombs by a plane that has enough range to hit one location, travel  to another for a second strike, and, when loaded with SDBs continue the pattern to devastate the  Nazis on-ground operations.

Tanks have no reply to these bombing runs, as the F-22 is able to blow  them to smithereens with a direct hit. Even more worrying for the Nazis is that the time-traveling  fighter’s precision-guided bombs and missiles can strike any surface warships it attempts to use  to win the naval aspect of World War II. The two Scharnhorst-class ships in the Kriegsmarine  – Germany’s navy – are taken out with no issues not long after they’ve participated in the 1940  invasion of Norway.

Germany doesn’t even bother to build the two Bismarck-class ships that came after  the Scharnhorst-class ships in the normal timeline – it knows that no ship it could build would  be able to stand up against the F-22’s weapons. Instead, Hitler switches focus to developing  weapons he hopes could counteract the F-22. The first of these is the V-1, also known as  the “buzz bomb” or the “doodlebug” thanks to its trademark buzzing sound.

This first-generation  guided weapon could be used not to take out the F-22 itself, but rather the air fields  and infrastructure that it would rely on to continue operating. Introduced into the war in  June of 1944, the V-1 is credited as being the world’s first operational cruise missile. Germany  made good use of it in the original timeline, launching around 20,000 V-1s at Allied  targets between June 1944 and March 1945.

Better yet for the Nazis, that cruise missile can  be loaded into many of its planes, including the Heinkel He 111s that have so often felt the  wrath of the F-22. It’s a powerful missile, capable of traveling up to 150 miles while  loaded with a one-ton warhead. The problem is that the weapon is extremely inaccurate. 

Though fairly fast and with decent range, it doesn’t benefit from the targeting systems  built into the F-22’s bomb and missile systems. The only other possible defense  Germany has is the Flak 36. An anti-air system – though versatile enough  to fire ammunition that allowed it to take out tanks – the Flak 36 entered service in 1936 and  quickly became one of Germany’s most respected weapons systems.

Featuring a self-loading  mechanism and built onto a cruciform pedestal, the gun uses a barrel containing a trio of  liners, which are switched out when they wear away and mitigate the need to change  the entire barrel at regular intervals. And the Nazis have 11,000 of these  guns in service by August 1944. With the F-22 roaming the skies, almost  all are installed to guard major German cities and military installations.

But like  many of Germany’s weapons, the Flak 36, and its slightly modernized cousin, the Flak  37, can do little to combat the might of the F-22. Though it can fire 20. 3-pound projectiles  at a rate of about 20 per minute, creating a hail of bullets through which a low-flying bomber  would have to navigate, it simply doesn’t have the range to compete with the F-22.

At the very  maximum, their theoretical range is 26,246 feet, though it’s far more effective when a plane comes  in close. The F-22 simply flies above this range when it’s out on bombing runs, with its JDAMs and  SDBs still devastating German targets, even if the Flak 36 is very occasionally able to shoot one  of these bombs out of the sky as it approaches. Far more often, the F-22 simply chooses the  Flak 36 and Flak 37 as targets.

They’re taken out by its missiles and bombs, clearing the  way for the Allies lower-flying bombers to drop their munitions onto a target. For every weapon the Nazis create, the F-22 serves as a perfect counter. All of which brings us to two questions: Could the Allies win World War II with  the F-22 alone, and what, if anything, could Germany do to counterattack the  threat of the American fighter jet?

Starting with whether only one F-22 would be  enough to win, unfortunately for the allies, just one of these jets alone wouldn’t be enough. The  F-22 would be a powerful weapon the Allies could wield in a myriad of ways, as you’ve discovered,  but it wouldn’t be the perfect weapon. For starters, it has a limited loadout.

The air-to-air  loadout is limited to eight missiles and around 450 rounds for the 20mm cannon. As soon as those  weapons ran out, the F-22 would have to return to base to reload before it could re-enter the fight.  Similarly, the air-to-surface loadout either sees the F-22 pack a pair of extremely powerful bombs  or up to eight SDBs, again meaning it would be limited by its need to reload.

And even when used  as part of diversionary tactics, the F-22 can’t stay in the air forever. It has a far better range  than any plane in the Luftwaffe – as well as a far higher ceiling – but it doesn’t have infinite  fuel deposits. Plus, the Allies have no way to refuel aerially, meaning the F-22 also has to  return to base to be refueled as well as reloaded.

None of this is to say the  F-22 would be ineffective. It would curb the impact of the Luftwaffe by  virtue of the threat it represents. Hitler would be forced to fill the skies with far more planes  during bombing runs than he otherwise would, and he would know that the F-22 would easily take out  a dozen of his bombers all while the planes were being peppered by Allied fighters.

Pure volume  would be Germany’s only recourse, with the F-22 taking out hundreds or even potentially thousands  of Nazi pilots over the course of the war. When the jet’s threat isn’t being presented  to the Luftwaffe, it could also disrupt ground operations. Troops would have no recourse when  faced with an F-22 bombing run, with their Flak 36 anti-air guns simply not having the range  or accuracy to compete with a jet that can fly at subsonic speeds.

The Nazis would lose any  ability to have a surface-level threat on water, forcing them to rely even more on  their U-boats, and German artillery, tanks, and similar ground-based munitions  would fall victim to the F-22. Of course, the limitations that exist in the aerial  theater would exist when the F-22 takes part in ground-based operations – refueling  and reloading. Those two requirements would represent the only respite the Nazis get  from the ever-present threat of the F-22.

Still, the modern fighter  couldn’t win the war alone. Much of its work would see it accompany planes  of the time to provide much-needed support for their bombing runs. It could also be deployed  to attack key Nazi positions during ground operations, with operations such as D-Day  likely made much easier due to the F-22 being able to destroy Nazi bunkers and weapons  installations as the beach invasion is ongoing.

But what do you think? How much of an impact could  a single F-22 have against the Nazis during World War II and do you think the plane alone would  be enough to win the war for the Allies? Share your thoughts in the comments and then go  watch What If a Single F-22 Time Traveled to Germany During WWI or What If a Squad of Navy  SEALS Time Traveled to The Revolutionary War.