[1] After having built two Hols der Teufel wings from 'Dynal', a plastic composite material made from paper reinforced phenolic resin and incorporated other plastic materials in the Horten H.II, the Horten brothers took the next step and designed an aircraft to be built completely of Dynal, (with the exception of undercarriage, engine mounts, high strength fittings and cockpit framing).

The first H.V (later re-dubbed H.Va after two further aircraft were built) was powered by two 59 kW (79 hp) Hirth HM 60R engines driving specially carved pusher propellers directly, without gearboxes or extension shafts.

[1] The undercarriage of the H.V was fixed, with a nosewheel just aft of the cockpit and two mainwheels under the engines, the fairings of which formed the only fin area to impart directional stability.

Walter Horten, the pilot, shut one engine down and closed the throttle on the other with difficulty, but was unable to prevent the aircraft sinking to the ground in a flat attitude at a high rate of descent.

Eventually the H.Vc succumbed to a crash in 1943 after the pilot attempted a take-off with full landing flap selected, hit a hangar and dropped to the ground.