Near the end of World War II, in December 1944, the German aircraft manufacturers Arado, BMW, Gotha, Heinkel, Henschel, and Zeppelin submitted design proposals for small rocket- or jet-powered aircraft intended for pursuit or ground-attack duties.
The E.381 began in a proposal from Arado Flugzeugwerke to the Air Ministry for a parasite fighter, carried underneath another aircraft, to destroy Allied bombers [REF].