The public also had a perceived notion the Germans has a secret long range bomber, (which never existed) and defenses were formed according.
The Germans did have a programme to build a bomber capable of flying a round trip from Germany to bomb the USA. The Me 264 was built as a contender for the "Amerika Bomber" programme, but only three were built.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika_Bomber
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_264