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Review Lindberg 70519 1/72 Scale Wwii Me-163 Komet

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Rocket interceptor developed past Messerschmitt late in Earth War II

Me 163 Komet
Messerschmitt Me 163B USAF.jpg
Me 163B on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force[N 1]
Role Interceptor
National origin Deutschland
Manufacturer Messerschmitt
Designer Alexander Lippisch
Offset flying 1 September 1941
Introduction 1944
Master user Luftwaffe
Number built ~370[1]
Developed into Messerschmitt Me 263

The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a German language interceptor aircraft designed for point-defence. It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history and the first piloted aircraft of any type to exceed 1,000 kilometres per hour (620 mph) in level flight. Designed past Alexander Lippisch, its functioning and aspects of its blueprint were unprecedented. In early on July 1944, German language test pilot Heini Dittmar reached i,130 km/h (700 mph), an unofficial flight airspeed tape unmatched by turbojet-powered aircraft until 1953.

More than than 300 Komets were built, but the shipping proved lackluster in its dedicated function equally an interceptor, having destroyed between nine and 18 Allied aircraft against 10 losses.[ii] [three] Aside from combat losses, many pilots were killed during testing and training,[four] at to the lowest degree in part because of the highly volatile and corrosive nature of the rocket propellant used in later models.[5] This includes airplane pilot Josef Pöhs, a fighter ace and Oberleutnant in the Luftwaffe, who was killed in 1943 by exposure to T-Stoff and injuries sustained during a failed takeoff that ruptured a fuel line.[six]

Evolution [edit]

Development of the Me 163

Position of the Walter HWK 109-509A-i rocket motor

Work on the pattern started around 1937 [7] nether the aegis of the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS)—the German Institute for the written report of sailplane flight. Their first pattern was a conversion of the earlier Lippisch Delta IV known every bit the DFS 39 and used purely as a glider testbed of the airframe. A larger follow-on version with a small propeller engine started as the DFS 194. This version used wingtip-mounted rudders that Lippisch felt would cause problems at high speed. Lippisch inverse the system of vertical stabilization for the DFS 194's airframe from the earlier DFS 39's wingtip rudders, to a conventional vertical stabilizer at the rear of the shipping. The design included a number of features from its origins every bit a glider, notably a skid used for landings, which could be retracted into the aircraft's keel in flight. For takeoff, a pair of wheels, each mounted onto the ends of a especially designed cross-axle, were needed due to the weight of the fuel, simply the wheels, forming a takeoff dolly under the landing skid, were released shortly afterwards takeoff.[8]

The designers planned to employ the forthcoming Walter R-1-203 cold engine of 400 kg (880 lb) thrust, which similar the self-contained Walter HWK 109-500 Starthilfe RATO booster rocket unit, used a monopropellant consisting of stabilized HTP known past the name T-Stoff. Heinkel had too been working with Hellmuth Walter on his rocket engines, mounting them in the He 112R'south tail for testing – this was washed in competition with Wernher von Braun's bi-propellant, booze/LOX-fed rocket motors, as well with the He 112 every bit a examination airframe – and with the Walter catalyzed HTP propulsion format for the beginning purpose-designed, liquid-fueled rocket aircraft, the He 176. Heinkel had also been selected to produce the fuselage for the DFS 194 when it entered product,[ when? ] equally information technology was felt that the highly volatile monopropellant fuel's reactivity with organic thing would be too unsafe in a wooden fuselage structure. Piece of work connected under the code proper name Projekt X.[9]

The segmentation of work between DFS and Heinkel led to problems,[ when? ] notably that DFS seemed incapable of building even a epitome fuselage. Lippisch somewhen asked to leave DFS and bring together Messerschmitt instead. On 2 January 1939, he moved with his team and the partly completed DFS 194 to the Messerschmitt works at Augsburg. The delays acquired past this move allowed the engine evolution to catch up. In one case at Messerschmitt, the squad decided to abandon the propeller-powered version and move directly to rocket-ability. The airframe was completed in Augsburg and in early 1940 was shipped to receive its engine at Peenemünde-Westward, ane of the quartet of Erprobungsstelle-designated military aviation examination facilities of the Reich. Although the engine proved to be extremely unreliable, the shipping had excellent operation, reaching a speed of 550 km/h (340 mph) in one exam.[ten]

In the Me 163B and -C subtypes, a ram-air turbine on the extreme nose of the fuselage, and the backup lead–acid bombardment inside the fuselage that it charged, provided the electrical power for the radio, the Revi16B, -C, or -D reflector gunsight, the direction finder, the compass, the firing circuits of the cannon, and some of the lighting in the cockpit instrumentation.[ commendation needed ]

There was an onboard pb–acrid battery, simply its chapters was limited, as was its endurance, no more than than ten minutes, hence the fitted generator.[ citation needed ]

The airspeed indicator averaged readings from 2 sources: the pitot tube on the leading edge of the port wing, and a pocket-size pitot inlet in the nose, merely above the elevation edge of the underskid channel.[ citation needed ] At that place was a further tapping-off of pressure-ducted air from the pitot tube which also provided the charge per unit of climb indicator with its source.[ citation needed ]

The resistance group around the Austrian priest Heinrich Maier (later executed) had contacts with the Heinkelwerke in Jenbach in Tyrol, where important components for the Messerschmitt Me 163 were also produced. The group supplied location sketches of the production facilities to the Allies, assuasive Centrolineal bombers to bear out targeted air strikes.[eleven] [12] [13]

Me 163A [edit]

The Me 163A V4 (showtime prototype) in 1941

In early on 1941 production of a image series, known as the Me 163, began. Secrecy was such that the RLM's "GL/C" airframe number, viii-163, was really that of the earlier Messerschmitt Bf 163. Iii Bf 163-prototypes (Five-one-V3) were built. Information technology was thought that intelligence services would conclude whatsoever reference to the number "163" would be for that earlier design. In May 1941, the first epitome Me 163A, V4, was shipped to Peenemünde to receive the HWK RII-203 engine. Past 2 Oct 1941, Me 163A V4, bearing the radio telephone call sign letters, or Stammkennzeichen, "KE+SW", set a new world speed tape of ane,004.5 km/h (624.2 mph), piloted past Heini Dittmar, with no credible impairment to the aircraft during the attempt.[fourteen] [15] Some postwar aviation history publications stated that the Me 163A V3 was thought to have set the record.[16]

The 1,004 km/h (542 kn; 624 mph) record figure was merely officially surpassed after the war, past the American Douglas D-558-1 on xx August 1947. Ten Me 163As (V4-V13) were congenital for pilot training and further tests.

Use of the "Scheuch-Schlepper" before an Me 163B's flight (above) and subsequently (below)

During testing of the prototype (A-series) shipping, the jettisonable undercarriage presented a serious problem. The original dollies possessed well-sprung independent suspension for each bicycle,[17] and equally the shipping took off, the large springs rebounded and threw the dolly upwards, hitting the aircraft. The production (B-series) aircraft used much simpler, crossbeam-axled dollies, and relied on the landing skid'due south oleo-pneumatic strut[eighteen] to absorb ground-running impacts during the takeoff run, as well as to blot the shock of landing. If the hydraulic cylinder was malfunctioning, or the skid mistakenly left during a landing procedure in the "locked and lowered" position (as it had to exist for takeoff), the impact of a hard touchdown on the skid could crusade back injuries to the pilot.[nineteen]

Once on the ground, the aircraft had to be retrieved by a Scheuch-Schlepper, a converted small agricultural vehicle,[twenty] originally based on the concept of the ii-bicycle tractor, carrying a detachable tertiary swiveling wheel at the farthermost rear of its design for stability in normal apply—this swiveling tertiary wheel was replaced with a pivoting, special retrieval trailer that rolled on a pair of short, triple-wheeled continuous rail setups (i per side) for armed services service wherever the Komet was based. This retrieval trailer usually possessed twin trailing lifting arms, that lifted the stationary aircraft off the basis from under each wing whenever information technology was non already on its twin-wheel dolly main gear, equally when the aircraft had landed on its ventral sideslip and tailwheel after a mission.[21] Another grade of trailer, known besides to have been trialled with the later B-series examples, was tried during the Komet 's test phase, which used a pair of sausage-shaped air bags in place of the lifting artillery and could also exist towed past the Scheuch-Schlepper tractor, inflating the air numberless to lift the aircraft.[22] [23] The three-wheeled Scheuch-Schlepper tractor used for the task was originally meant for farm use, merely such a vehicle with a specialized trailer—which could likewise lift the Me 163'southward airframe completely clear of the ground to result the recovery as a normal part of the Me 163's intended use—was required every bit the Komet was unpowered later exhausting its rocket propellants, and lacked main wheels later on landing, from the jettisoning of its "dolly" main gear at takeoff.[24] The slightly larger Sd Kfz 2 Kettenkrad half-track motorcycle, known to be used with the Me 262 jet fighter for ground handling needs, and documented as also being used with the Arado Ar 234B jet recon-bomber,[25] was non known to take ever been used for ground handling operations with the Komet at whatsoever time.

During flight testing, the superior gliding capability of the Komet proved detrimental to rubber landing. As the now un-powered shipping completed its final descent, it could rising back into the air with the slightest updraft. Since the arroyo was unpowered, there was no opportunity to brand another landing pass. For production models, a set of landing flaps allowed somewhat more than controlled landings. This upshot remained a problem throughout the program. Nevertheless, the overall operation was tremendous, and plans were fabricated to put Me 163 squadrons all over Germany in 40-kilometre rings (25 mi) around whatsoever potential target. Evolution of an operational version was given the highest priority.[ citation needed ]

Me 163B [edit]

In December 1941, work on an upgraded design began. A simplified construction format for the airframe was deemed necessary, as the Me 163A version was not truly optimized for large-calibration production. The result was the Me 163B subtype that had the desired, more mass-producible fuselage, fly panel, retractable landing slip and tailwheel designs with the previously mentioned unsprung dolly takeoff gear, and a generally one-piece conical nose for the forward fuselage which could contain a turbine for supplementary electrical power while in flight, as well as a jumpsuit, perimeter frame-merely hinged awning[ clarification needed ] for ease of production.[26] [ failed verification ]

Landing skid of a Messerschmitt Me 163B shown extended for takeoff, with the take-off dolly attached.

Meanwhile, Walter had started work on the newer HWK 109-509 bipropellant hot engine, which added a true fuel of hydrazine hydrate and methanol, designated C-Stoff, that burned with the oxygen-rich frazzle from the T-Stoff, used equally the oxidizer, for added thrust (see: List of Stoffs). The new powerplant and numerous item pattern changes meant to simplify production over the general A-series airframe design resulted in the significantly modified Me 163B of late 1941. Due to the Reichsluftfahrtministerium requirement that it should exist possible to throttle the engine, the original ability found grew complicated and lost reliability.[ citation needed ]

The fuel arrangement was particularly troublesome, as leaks incurred during hard landings easily acquired fires and explosions. Metal fuel lines and fittings, which failed in unpredictable means, were used as this was the best engineering available. Both fuel and oxidizer were toxic and required extreme care when loading in the aircraft, still there were occasions when Komets exploded on the tarmac from the propellants' hypergolic nature. Both propellants were articulate fluids, and different tanker trucks were used for delivering each propellant to a particular Komet aircraft, commonly the C-Stoff hydrazine/methanol-base fuel get-go. For safety purposes, the truck left the firsthand expanse of the shipping following its delivery and capping off of the Komet 'southward fuel tanks from a rear located dorsal fuselage filling point just ahead of the Komet 's vertical stabilizer. Then, the other tanker truck carrying the very reactive T-Stoff hydrogen peroxide oxidizer would deliver its load through a different filling point on the Komet 's dorsal fuselage surface, located not far behind the rear edge of the canopy.[27]

The corrosive nature of the liquids, especially for the T-Stoff oxidizer, required special protective gear for the pilots. To help forbid explosions, the engine and the propellant storage and commitment systems were frequently and thoroughly hosed down and flushed with water run through the propellant tanks and the rocket engine'southward propellant systems before and after flights, to make clean out any remnants.[28] The relative "closeness" to the pilot of some 120 litres (31.7 United states gal) of the chemically active T-Stoff oxidizer, split up betwixt two auxiliary oxidizer tanks of equal volume to either side within the lower flanks of the cockpit surface area—too the master oxidizer tank of some i,040-litre (275 Usa gal) volume just behind the cockpit's rear wall, could present a serious or even fatal hazard to a pilot in a fuel-caused mishap.[29]

Two prototypes were followed by xxx Me 163 B-0 pre-production aircraft armed with two twenty mm MG 151/20 cannon and some 400 Me 163 B-1 production aircraft armed with ii 30 mm (1.18-inch) MK 108 cannons, only which were otherwise similar to the B-0. Early in the war, when German aircraft firms created versions of their aircraft for export purposes, the a was added to consign (ausland) variants (B-1a) or to strange-congenital variants (Ba-1) but for the Me 163, there were neither consign nor a foreign-congenital version. Later in the war, the "a" and successive letters were used for shipping using different engine types: as Me 262 A-1a with Jumo engines, Me 262 A-1b with BMW engines. As the Me 163 was planned with[30] an alternative BMW P3330A rocket engine, information technology is likely the "a" was used for this purpose on early on examples. Only one Me 163, the V10, was tested with the BMW engine, so this designation suffix was shortly dropped. The Me 163 B-1a did non have any wingtip "washout" built into it, and as a upshot, it had a much higher critical Mach number than the Me 163 B-one.[31]

The Me 163B had very docile landing characteristics, mostly due to its integrated leading border slots, located straight frontward of the elevon command surfaces, and but behind and at the same angle equally the fly's leading edge. It would neither stall nor spin. One could wing the Komet with the stick full dorsum, and have it in a turn and then use the rudder to take information technology out of the turn, and not fear it snapping into a spin. It would as well slip well. Because the Me 163B's airframe blueprint was derived from glider design concepts, it had excellent gliding qualities, and the tendency to continue flight above the ground due to ground result. On the other hand, making a also close plough from base onto terminal, the sink rate would increase, and ane could rapidly lose altitude and come in brusque. Another main departure from a propeller-driven aircraft is that at that place was no slipstream over the rudder. On takeoff, one had to attain the speed at which the aerodynamic controls get constructive—about 129 km/h (80 mph)—and that was always a disquisitional factor. Pilots accepted to flying propeller-driven shipping had to exist careful that the control stick was not somewhere in the corner when the control surfaces began working. These, like many other specific Me 163 problems, would be resolved by specific grooming.[ citation needed ]

The performance of the Me 163 far exceeded that of contemporary piston engine fighters. At a speed of over 320 km/h (200 mph) the aircraft would take off, in a and then-called " scharfer Outset " ("sharp start", with "Beginning" being the High german discussion for "have-off") from the ground, from its 2-wheeled dolly. The aircraft would be kept at level flight at depression distance until the all-time climbing speed of around 676 km/h (420 mph) was reached, at which bespeak it would jettison the dolly, retract its extendable skid using a knob-topped release lever just forward of the throttle[32] (equally both levers were located atop the cockpit'due south portside 120-litre T-Stoff oxidizer tank) that engaged the aforementioned pneumatic cylinder,[18] and then pull up into a lxx° bending of climb, to a bomber'due south altitude. Information technology could go higher if required, reaching 12,000 m (39,000 ft) in an unheard-of 3 minutes. Once there, it would level off and quickly accelerate to around 880 km/h (550 mph) or faster, which no Allied fighter could lucifer. The usable Mach number was similar to that of the Me 262, but because of the loftier thrust-to-elevate ratio, information technology was much easier for the pilot to lose track of the onset of severe compressibility and risk loss of control. A Mach warning organisation was installed as a effect. The shipping was remarkably agile and docile to fly at high speed. According to Rudolf Opitz, chief test pilot of the Me 163, it could "fly circles effectually whatever other fighter of its time".[ citation needed ]

By this bespeak, Messerschmitt was completely overloaded with product of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and attempts to bring the Me 210 into service. Production in a dispersed network was handed over to Klemm, merely quality control bug were such that the work was later given to Junkers, who were, at that time, underworked. Equally with many German designs of Globe State of war II's subsequently years, parts of the airframe (especially the wings) were made of forest by article of furniture manufacturers. The older Me 163A and first Me 163B prototypes were used for grooming. Information technology was planned to introduce the Me 163S, which removed the rocket engine and tank capacity and placed a 2d seat for the teacher in a higher place and behind the pilot, with his own awning. The Me 163S would be used for glider landing training, which as explained in a higher place, was essential to operate the Me 163. It appears the 163Ss were converted from the earlier Me 163B series prototypes.[ citation needed ]

In service, the Me 163 turned out to exist difficult to employ against enemy aircraft. Its tremendous speed and climb rate meant a target was reached and passed in a matter of seconds. Although the Me 163 was a stable gun platform, it required excellent marksmanship to bring down an enemy bomber. The Komet was equipped with two thirty mm (i.18 inch) MK 108 cannons that had a relatively low muzzle velocity of 540 meters per second (1,772 anxiety/sec), and were accurate only at curt range, making it well-nigh incommunicable to hit a slow moving bomber. Four or v hits were typically needed to accept downward a B-17.[33]

Innovative methods were employed to help pilots achieve kills. The about promising was a weapon called the Sondergerät 500 Jägerfaust. This included 10 single-shot, short-barreled 50 mm (two-inch) guns pointing upward, similar to Schräge Musik. Five were mounted in the wing roots on each side of the aircraft. A photocell in the upper surface of the Komet triggered the weapons by detecting the change in brightness when the aircraft flew under a bomber. As each trounce shot up, the disposable gun barrel that fired it was ejected downwards, thus making the weapon recoilless. Information technology appears that this weapon was used in combat just once, resulting in the destruction of a Lancaster bomber on 10 April 1945.[34] [35] [36] [37]

Later versions [edit]

Model of the unbuilt Me 163D, erroneously marked with the Me 163B V18's markings for this airframe blueprint

The biggest concern about the blueprint was the short flying time, which never met the projections fabricated by Walter. With only 7 and a half minutes of powered flying - just some 25% of the 30-minute combat time that the "calorie-free-class" Heinkel He 162A Spatz single-BMW 003 jet fighter possessed[38] when it entered combat in April 1945; the solely rocket-powered Me 163B fighter truly was a defended bespeak defence force interceptor. To improve this, the Walter firm began developing two more avant-garde versions of the 509A rocket engine, the 509B and C, each with ii split up combustion chambers of differing sizes, one in a higher place the other, for greater efficiency.[39] The B-version possessed a main combustion chamber—unremarkably termed in High german as a Hauptofen on these dual-chamber subtypes—with an exterior shape much like that on the single chamber 509A version, with the C-version having a frontward chamber shape of a more cylindrical nature, designed for a higher top thrust level of some two,000 kg (four,410 lb) of thrust, while simultaneously dropping the use of the cubic-shape frame for the forwards engine propellant period/turbopump mechanisms as used by the earlier -A and -B versions.[40] [41] The 509B and 509C rocket motors' main combustion chambers were supported past the thrust tube exactly as the 509A motor'due south unmarried chamber had been. They were tuned for high ability for takeoff and climb. The added, smaller volume lower chamber on the ii subsequently models, nicknamed the Marschofen with approximately 400 kg (880 lb) of thrust at its top operation level, was intended for more than efficient, lower ability cruise flight. These HWK 109–509B and C motors would ameliorate endurance by every bit much as fifty%. Two 163 Bs, models V6 and V18, were experimentally fitted with the lower-thrust B-version of the new twin-bedroom engine (mandating twin combustion chamber pressure gauges on the instrument panel[42] of any Komet equipped with them), a retractable tailwheel, and tested in jump 1944.[39] [43]

The primary Hauptofen combustion chamber of the 509B engine used for the B V6 and V18 occupied the aforementioned location as the A-serial' engine did, with the lower Marschofen cruise chamber housed within the retractable tailwheel's accordingly widened ventral tail fairing. On half-dozen July 1944, the Me 163B V18 (VA+SP), similar the B V6 basically a standard production Me 163B airframe outfitted with the new, twin-chamber "cruiser" rocket motor with the aforementioned airframe modifications beneath the original rocket motor orifice to accept the extra combustion bedroom, set a new unofficial world speed tape of 1,130 km/h (702 mph), piloted past Heini Dittmar, and landed with nearly all of the vertical rudder surface broken away from palpitate.[14] [44] [45] This record was non broken in terms of absolute speed until 6 Nov 1947 past Chuck Yeager in flight number 58 that was role of the Bell X-1 exam plan, with a ane,434 km/h (891 mph), or Mach 1.35 supersonic speed, recorded at an altitude of nearly 14,820 grand (48,620 ft).[N 2] However, it is unclear if Dittmar's flight achieved sufficient altitude for its speed to be considered supersonic, as the X-1 did.

The X-i never exceeded Dittmar's speed from a normal runway " scharfer Start " liftoff. Heini Dittmar had reached the 1,130 km/h (702 mph) performance, after a normal "hot commencement" ground takeoff, without an air driblet from a female parent transport. Neville Duke exceeded Heini Dittmar's record mark roughly 5+ one⁄ii years after Yeager's achievement (and some 263 km/h brusque of it) on 31 August 1953 with the Hawker Hunter F Mk3 at a speed of i,171 km/h (728 mph), after a normal ground start.[46] [North 3] Postwar experimental aircraft of the aerodynamic configuration that the Me 163 used, were found to take serious stability problems when entering transonic flight, like the similarly configured, and turbojet powered, Northrop X-4 Bantam and de Havilland DH 108,[47] which made the V18's record with the Walter 509B "cruiser" rocket motor more remarkable.

Waldemar Voigt of Messerschmitt's Oberammergau project and development offices started a redesign of the 163 to incorporate the new twin-chamber Walter rocket engine, as well as set other issues. The resulting Me 163C design featured a larger fly through the addition of an insert at the wing root, an extended fuselage with actress tank capacity through the improver of a plug insert behind the wing, a ventral fairing whose aft section possessed a retractable tailwheel design closely resembling that pioneered on the Me 163B V6, and a new pressurized cockpit topped with a bubble canopy for improved visibility, on a fuselage that had dispensed with the earlier B-version's dorsal fairing. The boosted tank chapters and cockpit pressurization allowed the maximum distance to increase to 15,850 m (52,000 ft), also equally improving powered time to about 12 minutes, almost doubling combat time (from about five minutes to nine). Three Me 163 C-1a prototypes were planned, but it appears just one was flown, but without its intended engine.[48]

By this time the project was moved to Junkers. There, a new design effort under the direction of Heinrich Hertel at Dessau attempted to amend the Komet. The Hertel team had to compete with the Lippisch team and their Me 163C. Hertel investigated the Me 163 and institute it was not well suited for mass production and not optimized as a fighter aircraft, with the most glaring deficiency existence the lack of retractable landing gear. To accommodate this, what would eventually become the Me 263 V1 image would be fitted with the desired tricycle gear, also all-around the twin-sleeping room Walter rocket from the offset—later information technology was assigned to the Ju 248 program.[49] [50]

The resulting Junkers Ju 248 used a three-section fuselage to ease structure. The V1 image was completed for testing in Baronial 1944, and was glider-tested backside a Junkers Ju 188. Some sources state that the Walter 109–509C engine was fitted in September, but it was probably never tested nether ability. At this bespeak the RLM reassigned the projection to Messerschmitt, where it became the Messerschmitt Me 263. This appears to have been a formality only, with Junkers continuing the work and planning production.[51] By the time the pattern was fix to go into production, the plant where it was to be built was overrun by Soviet forces. While it did not achieve operational condition, the work was briefly continued by the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) design bureau as the Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270.[52]

Operational history [edit]

A Me 163 being shot downwardly, every bit seen from USAAF P-47 gun camera

The initial test deployment of the Me 163A, to acquaint prospective pilots with the world'south offset rocket-powered fighter, occurred with Erprobungskommando xvi (Service Examination Unit 16, EK 16), led past Major Wolfgang Späte and start established in late 1942, receiving their eight A-model service test aircraft by July 1943. Their initial base of operations was every bit the Erprobungsstelle (examination facility) at the Peenemünde-W field. They departed permanently the 24-hour interval after an RAF bombing raid on the area on 17 August 1943, moving southwards, to the base of operations at Anklam, near the Baltic declension. Their stay was brief, as a few weeks after they were placed in northwest Deutschland, based at the armed services airfield at Bad Zwischenahn from August 1943 to Baronial 1944. EK 16 received their get-go B-serial armed Komets in Jan 1944, and was ready for action by May while at Bad Zwischenahn. Major Späte flew the first-ever Me 163B combat sortie on 13 May 1944 from the Bad Zwischenahn base, with the Me 163B armed paradigm (V41), bearing the Stammkennzeichen PK+QL.[53]

Every bit EK 16 commenced pocket-size-scale combat operations with the Me 163B in May 1944, the Me 163B's unsurpassed velocity was something Allied fighter pilots were at a loss to counter. The Komets attacked singly or in pairs, often fifty-fifty faster than the intercepting fighters could dive. A typical Me 163 tactic was to wing vertically up through the bombers at ix,000 m (30,000 ft), climb to ten,700–12,000 m (35,100–39,400 ft), then dive through the formation again, firing as they went. This approach afforded the pilot two brief chances to burn a few rounds from his cannons before gliding back to his airfield. The pilots reported information technology was possible to brand 4 passes on a bomber, but only if it was flying lonely.[54]

Glider pilots were the preferred trainees, using the Stummelhabicht, with a 6-metre (xx ft) wingspan, to mimic the ME 163 treatment characteristics. Training included gunnery practice with a auto pistol mounted in the glider olfactory organ.[55] As the cockpit was unpressurized, the operational ceiling was limited past what the pilot could endure for several minutes while breathing oxygen from a mask, without losing consciousness. Pilots underwent distance bedroom grooming to harden them against the rigors of operating in the sparse air of the stratosphere without a pressure suit. Special low fiber diets were prepared for pilots, as gas in the gastrointestinal tract would expand speedily during rising.

Following the initial combat trial missions of the Me 163B with EK 16, during the winter and spring of 1944 Major Späte formed the Luftwaffe's first dedicated Me 163 fighter wing, Jagdgeschwader 400 (JG 400), in Brandis, near Leipzig. JG 400'due south purpose was to provide boosted protection for the Leuna constructed gasoline works which were raided frequently during almost all of 1944. A further group was stationed at Stargard about Stettin to protect the large synthetic fuel plant at Pölitz (today Constabulary, Poland). Further defensive units of rocket fighters were planned for Berlin, the Ruhr, and the German Bight.[56]

Typical appearance of a Komet after landing, waiting for the airfield's Scheuch-Schlepper tractor and lifting trailer to tow it back for reattachment of its "dolly" maingear

The offset actions involving the Me 163B in regular Luftwaffe active service occurred on 28 July 1944, from I./JG 400's base at Brandis, when two USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress were attacked without confirmed kills. Combat operations continued from May 1944 to bound 1945. During this fourth dimension, there were nine confirmed kills with ten Me 163s lost. Feldwebel Siegfried Schubert was the about successful pilot, with three bombers to his credit.[57] Allied fighter pilots presently noted the short duration of the powered flying. They would wait and, when the engine exhausted its propellant, pounce on the unpowered Komet. Withal, the Komet was extremely manoeuvrable in gliding flying. Another Allied method was to attack the fields the Komets operated from and strafe them after the Me 163s landed. Due to the slip-based landing gear system, the Komet was immobile until the Scheuch-Schlepper tractor could back the trailer up to the nose of the aircraft, place its ii rear arms under the wing panels, and jack up the trailer's arms to hoist the aircraft off the ground or place information technology dorsum on its take-off dolly to tow it back to its maintenance area.[58]

At the end of 1944, 91 shipping had been delivered to JG 400 but lack of fuel had kept virtually of them grounded. It was clear that the original plan for a huge network of Me 163 bases would never be realized. Up to that bespeak, JG 400 had lost merely vi aircraft due to enemy action. Nine were lost to other causes, remarkably few for such a revolutionary and technically avant-garde aircraft. In the terminal days of Nazi Germany, the Me 163 was given up in favor of the more successful Me 262. At the kickoff of May 1945, Me 163 operations were stopped, the JG 400 disbanded, and many of its pilots sent to wing Me 262s.[54]

In any operational sense, the Komet was a failure. Although it shot downward 16 aircraft, mainly four-engined bombers, it did not warrant the try put into the project. Due to fuel shortages late in the war, few went into combat, and it took an experienced airplane pilot with excellent shooting skills to achieve "kills". The Komet also spawned afterwards weapons like the vertical-launch, similarly rocket-powered Bachem Ba 349 Natter, and the postwar, American turbojet-powered Convair XF-92 delta wing interceptor. Ultimately, the signal defense force role that the Me 163 played would be taken over by the surface-to-air missile (SAM), Messerschmitt'due south own case being the Enzian.[59]

Flying [edit]

Captain Eric Brown RN, Main Naval Exam Pilot and commanding officer of the Captured Enemy Shipping Flying, who tested the Me 163 at the Imperial Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough, said, "The Me 163 was an plane that you could not afford to just pace into the aircraft and say 'You know, I'm going to wing it to the limit.' You had very much to familiarise yourself with it because information technology was state-of-the-art and the technology used."[60] Acting unofficially, after a spate of accidents involving Centrolineal personnel flying captured German aircraft resulted in official disapproval of such flights, Brown was determined to fly a powered Komet. On around 17 May 1945, he flew an Me 163B at Husum with the help of a cooperative German ground coiffure, after initial towed flights in an Me 163A to familiarise himself with the handling.[ citation needed ]

The day before the flight, Brown and his ground crew had performed an engine run on the chosen Me 163B to ensure that everything was running correctly, the German language coiffure existence apprehensive should an blow befall Brownish, until being given a disclaimer signed by him to the upshot that they were acting nether his orders. On the rocket-powered " scharfer-start " takeoff the next day, later on dropping the takeoff dolly and retracting the slip, Brown later described the resultant climb equally "like being in charge of a runaway train", the aircraft reaching 32,000 ft (9.76 km) distance in 2 minutes, 45 seconds. During the flying, while practicing attacking passes at an imaginary bomber, he was surprised at how well the Komet accelerated in the swoop with the engine shut downward. When the flight was over Brown had no problems on the approach to the airfield, apart from the rather restricted view from the cockpit due to the apartment bending of glide, the shipping touching down at 200 km/h (120 mph). One time down safely, Brown and his much-relieved ground crew celebrated with a drink.[61]

Across Brownish's unauthorised flying, the British never tested the Me 163 nether ability themselves; due to the danger of its hypergolic propellants it was simply flown unpowered. Brown himself piloted RAE's Komet VF241 on a number of occasions, the rocket motor being replaced with exam instrumentation. When interviewed for a 1990s telly plan, Brown said he had flown five tailless shipping in his career (including the British de Havilland DH 108). Referring to the Komet, he said "this is the simply one that had good flying characteristics"; he chosen the other four "killers".[62]

Surviving aircraft [edit]

It has been claimed that at least 29 Komets were shipped out of Germany later on the war and that of those at least ten accept been known to survive the war to be put on display in museums around the globe.[63] Most of the 10 surviving Me 163s were office of JG 400, and were captured by the British at Husum, the squadron's base at the fourth dimension of Federal republic of germany's surrender in 1945. According to the RAF museum, 48 shipping were captured intact and 24 were shipped to the U.k. for evaluation, although just one, VF241, was examination flown (unpowered).[64]

Australia [edit]

  • Me 163B, Werknummer 191907 was part of JG 400, captured at Husum and was shipped to the RAE. It was allocated the RAF Air Ministry number of AM222 and was dispatched from Farnborough to No. 6 MU, RAF Brize Norton, on 8 Baronial 1945. On 21 March 1946, it was recorded in the Census of No. half-dozen MU, and allocated to No. 76 MU (Wroughton) on xxx April 1946 for shipment to Commonwealth of australia. For many years this aircraft was displayed at RAAF Williams Signal Melt, but in 1986, the Me 163 was transferred to The Australian War Memorial for refurbishment. It was stored at the AWM Treloar Technology Annex Mitchell, refurbished and reassembled, and was later put upwards for display together with a Messerschmitt Me 262A-2a, Werknummer 500200 (AM81).[65]

Canada [edit]

  • Me 163B, Werknummer 191659 (AM215) or 191914 (AM220), is held at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, Ottawa. Like two of the British Komets, this aircraft was function of JG 400 and captured at Husum. It was shipped to Canada in 1946.
Werknummer 19116 (but more probable 191916) and 191095 (AM211) besides seem to accept been held at one time in this museum.[66] [67]

Frg [edit]

  • A Me 163B, Werknummer 191904, "Xanthous 25", belonging to JG 400 was captured by the RAF at Husum in 1945. It was sent to England, arriving first at Farnborough, receiving the RAF Air Ministry number AM219 and and so transferred to Brize Norton on eight August 1945, before finally beingness placed on brandish at the Station Museum at Colerne. When the museum closed in 1975 the aircraft went to RAF St Athan, receiving the ground maintenance number 8480M. On five May 1988 the aircraft was returned to the Bundeswehr's Luftwaffe air arm, and moved to the Luftwaffe Alpha Jet factory at the air base in Oldenburg (JBG 43), not far from the JG 400 unit's wartime base of operations at Bad Zwischenahn, now a golf grade. The airframe was in good condition but the cockpit had been stripped and the rocket engine was missing.

Somewhen an elderly German woman came forrard with Me 163 instruments that her late husband had collected after the war, and the engine was reproduced by a auto shop endemic by Me 163 enthusiast Reinhold Opitz. The manufacturing plant closed in the early 1990s and "Yellow 25" was moved to a small-scale museum created on the site. The museum contained aircraft that had in one case served as gate guards, monuments and other damaged aircraft previously located on the air base. In 1997 "Yellow 25" was moved to the official Luftwaffe Museum located at the former RAF base at Berlin-Gatow, where it is displayed today alongside a restored Walter HWK 109–509 rocket engine. This particular Me 163B is one of the very few World War Ii–era German military aircraft, restored and preserved in a German aviation museum, to accept a swastika marking, in a "low visibility" white outline form, currently displayed on the tailfin.

  • Me 163B, Werknummer 120370,[ citation needed ] "Yellow 6" of JG 400, is displayed at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. It was originally sent to U.k., where it had received the RAF Air Ministry building number AM210. It was given to the Deutsches Museum by RAF Biggin Hill Station. Some claim this is 191316, simply that is still at the London Scientific discipline Museum.

United Kingdom [edit]

Of the 21 aircraft that were captured by the British, at least three have survived. They were assigned the British series numbers AM200 to AM220.[66]

  • Me 163B, Werknummer 191316, "Yellow six", has been on display at the Science Museum in London, since 1964 with the Walter motor removed for carve up display. A 2d Walter motor and a takeoff dolly are office of the museum's reserve collection and are not generally on display to the public.
  • Me 163B, Werknummer 191614, has been at the RAF Museum site at RAF Cosford, since 1975. Before and then, it was at the Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott, Buckinghamshire. This aircraft terminal flew on 22 Apr 1945, when information technology shot downward an RAF Lancaster.[64]
  • Me 163B-1a, Werknummer 191659 and RAF Air Ministry series number AM215, "Yellowish xv", was captured at Husum in 1945 and was sent to the College of Helmsmanship at Cranfield, England in 1947. Later on many years of touring airshows and various outdoor gatherings effectually the United kingdom it was loaned to the National Museum of Flight at E Fortune Airfield, Due east Lothian, Scotland in 1976.

United States [edit]

  • Five Me 163s were originally brought to the United states in 1945, receiving the Strange Equipment numbers Atomic number 26-495 and FE-500 to 503.[68] An Me 163 B-1a, Werknummer (serial number) 191301, arrived at Freeman Field, Indiana, during mid-1945, and received the foreign equipment number FE-500. On 12 April 1946, it was flown aboard a cargo shipping to the U.Southward. Army Air Forces facility at Muroc dry out lake in California for flight testing. Testing began on 3 May 1946 in the presence of Dr. Alexander Lippisch and involved towing the unfueled Komet behind a Boeing B-29 Superfortress to an altitude of 9,000–x,500 g (29,500–34,400 ft) earlier information technology was released for a glide dorsum to earth under the command of test pilot Major Gus Lundquist. Powered tests were planned, merely not carried out later on delamination of the shipping's wooden wings was discovered. It was then stored at Norton AFB, California until 1954, when it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. The aircraft remained on brandish in an unrestored condition at the museum's Paul Due east. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland, Maryland, until 1996, when it was lent to the Mighty Eighth Air Forcefulness Museum in Pooler, Georgia for restoration and display simply has since been returned to the Smithsonian and equally of 2011 is on brandish unrestored at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington D.C.
  • Me 163B, Werknummer 191 095, is on fully restored display at the National Museum of the The states Air Strength at Wright-Patterson AFB about Dayton, Ohio. It was acquired from the Canadian National Aviation Museum (now the Canada Aviation and Space Museum), where it had been restored, and was placed on display 10 December 1999. Komet test pilot Rudolf "Rudi" Opitz [de] was on hand for the dedication of the aircraft and discussed his experiences of flying the rocket-propelled fighter to a standing room but oversupply. During the aircraft's restoration in Canada information technology was discovered that the aircraft had been assembled by French forced laborers who had deliberately sabotaged it by placing stones betwixt the rocket's fuel tanks and its supporting straps. There are too indications that the fly was assembled with contaminated glue. Patriotic French writing was establish within the fuselage. The aircraft is displayed without whatsoever unit identification, but has its Werknummer restored[69] to its normal fin location. Fully restored examples of both the Me 163B'due south single-chamber rocket motor,[lxx] as well as the just known instance in the United States of the experimental twin-chamber Walter "509B" rocket motor,[71] are each on display in forepart, one each to either side, of WkNr. 191 095.
  • Me 163B, Werknummer 191660, "Yellow 3", is endemic past Paul Allen'southward Flight Heritage Drove. Between 1961 and 1976, this aircraft was displayed at the Imperial War Museum in London. In 1976, information technology was moved to the Royal War Museum Duxford. It underwent a lengthy restoration, beginning in 1997, that was frequently halted equally the restorers were diverted to more than pressing projects. In May 2005, information technology was sold, reportedly for £800,000, to raise money for the purchase of a de Havilland/Airco DH.9 every bit the Duxford museum had no examples of a World War I bomber in its collection. Permission for consign was granted by the British government'due south Department for Culture, Media and Sport as three other Komets were held in British museums.

Japanese versions [edit]

As part of their alliance, Germany provided the Japanese Empire with plans and an instance of the Me 163.[72] 1 of the two submarines carrying Me 163 parts did not get in in Japan, then at the time, the Japanese lacked all of the major parts and construction blueprints, including the turbopump, which they could not make themselves, forcing them to reverse-engineer their own design from information obtained in the Me 163 Erection & Maintenance manual obtained from Frg. The prototype J8M crashed on its first powered flight and was completely destroyed,[73] but several variants were congenital and flown, including: trainers, fighters, and interceptors, with but pocket-size differences between the versions.

The Navy version, the Mitsubishi J8M1 Shūsui, replaced the Ho 155 cannon with the Navy'southward 30 mm (one.18 in) Type 5. Mitsubishi also planned on producing a version of the 163C for the Navy, known equally the J8M2 Shūsui Model 21. A version of the 163 D/263 was known as the J8M3 Shusui for the Navy with the Blazon five cannon, and a Ki-202 Shūsui-kai ( 秋水改 , "Autumn Water, modified") with the Ho 155-Two for the Army. Trainers were planned, roughly the equivalent of the Me 163 A-0/S; these were known equally the Kugisho/Yokosuka MXY8 (Yokoi Ki-13) Akigusa ( 秋草 , "Autumn Grass") (an unpowered glider trainer) and Kugisho/Yokosuka MXY9 Shūka ( 秋花 , "Autumn Blossom") (a Tsu-xi-powered motorjet trainer).

One complete example of the Japanese shipping survives at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in California. The fuselage of a second aircraft is displayed at the Mitsubishi visitor'south Komaki Institute Museum, at Komaki, Aichi in Japan.[74]

Replicas [edit]

The Me 163 replica glider, D-1636, Aérodrome de La Ferté-Alais, France, 2009

A flight replica Me 163 was constructed between 1994 and 1996 by Joseph Kurtz, a former Luftwaffe pilot who trained to wing Me 163s, but who never flew in combat. He subsequently sold the aircraft to EADS. The replica is an unpowered glider whose shape matches that of an Me 163, although its construction completely differs: the glider is built of wood with an empty weight of 285 kilograms (628 lb), a fraction of the weight of a wartime aircraft. Reportedly, information technology has excellent flying characteristics.[75] The glider is painted ruby to represent the Me 163 flown by Wolfgang Späte. As of 2011, information technology was still flight with the ceremonious registration D-1636.[76]

In the early 2000s, a rocket-powered airworthy replica, the Komet II, was proposed by XCOR Aerospace, a quondam aerospace visitor that had previously built the XCOR EZ-Rocket rocket-plane. Although outwardly the same as a wartime aircraft, the Komet II 's pattern would have differed considerably for rubber reasons. Information technology would accept been partially constructed with composite materials, powered past one of XCOR's own simpler and safer, pressure fed, liquid oxygen/alcohol engines, and retractable undercarriage would accept been used instead of a takeoff dolly and landing skid.[77]

Several static replica Me 163s are exhibited in museums.[ citation needed ]

Specifications: Me 163B-1a [edit]

Messerschmitt Me 163B iii-view drawings

Data from The Warplanes of the 3rd Reich,[78] Contour No225:Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet[79]

General characteristics

  • Coiffure: ane
  • Capacity: (Me 163S + one)
  • Length: five.seven m (eighteen ft 8 in)
  • Wingspan: 9.3 g (xxx ft half dozen in)
  • Summit: two.5 grand (viii ft ii in)
  • Wing surface area: 19.half-dozen thou2 (211 sq ft)
  • Empty weight: one,905 kg (4,200 lb)
  • Max takeoff weight: 4,309 kg (9,500 lb)
  • Fuel capacity:
    • C-Stoff (fuel) 468 kg (1,032 lb)
    • T-Stoff (oxidiser) 1,550 kg (3,420 lb)

      Plan view of the un-restored Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet at the Smithsonian Institute'due south Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, USA.

  • Powerplant: ane × Hellmuth Walter Kommanditgesellschaft HWK 109-509A-2 bi-propellant liquid-fuelled rocket motor, 14.71 kN (3,307 lbf) thrust maximum; 980 Due north (220 lbf) minimum, fully variable

Operation

  • Never exceed speed: 900 km/h (560 mph, 490 kn) at all altitudes, body of water level to 12,000 m (39,000 ft)[ clarification needed ]
  • Flap limiting speed: 300 km/h (190 mph; 160 kn)
  • Rotate speed at take-off: 280 km/h (170 mph; 150 kn)
  • All-time climbing speed: 700–720 km/h (430–450 mph; 380–390 kn)
  • Endurance: seven.five mins powered
  • Charge per unit of climb: 81 m/s (16,000 ft/min)
  • Time to altitude: From standing start
    • 2,000 chiliad (6,600 ft) in 1.48 min
    • four,000 m (13,000 ft) in ii.02 min
    • 6,000 m (20,000 ft) in 2.27 min
    • viii,000 yard (26,000 ft) in ii.54 min
    • x,000 chiliad (33,000 ft) in 3.19 min
    • 12,000 1000 (39,000 ft) in three.45 min
  • Fly loading: 209 kg/yardii (43 lb/sq ft) at maximum have-off weight
  • Thrust/weight: 0.42

Ammunition

  • Guns:
    • two × thirty mm (one.181 in) Rheinmetall Borsig MK 108 cannon with 60 rpg (B-1a)
or
    • 2 × twenty mm (0.787 in) MG 151/20 cannon with 100 rpg (Ba-1 / B-0 pre-production aircraft)

See likewise [edit]

  • Hanna Reitsch

Related development

  • DFS-39
  • DFS-194
  • Messerschmitt Me 263
  • Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270
  • Mitsubishi J8M

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

  • Bachem Ba 349
  • Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1
  • Focke-Wulf Volksjäger

Related lists

  • List of shipping of World War Two
  • List of armed forces aircraft of Germany
  • List of fighter aircraft
  • Listing of rocket-powered aircraft
  • List of Globe State of war II armed forces shipping of Frg
  • Wunderwaffe

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ The small red rectangles on the rudder and elevons are externally fastened gust locks to preclude wind damage to the control surfaces while on the ground and are removed before flight.
  2. ^ List of Ten-1 flights
  3. ^ Test Pilot Neville Duke set a world record on 7 September 1953.

References [edit]

  1. ^ Wilson 1998, p. 121.
  2. ^ Boyne 1997, p. 349.
  3. ^ Thompson with Smith 2008, p. 233.
  4. ^ Ziegler, Mano. Rocket Fighter: The Story of the Messerschmitt Me 163. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1976. ISBN 0-85368-161-9.
  5. ^ Walker, Bryce (1983). Fighting jets (ane ed.). Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books. p. 28. ISBN0-8094-3362-one.
  6. ^ Caygill, Peter (2006). "seven Germany Shows the Way". Sound barrier : the rocky road to Mach 1.0+. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation. ISBN9781844154562.
  7. ^ Jean-Denis G.Chiliad. Lepage (2009). Shipping of the Luftwaffe, 1935-1945: An Illustrated Guide. McFarland. p. 243. ISBN978-0-7864-5280-4.
  8. ^ Donald, David, ed. (2000). Warplanes of the Luftwaffe. New York, NY: Barnes & Noble. p. 226. ISBN978-0760722831.
  9. ^ "Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet". Earth State of war 2 Planes. Retrieved: 22 March 2009.
  10. ^ Nowarra, Heinz J. (1993). Die Deutsche Luftruestung 1933-1945 Vol.1 - AEG-Dornier (in German). Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. p. 163. ISBN978-3-7637-5464-ix.
  11. ^ Peter Broucek "Dice österreichische Identität im Widerstand 1938–1945" (2008), p 163.
  12. ^ Pirker, Peter (2012). Suberversion deutscher Herrschaft. Der britische Geheimdienst SOE und Österreich. Zeitgeschichte im Kontext. Vol. 6. Göttingen: V & R Unipress. p. 252. ISBN9783862349906.
  13. ^ Hansjakob Stehle "Die Spione aus dem Pfarrhaus (German language: The spy from the rectory)" In: Dice Zeit, 5 January 1996.
  14. ^ a b Käsemann 1999, pp. 17, 122.
  15. ^ Stüwe 1999, pp. 207, 211, 212, 213.
  16. ^ Spate and Bateson 1975, p. 55.
  17. ^ "Lippisch Nürflugels-The Me 163A Komet". nurflugel.com. Retrieved: 7 October 2012.
  18. ^ a b Gunston, Bill; Wood, Tony (1977). Hitler'south Luftwaffe. Salamander Books. pp. 228–229.
  19. ^ "Smithsonian National Air and Infinite Museum - Collections - Messerschmitt Me 163B-1a Komet - Long Clarification". airandspace.si.edu. Smithsonian National & Space Museum. Retrieved 2 January 2016. The Komet'southward landing gear also proved troublesome, with numerous pilots suffering back injuries equally a upshot of the sideslip declining to extend properly or failing upon touchdown. Even when the skid operated properly, landings were always without power and at high speed, requiring the utmost care on the part of the pilot to prevent the aircraft from overturning on soft ground.
  20. ^ "Me 163 ground equipment: Scheuch-Schlepper". robdebie.home.xs4all.nl.
  21. ^ de Bie, Rob."Me 163 footing equipment: Scheuch-Schlepper". Me 163 Komet Website. Retrieved: 7 October 2012.
  22. ^ United states Army Air Forces, Wright Field Air Materiel Command, Film WF 69-28 (1944). WW2: Flight test of German Aeronautical equipment -- Me 163 (1944). USAAF. Event occurs at 0:33 seconds in. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014.
  23. ^ de Bie, Rob."Me 163B "White 05" of Erprobungskommando sixteen". Me 163 Komet Website. Retrieved: 7 October 2012.
  24. ^ de Bie, Rob."Me 163 ground equipment: Scheuch-Schlepper". Me 163 Komet Website. Retrieved: five December 2012.
  25. ^ "LuftArchiv.de's photo of Ar 234B with Kettenkrad tow vehicle".
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  27. ^ de Bie, Rob. "Me 163 ground equipment: Opel Blitz T-Stoff tanker". robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/me163.htm . Retrieved 4 October 2013.
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  29. ^ Gunston and Wood 1977, p. 228.
  30. ^ "Me 163B powered by BMW P 3330A". robdebie.home.xs4all.nl.
  31. ^ Stüwe 1999, p. 254.
  32. ^ Atwood, Tom (21 July 2001). "Komet 163 - Master test airplane pilot Rudy Opitz tells information technology similar it was". Flight Journal. p. 2. Archived from the original on 21 December 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2017. From caption of photo on page ii of article: "...(4) 5-position throttle: off, ground idle, flying idle, prowl, max power. (5) Undercarriage extension/retraction [lever].
  33. ^ Press, Merriam (8 January 2018). World War II in Review No 33: German Airpower. Lulu Press. ISBN9781387498604.
  34. ^ "Komet weapons: SG500 Jägerfaust". robdebie.domicile.xs4all.nl.
  35. ^ Ethell and Price 1979, pp. 133–135.
  36. ^ Ethell 1978, p. 140.
  37. ^ Spick, Mike (2006). Aces of the Reich: The Making of a Luftwaffe Fighter-Pilot. Greenhill Books. p. 191. ISBN9781853676758.
  38. ^ Gunston, Bill; Forest, Tony (1977). Hitler's Luftwaffe. London, UK: Salamander Books. pp. 194–195. ISBN0-517-22477-1.
  39. ^ a b Wiedmer, Erwin. "Me 163 B V18 command panel" Archived 10 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. deutscheluftwaffe.de. Retrieved: 31 August 2011.
  40. ^ "Me.163B - The Walter RII-211, HWK 109-509.B". The Hellmuth Walter Website. Retrieved: 28 July 2013.
  41. ^ "Junkers Ju.248 (aka Me.263) The Walter RII-211, HWK 109-509.C". The Hellmuth Walter Website. Retrieved: 28 July 2013.
  42. ^ Erwin Wiedmer. "Projekt Me 163 "C" - Instrumentbrett der Me 163C mit Marschofen (in German)". deutscheluftwaffe.de. DEUTSCHELUFTWAFFE.de. Archived from the original on 25 Jan 2016. Retrieved three January 2016.
  43. ^ "Me.163B V6 and V18 - The Walter RII-211, HWK 109-509.B". The Hellmuth Walter Website. Retrieved: 28 July 2013.
  44. ^ de Bie, Rob. "Me 163B Komet - Me 163 Production - Me 163B: Werknummern listing". robdebie.home. Retrieved: 28 July 2013.
  45. ^ "Me 163". walterwerke.co.uk. Retrieved: 28 August 2010.
  46. ^ Käsemann 1999, pp. 47, 128
  47. ^ Brownish, Eric (2006). Wings on my Sleeve. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 147 & 184. ISBN978-0-297-84565-2.
  48. ^ Green 1970, p. 604.
  49. ^ German site about the Me 163. Retrieved: 5 August 2011
  50. ^ Dressel, Griehl. Die deutschen Raketenflugzeuge 1935–1945 (in German language). Augsburg, Germany: Weltbild Verlag, 1995.
  51. ^ Green 1971, pp. 112–114.
  52. ^ Green 1971, pp. 150–151.
  53. ^ de Bie, Rob. "Me 163B Komet - Me 163 units - Erprobungskommando 16 (EK sixteen)". robdebie.abode.xs4all.nl/me163.htm. Rob de Bie. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  54. ^ a b Späte 1989, p. 252.
  55. ^ Volmar, Joe (1999). I Learned to Fly for Hitler. Dundee: Kron Publications. pp. 145, 167–173. ISBN9780967138909.
  56. ^ Galland 1957, p. 251.
  57. ^ Späte 1989, p. XII.
  58. ^ Ethell 1978, pp. 94–144.
  59. ^ Lepage, Jean-Denis G. G. (23 March 2009). Aircraft of the Luftwaffe, 1935-1945: An Illustrated Guide. McFarland. p. 249. ISBN978-0-7864-5280-four . Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  60. ^ Thompson with Smith 2008, pp. 231–232.
  61. ^ Chocolate-brown 2006, pp. 105–106.
  62. ^ "Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet". Wings of the Luftwaffe. Event occurs at 44:09 (25:00 minutes). Discovery Armed forces Channel.
  63. ^ Ethell 1978, pp. 157–158.
  64. ^ a b Simpson, Andrew. "Individual History Messerschmitt ME163B-1a W/NR.191614/8481M" Archived ane Feb 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Imperial Air Force Museum, 2007. Retrieved: 2 November 2009.
  65. ^ Butler 1994, p. 107.
  66. ^ a b Pejčoch 2007, p. 69.
  67. ^ Ethell 1978, p. 158.
  68. ^ Andrade 1979, p. 251.
  69. ^ "NMUSAF photo of WkNr. 191 095".
  70. ^ "Walter HWK 509A Rocket". National Museum of the U.s.a. Air Force™.
  71. ^ "Walter HWK 509B-one Rocket". National Museum of the Us Air Strength™.
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  73. ^ Späte 1989, p. 243.
  74. ^ "Listing of surviving Japanese aircraft" Archived 25 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine. j-aircraft.com. Retrieved; 27 Oct 2010.
  75. ^ de Bie, Rob. "Mr Kurz' flying glider replica". Me 163 Komet Website, 10 July 2012. Retrieved: 27 May 2013.
  76. ^ "The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet Takes to the Air Again". Tails Through Time. February 2011. Retrieved xiv November 2014.
  77. ^ "Me 163 Flying Replica". Internet Annal, ane October 2003. Retrieved: 26 December 2008.
  78. ^ Green, William; Punnett, Dennis (With line drawings by) (1970). The Warplanes of the Third Reich. Garden City, Northward.Y.: Doubleday. pp. 594–606. ISBN0385057822.
  79. ^ Bateson, Richard P.; Spate, Wolfgang (1971). "Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet". Shipping in Profile (225).

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  • Späte, Wolfgang. Der streng geheime Vogel Me 163 (in High german), "The Height Secret Bird Me 163". Eggolsheim, Germany: Dörfler im Nebel Verlag GmbH, 2003. ISBN 978-3-89555-142-0.
  • Späte, Wolfgang. Elevation Secret Bird: Luftwaffe'south Me-163 Komet. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1989. ISBN ane-872836-10-0.
  • Späte, Wolfgang and Richard P. Bateson. Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet (Aircraft in Profile number 225). Windsor, Berkshire, United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland: Contour Publications Ltd., 1971.
  • Stüwe, Botho. Peenemünde West (in German). Augsburg, Deutschland: Bechtermünz Verlag, 1999. ISBN 3-8289-0294-4.
  • Thompson, J. Steve with Peter C. Smith. Air Combat Manoeuvres: The Technique and History of Air Fighting for Flying Simulation. Hersham, Surrey, U.k.: Ian Allan Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-903223-98-7.
  • Wilson, Stewart. Aircraft of WWII. Fyshwick, ACT, Australia: Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd, 1998. ISBN i-875671-35-eight.
  • Yamakazi, Akio (January–February 2005). "Tail of the Tiger". Air Enthusiast. No. 115. pp. 36–41. ISSN 0143-5450.
  • Ziegler, Mano. Rocket Fighter: The Story of the Messerschmitt Me 163. London: Artillery and Armour Printing, 1976. ISBN 0-85368-161-9.

External links [edit]

  • "Fastest Controlled Flight", October 1944, Popular Scientific discipline. Primeval drawing released by USAAF to public about Me 163
  • "Secrets of the German Jet Planes". June 1945, Popular Science page 124—the start detailed drawing in a general public mag

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163_Komet

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