Referring to the Komet, he said "this is the only one that had good flight characteristics"; he called the other four "killers". A further group was stationed at Stargard near Stettin to protect the large synthetic fuel plant at Pölitz (today Police, Poland).

Metal fuel lines and fittings, which failed in unpredictable ways, were used as this was the best technology available.

Their first design was a conversion of the earlier Lippisch Delta IV known as the DFS 39 and used purely as a glider testbed of the airframe. Feldwebel Siegfried Schubert was the most successful pilot, with three bombers to his credit.

This electric powered version has true rocket plane performance.

Further defensive units of rocket fighters were planned for Berlin, the Ruhr and the German Bight. This aircraft is believed to have been part of a group of aircraft stored as replacements for JG400. The resulting Me 163C design featured a larger wing through the addition of an insert at the wing root, an extended fuselage with extra tank capacity through the addition 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.

notably that DFS seemed incapable of building even a prototype fuselage. ", "Picture of the Messerschmitt Me-163B-1a Komet Replica aircraft. [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 crew being apprehensive should an accident befall Brown, until being given a disclaimer signed by him to the effect that they were acting under his orders. These HWK 109–509B and C motors would improve endurance by as much as 50%. Its design was revolutionary, and the Me 163 was capable of performance unrivaled at the time. Both propellants were clear fluids, and different tanker trucks were used for delivering each propellant to a particular Komet aircraft, usually the C-Stoff hydrazine/methanol-base fuel first.

There, a new design effort under the direction of Heinrich Hertel at Dessau attempted to improve the Komet. ( Log Out / 

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 exhaust from the T-Stoff, used as the oxidizer, for added thrust (see: List of Stoffs). It would neither stall nor spin. The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered single-seat interceptor fighter aircraft produced by the German manufacturer Messerschmitt AG. Instead, it took off using a wheeled dolly which it left behind on the ground. Additional restorative work was completed by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in 1982 before being sent to the Australian War Memorial annex in 1986 for further restoration. The performance of the Me 163 far exceeded that of contemporary piston engine fighters. [49] By the time the design was ready to go into production, the plant where it was to be built was overrun by Soviet forces. Unfortunately, the Me 163 was as dangerous to its own pilot as it was to Allied bomber formations.

Despite knowing well the dangerous associated with the aircraft, in October 1942 famed German test pilot Flight Captain Hanna Reitsch was excited to be at the peak of her career when given the opportunity to become part of the test flying program for the Me 163 Komet at the Messerschmitt factory in Neuburg (it was considered a prestigious post to fly this revolutionary aircraft). The added, smaller volume lower chamber on the two later models, nicknamed the Marschofen with approximately 400 kg (880 lb) of thrust at its top performance level, was intended for more efficient, lower power cruise flight. Science Museum in London, UK – Me 163B-1a Werknummer 191316 “Yellow 6”. The usable Mach number was similar to that of the Me 262, but because of the high thrust-to-drag ratio, it was much easier for the pilot to lose track of the onset of severe compressibility and loss of control. A further group was stationed at Stargard near Stettin to protect the large synthetic fuel plant at Pölitz (today Police, Poland). Six fighters from 1/Jagdgeschwader 400 intercepted a group of Flying Fortresses from the United States Army Air Force on their way to bomb oil refineries at Leuna-Merseburg. During testing of the prototype (A-series) aircraft, the jettisonable undercarriage presented a serious problem.

[70], A flying replica Me 163 was constructed between 1994 and 1996 by Joseph Kurtz, a former Luftwaffe pilot who trained to fly Me 163s, but who never flew in combat. If an enemy attacked, all the pilot could effectively do was to try to land as soon as possible. German test pilot Heini Dittmar in early July 1944 reached 1,130 km/h (700 mph), not broken in terms of absolute speed until November 1947[citation needed]. The Me163 was one of the first aircraft to use swept-back wings, a design that would become popular over the following decade. One could fly the Komet with the stick full back, and have it in a turn and then use the rudder to take it out of the turn, and not fear it snapping into a spin. FAQ | Privacy Policy | Sources | Site Map | What's New | About | Contact.

The Komet also spawned later weapons like the Bachem Ba 349 Natter and Convair XF-92.

More prototypes with improved engines followed, eventually reaching speeds of 623mph – 250mph faster than a Mark V Spitfire. These were known as the Yokoi Ku-13 Akigusa ("Aki" means also "autumn" and "gusa (kusa)" means "grass" in Japanese) or Ki-200 Shusui Rocket Interceptor practice glider. ", "WW2: Flight test of German Aeronautical equipment -- Me 163 (1944)", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBbMaxsTh8c&NR=1, "Me 163B "White 05" of Erprobungskommando 16. The older Me 163A and first Me 163B prototypes were used for training. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account.

Occasional references to B-1a or Ba-1 subtypes are found in the literature on the aircraft, but the meanings of these designations are somewhat unclear. [37], The first actions involving the Me 163 occurred on July 28, 1944, from I./JG 400's base at Brandis, when two USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress were attacked without confirmed kills. as it was felt that the highly volatile monopropellant fuel's reactivity with organic matter would be too dangerous in a wooden fuselage structure. This was one of 5 Me 163 aircraft shipped to the United States in 1945. During this time, there were nine confirmed kills with 14 Me 163s lost. Hansjakob Stehle "Die Spione aus dem Pfarrhaus (German: The spy from the rectory)" In: Die Zeit, 5 January 1996. Oldgysgt, e-mail, 11.01.2016 00:22. [5][28] This record was not broken in terms of absolute speed until 6 November 1947 by Chuck Yeager in a flight that was part of the Bell X-1 test program, with a 1,434 km/h (891 mph), or Mach 1.35 supersonic speed, recorded at an altitude of nearly 14,820 m (48,620 ft). On 6 July 1944, the Me 163B V18 (VA+SP), like the B V6 basically a standard production Me 163B airframe outfitted with the new-twin chamber "cruiser" rocket motor with the aforementioned modifications beneath the original rocket motor orifice to accept the extra combustion chamber,[27] set a new unofficial world speed record of 1,130 km/h (702 mph), piloted by Heini Dittmar, and landed with almost all of the vertical rudder surface broken away from flutter.

It was planned to move to the Walter R-1-203 cold engine of 400 kg (880 lb) thrust when available, which used a monopropellant consisting of stabilized HTP known by the name T-Stoff. [57], Beyond Brown's unauthorised flight, the British never tested the Me 163 under power themselves; due to the danger of its hypergolic propellants it was only flown unpowered. The 30mm cannons have been removed but the Walter rocket engine remains inside the fuselage.

This being said they were still a revolutionary concept.

Most of the captured aircraft came from Jagdgeschwader 400 (JG 400) at Husum, Germany. [citation needed], By this point, Messerschmitt was completely overloaded with production of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and attempts to bring the Me 210 into service. The biggest concern about the design was the short flight time, which never met the projections made by Walter.

It was shipped to Canada in 1946 with one other that is now in the National Museum of the USAF. From the museum’s website it appears that Komet “Yellow 15” is currently painted in a quite glossy single tone dark green upper camouflage with sky blue underneath. ), her nose was completely destroyed (reconstructed with an artificial nose), her jaw displaced and she suffered multiple broken vertebrae! Three Me 163 C-1a prototypes were planned, but it appears only one was flown, but without its intended engine. Two 163 Bs, models V6 and V18,[26] were experimentally fitted with the lower-thrust B-version of the new twin-chamber engine, a retractable tailwheel, and tested in spring 1944.[23].

Nine were lost to other causes, remarkably few for such a revolutionary and technically advanced aircraft.

There were brave pilots on both sides of the war. Both propellants were clear fluids, with different tanker trucks used for delivering each propellant to a particular Komet aircraft, one at a time, with one truck - usually the one delivering the C-Stoff hydrazine/methanol-base fuel - leaving the immediate area of the aircraft following its delivery and capping off of the Komet's fuel tanks from a rear located dorsal fuselage filling point just ahead of the Komet's vertical stabilizer, before the other truck - most often an Opel Blitz tanker truck, of a special Ausführung S model[16] carrying the very reactive T-Stoff hydrogen peroxide oxidizer would come anywhere near to deliver its oxidizer load to the fighter for safety reasons, through a different filling point on the Komet's dorsal fuselage surface, located not far behind the rear edge of the canopy. Just seconds after her towed take-off she went to release the wheeled dolly but suddenly the aircraft began to vibrate. Three Bf 163-prototypes (V-1-V3) were built. The Hertel team had to compete with the Lippisch team and their Me 163C. One of the ways in which German engineers tried to make the Me163 more effective was to fit it with a new and unusual weapon – the SG 500 Jagdfaust (“fighter fist”).

During the flight, while practicing attacking passes at an imaginary bomber, he was surprised at how well the Komet accelerated in the dive with the engine shut down. [72], In the early 2000s, a rocket-powered airworthy replica, the Komet II, was proposed by XCOR Aerospace, a former aerospace company that had previously built the XCOR EZ-Rocket rocket-plane.

These, like many other specific Me 163 problems, would be resolved by specific training. make him small unless he has mouse focus

The rocket engine has been removed and is displayed separately.

[38][39] The 509B and 509C rocket motors' main combustion chambers were supported by the thrust tube exactly as the 509A motor's single chamber had been. [47][48], The resulting Junkers Ju 248 used a three-section fuselage to ease construction.

This version used wingtip-mounted rudders, which Lippisch felt would cause problems at high speed.

For what ever reason her radio was not working so she could not communicate with the tow plane that was still attached. Of the 21 aircraft that were captured by the British, at least three have survived. None are on display in Russia that I am aware of. The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a German interceptor aircraft designed for point-defence which is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational and the first piloted aircraft of any type to exceed 1000 km/h (621 mph) in level flight. Jet propulsion was the future and remains so today.

As befitted this experimental weapon, the test took place at the secret weapons research facility at Peenemünde, the home of Nazi rocket research.

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