Me-163B-1 Komet
The Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet, designed by Alexander Lippisch, was a German rocket-powered fighter aircraft. It is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational. Its design was revolutionary, and the Me-163 was capable of performance unrivalled at the time. German test pilot Heini Dittmar in early July 1944 reached 1,130 km/h, a flight airspeed record. Over 300 aircraft were built, but the Komet proved ineffective as a fighter and was responsible for the destruction of only about nine Allied aircraft (16 air victories for 10 losses, according to other sources.)
Work on the design started under the aegis of the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS) - the German Institute for the Study of sailplane flight. 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. A larger follow-on version with a small propeller engine started as the DFS 194. The design included a number of features from its origins as 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 specially designed cross-axle, were needed due to the weight of the fuel, but the wheels, forming a takeoff "dolly" under the landing skid, were released shortly after takeoff.
Two prototypes were followed by 30 Me-163 B-0 pre-production aircraft armed with two 20mm cannon and some 400 Me 163 B-1 production aircraft armed with two 30mm cannons, but which were otherwise similar to the B-0.
The performance of the Me-163 far exceeded that of contemporary piston engine fighters. At a speed of over 320 km/h the aircraft would take off, in a so-called "scharfen start" ("sharp start", with "start" being the German word for "take-off") from the ground, from its two-wheeled dolly. The aircraft would be kept at level flight at low altitude until the best climbing speed of around 676 km/h was reached, at which point it would jettison the dolly, pull up into a 70° angle of climb, heading upwards rapidly to a bomber's altitude. It could go higher if required, reaching 12,000m in an unheard-of three minutes. Once there, it would level off and quickly accelerate to speeds around 880 km/h or faster, which no Allied fighter could match. 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 Mach warning system was installed as a result. The aircraft 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 around any other fighter of its time".
In service, the Me-163 turned out to be difficult to use 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's two 30mm cannons had a relatively low muzzle velocity of 540 m/s, with the characteristic ballistic drop of such a weapon. The drop meant they were only accurate at short distance, and that it was almost impossible to hit a slow-moving bomber when the Komet was travelling very fast. Four or five hits were typically needed to down a B-17.
Five Me-163s were taken to the United States in 1945. 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 aircraft to the USAAF facility at Muroc dry lake in California for flight testing. Testing began on 3 May 1946 in the presence of Dr Alexander Lippisch and involved towing the unfuelled Komet behind a Boeing B-29 Superfortress to an altitude of 9,000–10,500m before it was released for a glide back to earth under the control of test pilot Major Gus Lundquist. Powered tests were planned, but not carried out after delamination of the aircraft's wooden wings was discovered. It was then stored at Norton AFB, CA. until 1954, when it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. The aircraft remained on display in an unrestored condition at the museum's Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland, Maryland, until 1996, when it was lent to the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, GA., for restoration and display but has since been returned to the Smithsonian and is seen above on display unrestored at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center near Chantilly, VA., in 2012.
Me-163B-1 Komet
The Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet, designed by Alexander Lippisch, was a German rocket-powered fighter aircraft. It is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational. Its design was revolutionary, and the Me-163 was capable of performance unrivalled at the time. German test pilot Heini Dittmar in early July 1944 reached 1,130 km/h, a flight airspeed record. Over 300 aircraft were built, but the Komet proved ineffective as a fighter and was responsible for the destruction of only about nine Allied aircraft (16 air victories for 10 losses, according to other sources.)
Work on the design started under the aegis of the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS) - the German Institute for the Study of sailplane flight. 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. A larger follow-on version with a small propeller engine started as the DFS 194. The design included a number of features from its origins as 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 specially designed cross-axle, were needed due to the weight of the fuel, but the wheels, forming a takeoff "dolly" under the landing skid, were released shortly after takeoff.
Two prototypes were followed by 30 Me-163 B-0 pre-production aircraft armed with two 20mm cannon and some 400 Me 163 B-1 production aircraft armed with two 30mm cannons, but which were otherwise similar to the B-0.
The performance of the Me-163 far exceeded that of contemporary piston engine fighters. At a speed of over 320 km/h the aircraft would take off, in a so-called "scharfen start" ("sharp start", with "start" being the German word for "take-off") from the ground, from its two-wheeled dolly. The aircraft would be kept at level flight at low altitude until the best climbing speed of around 676 km/h was reached, at which point it would jettison the dolly, pull up into a 70° angle of climb, heading upwards rapidly to a bomber's altitude. It could go higher if required, reaching 12,000m in an unheard-of three minutes. Once there, it would level off and quickly accelerate to speeds around 880 km/h or faster, which no Allied fighter could match. 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 Mach warning system was installed as a result. The aircraft 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 around any other fighter of its time".
In service, the Me-163 turned out to be difficult to use 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's two 30mm cannons had a relatively low muzzle velocity of 540 m/s, with the characteristic ballistic drop of such a weapon. The drop meant they were only accurate at short distance, and that it was almost impossible to hit a slow-moving bomber when the Komet was travelling very fast. Four or five hits were typically needed to down a B-17.
Five Me-163s were taken to the United States in 1945. 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 aircraft to the USAAF facility at Muroc dry lake in California for flight testing. Testing began on 3 May 1946 in the presence of Dr Alexander Lippisch and involved towing the unfuelled Komet behind a Boeing B-29 Superfortress to an altitude of 9,000–10,500m before it was released for a glide back to earth under the control of test pilot Major Gus Lundquist. Powered tests were planned, but not carried out after delamination of the aircraft's wooden wings was discovered. It was then stored at Norton AFB, CA. until 1954, when it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. The aircraft remained on display in an unrestored condition at the museum's Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland, Maryland, until 1996, when it was lent to the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, GA., for restoration and display but has since been returned to the Smithsonian and is seen above on display unrestored at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center near Chantilly, VA., in 2012.