Original armament of the Komet was a pair of Mauser 20mm cannon of the MG type. However, from the 47th aircraft onwards, a pair of 30mm MK cannon, provided by Rheinmetall-Borsig, replaced these weapons.
Each 30mm cannon was provided with 60 rounds of ammunition. The revolutionary Messerschmitt Me had been unleashed. But in its brief yet brilliant career, the Me changed air warfare and dictated fighter design to this day.
The iconic Messerschmitt Me was born from German turbojet engine development in the mids, conceived by engineer Hans-Joachim Pabst von Ohain. Conceived in , the Me was designed by a team led by Dr Waldemar Voigt. It went through a long gestation period, not making its first flight until 18 April , and then only under the power of a Junkers Jumo G piston engine of about hp.
Jet engine development, although more advanced in Germany than elsewhere, was still in a primitive state, and the turbine engines intended for the sleek fighter were not ready.
Finally, Me V1 was fitted with two BMW turbojets as well as the standard prop in the nose as the engines were still unreliable, a wise move as both jets failed on its maiden flight. The Jumo was a more promising turbojet, and on 18 July the Me became a true jet when it took to the air in the hands of test pilot Fritz Wendel. The new fighter had turbojets in nacelles under the middle of the wings. The characteristic swept-back design was the result of a need to place the centre of gravity aft to compensate for heavier-than-expected engines.
It was only later that the benefits of swept wings were appreciated. Also, to improve low-speed handling, slats were incorporated to the front of the outer wings that extended automatically. The pilot sat high in a canopy offering allround visibility that tilted open to the right. The front window glass was bullet-proofed and the seat non ejection was armoured.
Armament included: four 30mm MK cannon A-2a variant had two cannon ; 24 2. The Me became a ray of hope in the increasingly dark skies of the German Luftwaffe. However, its future was threatened by a number of influential figures who favoured the advancement of proven piston aircraft.
But by an order was placed for jet fighters. For Erhard Milch, the German Field Marshal who oversaw the development of the Luftwaffe, the idea of robbing the Me of its superior speed was unacceptable. On learning that his order has been ignored, Hitler was furious and Messerschmitt engineers feverishly converted the fighters to carry two lb kg bombs. Below: The menacing shark-like shape of the Me terrorised Allied bomber crews in the latter stages of World War 2.
This airframe was the first Me to come into Allied hands when its German test pilot defected on 31 March The aircraft was then shipped to the US for testing. The Swiss authorities never attempted to fly the fighter, keeping it in storage and returning it to Germany on 30 August Mutke was also famous for making the controversial claim that he broke the sound barrier in in an Me Below: The prototype Me being refuelled between test flights.
Note the protective cages over the jet intakes. The first experimental fighter unit to receive the Me was Erprobungskommando , and the jet was bloodied on 26 July when a Mosquito was shot down. The first active unit to fly the Me in anger was Kommando Nowotny, formed by Maj Walter Nowotny in September , and its first confirmed kill was a B However, the unit suffered a mortal blow when Nowotny was shot down and killed when marauding Ps braved the airfield defences and swooped down on his Me during landing.
Disbanded shortly afterwards, Kommando Nowotny claimed 22 kills for the loss of 26 Me s. Much training followed, but the unit suffered from an inadequate supply of replacement parts and fuel, 10 Me s being lost due to mechanical failure. However, the unit had improved by February , delivering concentrated attacks on heavy bomber streams and being instrumental in establishing how the jet was to be implemented in the anti-bomber role.
As the Me was so advanced and untested in war, there was much debate from senior JG 7 pilots on how to employ tactics against the heavies. Piston fighters enjoyed head-on attacks, but the high speed of the Me made this impossible. This, of course, meant that the Me had to withstand concentrated gunfire from the bombers. Whatever the tactics used, the sheer number of Allied aircraft made the jet attacks almost irrelevant.
On 18 March , 37 Me s engaged 1, American bombers and escorting fighters. It was also on this day that the new R4M 4kg air-to-air rocket was introduced. In the frantic engagement, 12 bombers and a fighter were shot down for the loss of three jets. Despite its late entry into the war and facing radically superior numbers, JV 44 went on to claim 56 kills before Germany surrendered.
The vastly superior performance of the Me gave confidence to the fortunate pilots who flew it, but the Allied dominance of the air was so complete that the Schwalbe never reached its full potential.
Although 1, Me s were completed, it is estimated that only about saw combat. Right: The Me was a deadly enemy of the US bomber streams raiding Germany, but there were too few in number and they arrived too late in the conflict to affect the outcome.
No parachutes were seen. Germany surrendered a month after this image was taken. Messerschmitt Me cockpit 1. Some 8, of these powerplants were produced and they powered the experimental Horten Ho , the Arado Ar recce-bomber and the Me The first prototype engines, which showed great promise, had been built without restrictions on scarce materials such as nickel, cobalt and molybdenum.
However, wartime necessities would only allow low-grade metals. As a consequence, its lifetime expectancy was poor. Because of the damage sustained, Schall bailed out. In the event only two some sources quote three prototypes of this version were completed. V is pictured in its post USAAF capture guise as Wilma Jeanne, named after the wife of Col Harold Watson, who was dispatched to oversee the retrieval of advanced technology and its transport back to the states.
Bottom right: A line of wrecked Me s discovered by advancing Allied troops in a field in Germany. The relatively few Ar s that reached Luftwaffe units before the end of the German surrender provided excellent if futile service, particularly as reconnaissance aircraft. Development of the Ar began in when the German air ministry Reichsluftfahrtministerium — RLM issued an order to Dr Walter Blume, technical director of the state-owned Arado concern, to design and build a high-speed, high-flying reconnaissance aircraft propelled by the turbojet engines then under development by BMW and Junkers.
The fuselage was pencil-like in its approach with a rounded nose cone and well-tapered rear. The entire nose was made up of the single-seat cockpit which provided excellent visibility of the oncoming action with only light framing being involved.
The rounded fuselage incorporated slab sides for a deep approach required of the internal fuel stores, avionics and cockpit. Engines were held in streamlined nacelles, hung under the straight high-mounted wing. In the definitive B-models, the undercarriage was wholly-retractable and arranged in a tricycle format with two main landing gear legs and a nose leg. The aircraft would taxi and take off atop a wheeled trolley that the pilot jettisoned as the jet left the runway.
Engine problems repeatedly delayed the flight testing of the first Ar BMW and Junkers both experienced trouble building jet engines in quantities sufficient for both the Me and Ar programmes. Although Arado completed the Ar V1 airframe in late , the Messerschmitt aircraft took priority and claimed the trickle of flight-ready engines that Junkers managed to turn out.
Thus, the first Ar turbojet-powered prototype finally achieved its first flight on 30 July from Rheine Airfield and the five other prototype aircraft soon followed the initial V1. Prototype V3 was given an ejector seat and pressurised cockpit while being outfitted with rockets for assisted take-off. Prototypes V6 and V8 were reserved as static test beds for a four-engined development still to come.
Luftwaffe pilot Erich Sommer carried out the first Ar combat mission on 2 August , in the V5 prototype on a reconnaissance sortie over the Allied beachhead in Normandy.
He encountered no opposition during his two-hour flight, and gathered more useful intelligence than the Luftwaffe obtained during the previous two months. Meanwhile, the Air Ministry directed Arado to redesign the landing gear and give the jet a bombing capability. Kosin and his team enlarged the fuselage slightly to accommodate a conventional tricycle landing gear and added a semi-recessed bomb bay under the fuselage.
To allow the pilot to act as a bombardier, Kosin mounted a Lotfe 7K bombsight in the fuselage floor ahead of the control column, which the pilot swung out of his way to use the sight. A Patin PDS autopilot guided the aircraft during the bombing run. The pilot-bombardier used another periscope sight during shallow-angle, glide bombing. The bomber version, designated Ar B-0, became the first subtype built in quantity. The initial order had called for two versions of the Ar B: the B-1 reconnaissance aircraft and the B-2 bomber, but in the end 29 Above: Prototypes of the Arado Ar featured a skid and trolley system to save weight.
Arado built only the B-2 version and converted these into reconnaissance models when required. The Ar B included an ejection seat, Patin PDS autopilot system and, due to the thirsty nature of early turbojet engines, were given optional external auxiliary fuel tanks for improved range. The design proved aerodynamically efficient and relatively stable with little in the way of engineering corrections required.
However, only 14 Ar Cs left the Arado factory before Soviet forces overran the area. The four-engine Ar was, however, the fastest jet aircraft of World War 2. The unit flew its first operations during December in support of the Ardennes Offensive. Typical missions consisted of pinprick attacks conducted by less than 20 aircraft, each carrying a single 1,lb kg bomb. The deteriorating war situation, Above: Rocket-Assisted Take-Off RATO comprising two Walter HWK A-1 Starthilfe jettisonable rocket pods could be used to project faster take-off times and shorter runway distances as well as a spectacular and noisy initial rate-of-climb.
Right: The finest role of the Ar was in reconnaissance, where, fitted with drop tanks on the wings to extend their range, they could easily fly a mile mission. The quality of its cameras brought the Germans a wealth of intelligence, though little good news! The unit conducted its last missions against Soviet forces encircling Berlin during the final days of April.
Maintenance on the aircraft was extraordinarily high. The brakes burned out quickly given the high landing speeds required and thus had to be replaced after every third mission.
The engines each needed to be overhauled or replaced after an average of just ten flight hours. The Me began life as project P. To keep production costs down, the design was to be constructed of wood wherever possible. The Me was of a standard mid-wing configuration with a circular sectioned fuselage.
The cockpit was raised with the rear of the canopy moulding into the fairing that tapered back to the tail section. The initial design placed the engines either side of the rear fuselage behind the cockpit with the tailpipes extending beyond the tail, but on production aircraft it was decided to mount them below the wings. The single fin of the tailplane fitted halfway up. The undercarriage consisted of a retractable skid, to which a dolly could be fixed for take-off.
Three major base forms were conceived with the first expected to be a powerless glider. The second was to feature a pair of pulsejet engines for its propulsion, while the third proposed the use of Junkers Jumo series turbojet engines. Famed pilot Hanna Reitsch carried out a test programme on the two prototypes of the glider version, releasing from its carrier aircraft Below: The Me was first produced as a glider to test its aerodynamics. Ground launches, using both cable-type catapults and rocket-assisted carriages on rails were also successful.
Progress was deemed promising and seven prototypes were each fitted with a pair of Argus As series pulsejet engines. Work still progressed to a limited extent. A four-engine, pulsejet-powered bomber variant was proposed but, like the parasite fighter before it, never realised. Other roles envisaged included that of a navalised fighter being launched by a U-Boat submarine, as a defence interceptor and ground attack fighter.
None materialised. In a final roll of the dice, moves were made to revive the Me in as a suicide flying bomb based on the Me B, fitted with 2,lb kg of explosives, but it was dropped in favour of the Fieseler Fi R Reichenberg. Ultimately, the pulse engine technology was never fully capable for the particular Me airframe, while the parasite concept proved too complicated to ever become operational.
W hen Junkers was tasked with producing a fast jet bomber for the Luftwaffe, one thing its engineers could not be accused of was lack of forward thinking.
The result was one of the strangest and most revolutionary aircraft to take to the skies during World War 2. German aircraft engineer Hans Wocke worked for Junkers and in , proposed a sweptforward wing concept for a fast jet bomber capable of outrunning any known enemy air defences. During World War 2 it had become apparent that aircraft with straight wings had a built-in speed limit, imposed by air compression at the leading edge.
It was known that a swept back wing would reduce compressibility, but Dr Wocke believed that a swept-forward wing would have even more advantages. In most circumstances, it would increase stability in flight, especially at low speeds. It would also mean that the central part of the wings would stall first, so the controls on the outer part of the wings would remain effective for longer.
As a side benefit the design also gave more room for the internal bomb bay. In March Junkers was given a contract to produce a prototype of the new bomber. The first aircraft, Ju V1, was to be a flying test bed produced from as many existing components as possible. The resulting hybrid aircraft used the fuselage from an He A, the tail from a Junkers Ju , the main wheels from a Ju transport aircraft and even a nose wheel from an American B Liberator.
The revolutionary wings would be the only major new component. Two Jumo engines were hung in nacelles under the wings, with the other two mounted to the sides of the forward fuselage. This remarkable aircraft made its maiden flight from Brandis airfield on 16 August in the hands of Siegfried Holzbaur.
Initial flight tests were generally successful, although the forward-swept wing caused problems under some flight conditions. The unfinished second and third prototypes, which far more accurately reflected the design of the eventual production bomber, were captured by the Soviet Union in the closing stages of World War 2. Tests suggested that the warping problem would be eliminated by concentrating greater engine mass under the wings.
The second and third prototypes, V2 and V3, were to have employed six of these engines, in a triple cluster under each wing. Both were to feature an all-new fuselage and tail design intended for the production bomber, the Ju A V3 was to have served as the pre-production template, carrying defensive armament, a pressurised cockpit and full operational equipment.
Work on the Ju programme, along with all other pending German bomber projects, came to a halt in July , but Junkers was allowed to go forward with the flight testing regime on the V1 prototype. The wing section for the V2 had been completed by that time. Seventeen test flights were undertaken in total, which passed without notable incident. In March , as the Allies closed in on Germany, the Ju was belatedly ordered into production.
Although the jet-propelled flying wing crashed during its third test flight, it remains one of the most unusual and futuristic combat aircraft tested during World War 2. The Horten brothers, Walter and Reimar, concluded that their low-drag flying wing design could meet all of the goals and put forward their private project, the H.
The H. IX was of mixed construction, with the centre pod made from welded steel tubing and wing spars built from wood. Designer Reimar swept each half of the wing 32 degrees in an unbroken line from the nose to the start of each wingtip, where he turned the leading edge to meet the wing trailing edge in a graceful and gradually tightening curve.
There was no fuselage, no vertical or horizontal tail, and with landing gear stowed, the upper and lower surface of the wing stretched smooth from wingtip to wingtip. The pilot sat in a streamlined cockpit at the front of the wing, with the engines embedded either side. Successful test flights of a glider version, the Ho V1, in early led to construction of the first powered wing, the Ho V2. Horten first selected the BMW jet engine, but owing to delivery delays switched to the Junkers To accommodate the larger engine, elements of the wing had to be redesigned delaying the first flight until mid— December By this time, the design had been taken from the Horten brothers and given to Gothaer Waggonfabrik, and a production order for 40 aircraft placed.
Finally, the first powered flight was made in Oranienburg on 2 February with test pilot Lt Erwin Ziller at the controls. The aircraft reportedly displayed very good handling qualities, with only moderate lateral instability. While the second flight was equally successful, the undercarriage was damaged by a heavy landing. However, on 18 February , disaster struck during the third test flight.
After about 45 minutes, one of the Jumo turbojet engines developed a problem, caught fire and stopped. Ziller was seen to put the aircraft into a dive and pull up several times in an attempt to restart the engine and save the precious prototype. It is believed Ziller became unconscious from the fumes from the burning engine and the aircraft crashed just outside the boundary of the airfield.
Ziller was thrown from the aircraft on impact and died from his injuries two weeks later. The aircraft was destroyed. Development continued with a series of larger prototypes, but none flew before the end of the war. Out of this desperation came the Fieseler Fi R, a piloted version of the V-1 flying bomb, that was code-named Reichenberg.
Its pilot was given a slim chance of survival, but in essence, these were suicide missions. SS officer Otto Skorzeny is credited with the idea of a piloted version of the V-1 flying bomb able to make precision attacks. The operational model became the Reichenberg IV and its conversion from the standard V-1 flying bomb was extremely simple.
Protected by an armoured glass windscreen, the pilot sat on a pywood bucket seat in a small cockpit in front of the engine. The instrument panel comprised of an arming switch, a clock, an air speed indicator, altimeter and a turn and bank indicator.
Flight controls were of the conventional stick and rudder bar type. The power of the Fi R came from the lb thrust pulsejet engine mounted in the upper rear of the fuselage. A powerful 1,lb kg warhead was packed into the nose assembly, making for one inexpensive and easy-toproduce terror weapon.
The first powered test flight was performed in September , though it crashed after the pilot lost control. Subsequent test flights were carried out by test pilots Heinz Kensche and Hanna Reitsch. Reitsch herself experienced a number of crashes from which she amazingly survived unscathed. It was intended to be carried to the operational area beneath an The Reichenberg was a manned version of the rocket-powered V-1 flying bomb, with its cockpit positioned just forward of the pulse-jet.
Above: Test pilot Hana Reitsch was deeply involved in the Reichenberg programme following her early testing of the aerodynamics of the V-1 flying bomb. He bomber. After launch, the pilot was to aim his aircraft at the intended target and then jettison the cockpit canopy and bale out, but it was calculated that his chance of survival was less than 1 per cent. Although about 70 Reichenberg IVs were built for use by special unit KG , none were used operationally and development ended in October With the first jet engines now available, a new fighter was to be prepared for the Luftwaffe — cheap to build, available in quantity, and able to be flown by even novice pilots.
As early as spring there were calls for a new jet fighter, one that could be built rapidly and in quantity, using cheap materials and unskilled labour. An official requirement was subsequently drafted and was issued to a number of manufacturers, including Heinkel. At this stage, the fighter carried the designation He The fuselage cross- section was circular, and the nose was a separate component made from moulded plywood.
The single-piece wing was fabricated primarily from wood, with a plywood skin, although it was fitted with flaps of light alloy and the detachable tips were made of metal. The pilot of the He was seated beneath an upward-hinging blown canopy that provided an excellent view forward. The aircraft was completed and ready for take-off at Heidfeld on 1 December Test pilot Gotthold Peter was killed in the subsequent crash.
The narrow-track tricycle landing gear was fully retractable, with all three units being housed within the fuselage. As a result, the aircraft was revised to Top left: He W. These were all claimed by Demuth on the Focke-Wulf Fw Below: Too little too late — despite this impressive rank of Heinkel He s at Leck, the aircraft saw service too late to have any impact on the war.
Developed under the name Sturm Storm , the BMW turbojet was mounted above the high-mounted wing, immediately aft of the cockpit, with a direct attachment using an arrangement of three bolts.
By 6 December the first prototype was ready to take to the air, in the hands of Heinkel test pilot Gotthold Peter. Although Peter succeeded in putting the prototype back down safely, he had had to curtail the minute flight after it was discovered that an undercarriage door had torn off during the high-speed run. With the Soviets pushing ever closer to Marienehe, the training programme at the facility had to be abandoned.
The unit had around 50 He s available, but with fuel supplies dwindling, there was no opportunity to engage the enemy, other than sporadic encounters during the course of training flights. It was too little, too late. In the event, less than He s were produced, and of these, just were delivered to the Luftwaffe — officially, at least.
Ultimately, the project was a waste of valuable resources. The Bachem Natter was designed as a vertical take-off rocketpowered interceptor armed with a nose full of rockets. It was intended to be expendable; by that stage of the war, the Luftwaffe was prepared to think of its pilots the same way.
The aircraft was an imaginative solution to a desperate problem but World War 2 ended before the weapon saw combat. During the spring of , the Allied bombing offensive began taking a serious toll on the German war machine. Requirements were issued for an inexpensive fighter made of non-essential materials that could defend important targets.
Semi-skilled labour could construct one in about 1, man-hours. The wings were plain rectangular wooden slabs without ailerons, flaps, or other control devices. The cruciform tail consisted of four fins and control surfaces. Deflecting these surfaces in various combinations controlled pitch, yaw, and roll, once the Ba had reached sufficient speed to generate adequate airflow. Aerodynamic control was augmented by guide vanes connected to the four control surfaces.
Bachem Below: Constructed primarily of wood, the Natter had wings of just 13ft span, a liquidfuelled Walter rocket engine in the fuselage and four externally-mounted solid-fuel boosters. Armament was a battery of air-to-air rockets in the nose. The Walter motor generated about 3,lb 1,kg of thrust, but a loaded Ba A weighed more than 4,lb 1,kg so lift-off required more power. Bachem got the extra thrust from four Schmidding solid-fuel rocket motors that he bolted to the aft fuselage, two per side.
The concept of Natter operations was designed to be relatively simple. A tower guided the rocket plane during lift-off.
The flight controls remained locked in neutral position until the solid boosters burned out about 10sec into the flight. The aircraft continued climbing but the pilot could intercede at any time and take full control.
Far right: Lothar Sieber, a volunteer year-old Luftwaffe pilot, was briefly the bravest man in the world when he climbed the ladder into the cockpit of the Natter. Just seconds after lift-off the aircraft pitched onto its back and nose-dived into the ground. American daylight bomber formations often approached a target at an altitude of 20,ft 6,m to 30,ft 9,m.
After the Natter had climbed even with the formation, the pilot took control. Rocket fuel would be nearly exhausted by now, so the pilot began to descend.
At about 4,ft 1,m , the pilot released his seat harness and fired a ring of explosive bolts to blow off the entire nose section. A parachute simultaneously deployed from the rear fuselage and the sudden deceleration literally threw the pilot from his seat.
The pilot activated his own parachute after waiting a safe interval to clear the bits of falling Natter.
Groundcrews recovered the Walter motor to use again, but the airframe was now scrap. Bachem set up a factory to design and build his dream at Waldsee in the Black Forest. By November , the first Natter was ready for tests configured as a motorless glider. A Heinkel He bomber carried one to 18,ft and released it. The pilot found the aircraft easy to control and the escape sequence worked as designed.
The first manned launch came on 28 February Oblt Lothar Sieber climbed into a Ba A, strapped in, and rocketed off the launch tower. At about 1,ft m , the Natter shed its canopy and headrest and the aircraft veered off and flew into the ground, killing Sieber. Despite the tragedy, more pilots volunteered to fly and the Bachem team launched three test flights in March. With the end near, the Germans erected a battery of ten Natters at Kircheim near Stuttgart.
Pilots stood alert day after day but no US bombers flew into range. Within a matter of weeks the war was over and no Natter was ever launched in anger, probably much to the relief of its pilots.
Here a soldier is apparently being given an explanation as to how the Natter operated. The first prototype was close to flight testing when the factory was overrun by Soviet forces. The genesis for the Hs was an 18 February specification published by the German air ministry Reichsluftfahrtministerium — RLM calling for a single-seat shipping attack aircraft.
A piston-engined configuration was originally specified, but the performance requirements soon led to a switch to the emerging availability of jet power. The fuselage was of a circular cross-section, and constructed entirely of metal. Due to the position of the engine, a twin fin and rudder configuration was chosen, to allow the jet to exhaust without interfering with the tail unit. The mid-fuselage mounted wings were mostly of wooden construction, and had a slight taper on the leading and trailing edges.
A tricycle landing gear was to be used, with the nose wheel revolving 90 degrees to lie under the cockpit when retracted. The extensively glazed bullet-shaped cockpit was completely faired in with the rest of the fuselage, and the pilot was in a prone position, to withstand the intense G-forces of the fast, steep dive during the bomb run.
A contract for six prototypes was approved in May , and construction was begun in March Four versions of the Hs were proposed, including the Hs D, which was to have an enlarged wing. The design in terms of engine mounting and tailplane bore a very strong resemblance to the contemporary Heinkel He Spatz. Little attention was paid to the skeletal metal frame of an aircraft that was 80 percent completed but had never taken to the air.
It was the Messerschmitt P, possibly the most advanced piece of German hardware ever to fall into Allied hands. The Messerschmitt P was a single-seat, swept-wing jet fighter developed in response to the 15 July Emergency Fighter Programme which sought the second generation of jet fighters for the Third Reich.
Although the FockeWulf Ta was preferred by the German air ministry Reichsluftfahrtministerium — RLM , Messerschmitt was instructed to carry out experimental flights, testing the swept back wing at anticipated speeds up to Mach 1. The worsening war situation led to the building of a full-scale prototype utilising existing components such as the wings Me , landing gear extended Bf , and flight components where possible.
The P V1 prototype was of duralumin fuselage construction. The fuselage-mounted tandem intakes of preliminary designs were replaced by a single nose intake, and the revised bubble canopy afforded better allround vision. An operational version would 47 have been powerfully armed with four Mk 30mm cannons. Robert J. With the French withholding documents and pieces of the prototype removed by soldiers as souvenirs, the idea of flying the P at Oberammergau failed to materialise.
The prototype was later shipped to the US, but damage ruled out any possibility for repair. Although the aircraft never flew, it strongly influenced subsequent jet fighter designs on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
If you had been asked that question in , it is likely you would have replied the Italian Caproni Campini N. But while the N. Lacking the necessary industrial infrastructure, Campini turned to the Caproni aircraft company for the manufacturing of the machines, which were designated Caproni Campini N.
The exhaust produced by this combustion was to drive the aircraft forward. In fact, it could be regarded as an early ducted fan. The intake of this unusual engine was situated at the nose of the aircraft, while exhaust was expelled at the very rear. This left the CampiniCaproni N. Caproni Campini N. The first flight, from the Caproni factory in Taliedo, near Milan, took place on 27 August , with test pilot Mario De Bernardi at the controls.
This was as good as it got. Although the N. Another problem encountered during flight testing was the large amount of engine heat entering the cockpit, which forced the crew to fly with the canopy always open. It could be said that Campini was ahead of his time and that in the technology was not available to make his engine designs efficient. However, if nothing else his aircraft proved that the future for military aircraft lay in the raw power offered by the pure turbojet. Although it looked fast, it was slower than the Fiat CR.
Left: Power came from a relatively small piston engine inside the forward fuselage, which turned a variable-pitch compressor in what we would today call a ducted fan. A rudimentary form of afterburner allowed fuel to be burned in a propelling nozzle to give some extra thrust. The idea for this type of attack took shape late in as Allied air and sea power continued to systematically crush the Japanese war machine. It was Vice-Admiral Onishi Takijino who recommended that the Japanese Navy form special groups of men and aircraft and launch them against American warships gathering to conduct amphibious landings in the Philippines.
To the Allies, these units became known as Kamikaze, or suicide squads. The Japanese used the word Tokko-tai, meaning Special Attack. It is estimated that by the end of the war, 5, pilots had died making Tokko attacks and the damage they wrought was severe, accounting for seven percent of all US Navy casualties incurred during the entire Pacific war. Tokko pilots flew almost every type of Japanese military airplane, but initial operations showed the need for an aircraft designed and built specifically for this mission.
Ensign Mitsuo Ohta conceived the idea of a small rocket-powered Tokko aircraft. Japanese Navy officials were impressed and the project gathered momentum. Essentially a 2,lb 1,kg bomb with wooden wings, powered by three Type 4 Model 1 Mark 20 solidfuel rocket motors, the single-seat Model 11 achieved great speed, but with limited range. The Model 11 was the only variant which saw service and were built at Yokosuka, and another at the Kasumigaura Naval Air Arsenal.
Abel being the first victim near Okinawa on 12 April Meanwhile, Kugisho developed a new model and boosted its range to about 81 miles km.
The new version, designated the Ohka Model 22, was modified in two significant ways. Kugisho halved the size of the warhead to 1,lb kg , then installed a new Campini-type hybrid motor-jet engine built by Hitachi called the Tsu Kugisho finished 50 Model 22s while production shifted to underground factories. Only three Tsu engines were built, so most of the airframes remained incomplete and the war ended before any Ohka 22s saw active combat. Had the proposed Allied invasion of Kyushu Island taken place, the Japanese would likely have employed many hundreds of Ohka aircraft against the attack.
The aircraft was a copy of the Messerschmitt Me Komet, reverse-engineered from a flight operations manual and other limited documentation. A single powered prototype was tested before the end of World War 2. The Japanese were meant to licence-build Me variants, but getting complete airframes and parts to Japan proved problematic, when submarines carrying airframes sub-assemblies and engines were sunk.
Therefore, the Japanese decided to attempt to copy the Me using a basic instructional manual on the Komet. Inuzuka found the MXY8 almost perfectly emulated the handling characteristics of the Komet. However, initial tests did not go well when the prototype engine exploded upon start up.
The armament of the J8M1 was to include 2 x 30mm cannons of Japanese origin, while the Japanese Army Ki variant was to be fitted with lighter Ho 30mm cannons. Quite remarkably given the short timescale of development, the J8M took to the air for its first powered flight on 7 July , with Inuzuka once again at the controls.
However, at an altitude of about 1,ft m , the engine abruptly cut out. Tragically Inuzuka died the next day from his injuries. Following investigation, it was determined that a fuel flow issue caused the rocket motor to cut out. Flight testing was about to resume when Japan surrendered on 15 August and all work on the J8M ceased. By this time, seven J8M production aircraft had been manufactured six J8M1 and a Ki, with another six J8M1 in various stages of completion.
Below: A pair of Mitsubishi J8M1s from the six completed before the end of the war. Only one flight was ever made, which ended in tragedy. The result was the Nakajima Kikka Orange Blossom.
Nakajima leadership assigned the project to engineers Kazuo Ohno and Kenichi Matsumura who developed an all-metal aircraft, except for the fabric-covered control surfaces.
They mounted Ne jet engines in pods slung beneath each wing. Experimentation with turbojet engine technology had begun in Japan as early as the winter of and in a Japanese technical mission to Germany selected the BMW axial-flow turbojet for development in Japan.
As the war continued to deteriorate for Japanese forces, its naval pilots launched the first suicide missions using aircraft in October and this role was now assigned to the Nakajima Kikka. Due to the lack of highstrength alloy metals, the turbine blades inside the jet engine could not last much beyond a few hours, but this was enough time for operational testing and 20 to 30 minute flights for a one-way suicide mission.
The first prototype commenced ground tests at the Nakajima factory on 30 June The following month it was dismantled and delivered to Kisarazu Naval Airfield where it was re-assembled and prepared for flight testing. The aircraft performed well during a 20min test flight, with the only concern being the length of the take-off run. For the second test flight, four days later, rocket assisted take off RATO units were fitted to the aircraft.
The pilot had been uneasy about the angle at which the rocket tubes had been set, and for good reason. Four seconds into take off the RATO was actuated, immediately jolting the aircraft back onto its tail leaving the pilot with no effective tail control.
After the nine-second burning time of the RATO ran out the nose came down and the nose wheel contacted the runway, resulting in a sudden deceleration, however both engines were still functioning normally. At this point the pilot opted to abort the take off. Development of the Kikka ended four days later when the Japanese surrendered.
By this time, another prototype was almost ready for flight. US forces later discovered about 23 Kikka aircraft under construction at the Nakajima main factory building in Koizumi and at a site on Kyushu island. As inventor of the gas turbine engine, he had been battling officialdom to support his revolutionary ideas and now here was proof that his concept of jet-powered aircraft worked.
However, it will not have been lost on him that Germany had already wrested the lead in this vital technology away from Britain and was closer to deploying it in an operational fighter. Gloster E. In the absence of official support, Whittle and his colleagues at Power Jets had been forced to carry out development as a private venture. Meanwhile, it appeared that the Air Ministry was clearly unconcerned about Britain losing its lead to Germany.
The resulting E. George Carter worked closely with Whittle, and laid out a small aircraft of conventional configuration. Sometimes referred to as the Gloster Whittle or the Gloster Pioneer, the aircraft was a low-wing monoplane design with tricycle undercarriage and a slightly rotund fuselage to accommodate the single Whittle W.
The engine was installed in the centre fuselage and was provided with a nose intake and a tail jet pipe. The E. The aircraft was moved to Edgehill convenient to both Power Jets and Gloster and over the following months, tests continued with increasingly refined versions of the engine.
Later in the test programme, small auxiliary fins were added near the tips of the tailplanes to provide additional stability in high-speed flight. When Sayer tragically disappeared during a test flight in a Hawker Typhoon in October , his assistant Michael Daunt took over the development programme. After further proving trials, the aircraft was subsequently transferred to Farnborough to allow service pilots to fly and assess the type.
The type was flown with several early jet engines, including the Whittle W. Davie, successfully bailed out from 33,ft, suffering frostbite on the way down. Although short lived, the E. Of particular significance is his entry under Airscrew type.
Left: The Gloster-Whittle E. Note the absence of small vertical fins on the tail. The horizontal paint stripe was used as an indication of heating by the turbojet engine Right: The first Gloster E. By this stage, auxiliary fins had been added near the tips of the tailplanes to provide additional stability in high-speed flight.
Air entered the compressor through barely visible intakes in the sides of the cast aluminium alloy case. Frank Whittle was born on 1 June in Coventry, the son of a mechanic. His first attempts to join the RAF failed as a result of his lack of height, but on his third attempt he was accepted as an apprentice in He qualified as a pilot officer in As a cadet Whittle had written a thesis arguing that aircraft would need to fly at high altitudes, where air resistance is much lower, in order to achieve long ranges and high speeds.
He concluded that rocket propulsion or gas turbines driving propellers would be required. By October , Whittle had considered using a fan enclosed in the fuselage to generate a fast flow of air to propel an aircraft at high altitude.
A piston engine would use too much fuel, so he thought of using a gas turbine. After the Air Ministry turned him down, he patented the idea himself. They began constructing a test engine in July , but it proved inconclusive. Whittle realised that a complete rebuild was required, but lacked the necessary finances.
Protracted negotiations with the Air Ministry followed and the project was secured in By April , the engine was ready for tests. The first flight was made on 15 May By October the United States had heard of the project and asked for the details and an engine. A Power Jets team and the engine were flown to Washington to enable General Electric to examine it and begin construction. The Americans worked quickly and their XPA Airacomet was airborne in October , some time before the British Meteor, which became operational in Whittle retired from the RAF in with the rank of air commodore.
He was knighted in the same year and became a research professor at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. Sir Frank Whittle died on 9 August Like its German counterpart, the British Air Ministry was initially reluctant to divert valuable resources to unproven jet engine technology during World War 2.
However, when Germany eventually forged ahead with development, it was recognised that Britain could not afford to get left behind in this potentially gamechanging race. With the concept of jet-powered flight finally becoming a reality, the next step was to develop an operational fighter. By then, work was under way on an initial 12 development aircraft contracted for at the start of the year, even before the diminutive E.
But it was never going to be an easy journey. Perhaps inevitably it was with the engines that the problems occurred. Rolls-Royce took on the W2B development programme, and work on alternative powerplants was set in train by Frank Halford and Metropolitan Vickers.
The Rocketeers Before the advent of Jetex motors and aircraft that were specifically designed for them, a number of designers published plans for rocket-powered aircraft.
In some cases, these were scale models of the new breed of jet fighters. Other designs were freely imaginative creations exploiting the unique characteristics of rocket propulsion.
On this page, we've gathered a comprehensive selection of plans and descriptions of these pioneering craft, arranged in chronological order. What you'll find here :. Rocket-ship Joe Ott, Rocket Plane Dick Cole, Rocket Plane G Haase, Rocket Plane N Negri, Spitfire Tom Engelman, Rocket Plane Laurence Sparey, Flaming Ptero Howard Boys, Glirt P A Latham, On later mono-wheel versions [as shown above, labelled M3], reduced dihedral was used and wingtip skids were standard.
Colour scheme was all white with black struts and red fuselage decoration. The flying instructions included this note: 'Unless the model carries the weight of the rocket well while gliding, after being launched from the hand, it will not fly unless the rocket has extreme power. Care should be taken that the rocket is not too powerful and will tear the model to pieces during flight. Dick Cole designed this formidable 36 in. Built on the principle of the flying wing, it takes off on a flight of ft.
G Haase of Frankfurt, Germany, designed this 20" all-balsa rocket plane. Frank Zaic was sufficiently impressed by it to include it in his Model Aeronautic Yearbook. This little 8" twin-boom model was designed by N Negri of the 'Chicago Aeronuts'. It is made entirely of quarter-grain sheet balsa, apart from the bamboo booms. Frank Zaic thought it worthy of inclusion in his Model Aeronautic Yearbook. The rocket is supported beneath the craft in a wire cradle.
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