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168-533: The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft primarily designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt . It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history as well as the first piloted aircraft of any type to exceed 1,000 kilometres per hour (620 mph) in level flight. Development of what would become the Me 163 can be traced back to 1937 and

336-414: A German pyrotechnical engineer who, in 1923, had purchased H.G. Cordes, a Bremerhaven firm famous for its manufacture of black-powder rockets used mainly for harpoons, signal devices and similar devices. Opel, Sander and Valier joined forces and combined into one entity the financing, the theoretical knowledge, and the practical capability necessary for success. Moreover, von Opel, Valier, and Sander said from

504-639: A Soviet spy in the VfR, Alexander Boris Scherchevsky, possibly shared plans with the Soviet Union . On 11 June 1928, as part of the Opel RAK program of Fritz von Opel and Max Valier, Lippisch Ente became the first aircraft to fly under rocket power. During the following year, the Opel RAK.1 became the first purpose-built rocket plane to fly with Fritz von Opel himself as the pilot. The Opel RAK.1 flight

672-430: A better option. Paulet would go on to visit the German rocket association Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR) and on March 15, 1928, Valier applauded Paulet's liquid-propelled rocket design in the VfR publication Die Rakete , saying the engine had "amazing power". In May 1928, Paulet was present to observe the demonstration of a rocket car of the Opel RAK program of Fritz von Opel and Max Valier, and after meeting with

840-404: A comment by von Opel: "Felmy's willingness to risk his position to protect my first rocket flight from bureaucratic prohibitions is something I will never forget." The order for the catapult release could be given, but the first attempt failed. Fire and smoke leapt out of the big boosters, but the sustainers failed to ignite. The RAK-1 glided back to Earth at only 50 metres (164 ft.). At 11 a.m.

1008-487: A dedicated point defense interceptor . To improve this, the Walter firm began developing two more advanced versions of the 509A rocket engine, the 509B and C, each with two separate combustion chambers of differing sizes, one above the other, for greater efficiency. The B-version possessed a main combustion chamber—usually termed in German as a Hauptofen on these dual-chamber subtypes—with an exterior shape much like that on

1176-475: A dozen Me 163s at a time launched to challenge the B-17s. Allied fighter pilots quickly observed the short duration of the Me 163's powered flight, and adapted their tactics to take advantage of this. The fighters would delay engaging until after the engine had exhausted its propellant before pouncing on the unpowered Komet . Even with this handicap, the aircraft was extremely manoeuvrable in gliding flight and thus

1344-402: A flight such as man has never made before... The force of the rockets has expired. Visions cease; actuality calls. I must return to Earth.. Gliding with terrible bumps along the ground, the plane comes to a halt." Exact measurements of the flight were impossible. After he had levelled off to about 100 ft. (30.5 metres), the ground crew attempted to time the flight. It was determined that he

1512-473: A group of later highly influential scientists who would play a major role in making rocket spaceflight a reality. As an early spaceflight advocate, Valier was more interested in publicizing rocketry than marketing Opel automobiles but came to the conclusion that building a successful rocket-powered car would achieve both goals. Von Opel confirmed his interest in realizing Valier's proposal. On behalf of von Opel, Valier eventually contacted Friedrich Wilhelm Sander ,

1680-592: A hard landing, but it had made an emphatic point about rocket aviation and immensely popularized rockets as means of propulsion, causing a so called global "rocket rumble". The Mannheim Museum of Technology, Technoseum , has a replica of RAK.1 as the world's first dedicated rocket-plane on display, the execution of which Julius Hatry himself supervised. Technoseum also hosts original parts of the RAK.1 and Hatry's estate. According to Frank H. Winter in SPACEFLIGHT magazine,

1848-450: A height of around 20 metres (65 ft) before hastily abandoning the Ente, which was burned beyond any hope of salvage. Despite the loss of the first rocket plane, von Opel immediately contracted with Julius Hatry for a specialized rocket aircraft. Hatry’s design for Opel was rather more elegant than the Ente. With a wingspan of 36 feet and length of 16 feet, the new aircraft Opel RAK.1 had

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2016-651: A maximum velocity of 95 mph (153 km/h) and had traversed a distance of circa 3 km. Data from J2mcL Planeurs - Hatry-Opel Rak 1, Les Ailes 10 October 1929 General characteristics Performance Shortly after the September 1929 flight of RAK.1, the Opel rocket experiments were brought to an end by the Great Depression and the Opel company focused its engineering capacities on vehicle development. Von Opel left Germany before 1930, first to

2184-473: A propeller-powered intermediary aircraft were quickly dropped in favour of proceeding directly to rocket propulsion. On 1 September 1941, the prototype performed its maiden flight , quickly demonstrating its unprecedented performance and the qualities of its design. Having been suitably impressed, German officials quickly enacted plans that aimed for the widespread introduction of Me 163 point-defence interceptors across Germany. During December 1941, work began on

2352-588: A pure rocket-powered flight but favoured a mixed-propulsion approach, using a combination of rocket and turbojet engines. While the Société d'Etudes pour la Propulsion par Réaction (SEPR) set about developing France's own domestic rocket engines , the French aircraft manufacturer SNCASE was aware of the French Air Force 's keenness for a capable point defence interceptor aircraft , and thus begun work on

2520-553: A quarter miles in flying inferno". On 30 September 1929, it first appeared as if the flight was never going to be made. At 9 a.m., von Opel entered the RAK.1 and prepared for liftoff. Just briefly before the anticipated launch, Major Hellmuth Felmy came up informing von Opel: "A telegram just came from the Oberpraesidium in Kassel. All flight tests are forbidden. Take off quick! I haven't had the telegram yet!". Winter reports on

2688-486: A rear mounted wing and a forward canard arrangement for stability and pitch control. The sweep in both the Me 163 and Me 262 stemmed from these CofG and CofL issues (heavier than planned engines in the case of the Me 262), not from high speed aerodynamic requirements. In the Me ;163B and -C subtypes, a ram-air turbine was installed on the extreme nose of the fuselage that, along with a backup lead–acid battery inside

2856-510: A result of the later models' use of rocket propellant, which was not only highly volatile but also corrosive and hazardous to humans. One noteworthy fatality was that of Josef Pöhs , a German fighter ace and Oberleutnant in the Luftwaffe , who was killed in 1943 through exposure to T-Stoff in combination with injuries sustained during a failed takeoff that ruptured a fuel line. Besides Nazi Germany, no nation ever made operational use of

3024-611: A revolutionary and technologically advanced aircraft. Into early 1945, the type continued to be flown to defend high priority targets, such as the Daimler Benz tank factory in Berlin. In the final days of Nazi Germany , the Me 163 was given up in favor of the more successful Me 262 . At the beginning of May 1945, Me 163 operations were stopped, the JG 400 disbanded, and many of its pilots sent to fly Me 262s. In any operational sense,

3192-604: A rocket plane took place in Frankfurt on 30 September 1929. Lippisch also continued his independent design work over the following decades, and in particular using rocketry, leading eventually to the Me 163. During 1937, work on what would become the Me 163 commenced, the initial work was conducted under the aegis of the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS)—the German Institute for

3360-507: A second attempt was made, but the result was similar to the initial launch attempt. At about 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon another attempt was made. Aviation enthusiasts, von Opel's supporters and friends, and some of the media organizations were present. Stamer, Sander and von Opel's fiancee and future wife Margot Löwenstein (also known as Sellnik), were there as well. Sellnik, herself a pilot and one of Germany's six aviatrixes, had been another of von Opel's professional advisors on aviation for

3528-514: A single Me 163 to the country; this led to the development of the Mitsubishi J8M . By the end of the conflict, roughly 370 Komets had been completed, most of which were being used operationally. Some of the aircraft's shortcomings were never addressed, and it was less effective in combat than predicted. Capable of a maximum of 7.5 minutes of powered flight, its range fell short of projections and greatly limited its potential. Efforts to improve

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3696-483: A slow moving bomber. Four or five hits were typically needed to take down a B-17 . Innovative methods were employed to help pilots achieve kills. The most promising was a weapon called the Sondergerät 500 Jägerfaust . This included 10 single-shot, short-barreled 50 mm (2-inch) guns pointing upwards, similar to Schräge Musik . Five were mounted in the wing roots on each side of the aircraft. A photocell in

3864-517: A typical sailplane wing , under which a pod was suspended to accommodate the pilot and sixteen of Sander's solid rocket engines each with 50 pounds of thrust. The tailplane was mounted on booms behind the wing and high out of the way of the rocket exhaust. The aircraft is sometimes referred to as the Opel-Hatry RAK.1 or Opel-Sander RAK.1 in acknowledgment of its builder or the supplier of its engines respectively. In still other references it

4032-518: Is a fire hazard , within an operational environment. Work reached a more advanced stage with the Avro 720's rival, the Saunders-Roe SR.53 . The propulsion system of this aircraft used hydrogen peroxide as a combined fuel and oxidiser, which was viewed as less problematic than the Avro 720's liquid oxygen. On 16 May 1957, Squadron Leader John Booth DFC was at the controls of XD145 for

4200-455: Is also considered the world's first public flight of a manned rocket plane since it took place before a large crowd and with world media in attendance. On 28 June 1931, another ground-breaking rocket flight was conducted by the Italian aviator and inventor Ettore Cattaneo , who created another privately built rocket plane. It flew and landed without particular problems. Following this flight,

4368-490: Is called the RAK.3 to distinguish it from Opel's previous RAK.1 and RAK.2 rocket cars. As it happened, all three names, Opel, Sander, and Hatry were painted on the aircraft (with Opel’s most prominent), as was the RAK.1 designation. The first public flight came on Sept. 30, 1929. Before a large crowd assembled outside of Frankfurt, the intrepid von Opel made a successful flight of almost 3.5 km in 75 seconds, reaching an estimated top speed of around 150 km/h. RAK.1 made

4536-479: Is considered the first fatality of the dawning space age . His protégé Arthur Rudolph went on to develop an improved and safer version of Valier's engine. Sander was eventually engaged in the 1930s in German military projects under General Walter R. Dornberger but was imprisoned for treason by the Nazis and forced to sell his business, he died in 1938. Hatry tried to continue the work on his aircraft developments, but

4704-483: 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 have a swastika marking, in a "low visibility" white outline form, currently displayed on the tailfin. Of the 21 aircraft that were captured by the British, at least three have survived. They were assigned

4872-568: Is the only type of rocket-powered fighter to see combat in history, and one of only two types of rocket-powered aircraft seeing any combat. Japan, who was allied to Nazi Germany, secured the design schematics of the Me 163 Komet. After considerable effort, it successfully established its own production capability, which was used to produce a limited number of its own copies, known as the Mitsubishi J8M , which performed its first powered flight on 7 July 1945. Furthermore, Japan attempted to develop its own domestically designed rocket-powered interceptor,

5040-594: The Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane was cancelled due to lack of purpose; later the studies contributed to the Space Shuttle , which in turn motivated the Soviet Buran . Another similar program was ISINGLASS which was to be a rocket plane launched from a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress carrier, which was intended to achieve Mach 22, but this was never funded. ISINGLASS was intended to overfly

5208-511: The Hawker Hunter F Mk3 at a speed of 1,171 km/h (728 mph), after a normal ground start. Postwar experimental aircraft of the aerodynamic configuration that the Me 163 used, were found to have serious stability problems when entering transonic flight, like the similarly configured, and turbojet powered, Northrop X-4 Bantam and de Havilland DH 108 , which made the V18's record with

Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet - Misplaced Pages Continue

5376-560: The He 112R 's tail for testing – this was done in competition with Wernher von Braun 's bi-propellant, alcohol/ LOX -fed rocket motors, also with the He 112 as a test airframe – and with the Walter catalyzed HTP propulsion format for the first 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 production, as it

5544-451: The Komet was a failure. Although it shot down sixteen aircraft, mainly four-engined bombers, it did not warrant the effort put into the project. Due to fuel shortages late in the war, few went into combat, and it took an experienced pilot with excellent shooting skills to achieve kills. The Komet also inspired later rocket planes such as the vertical-launch Bachem Ba 349 Natter . Ultimately,

5712-409: The Komet was unpowered after exhausting its rocket propellants, and lacked main wheels after landing, from the jettisoning of its "dolly" main gear at takeoff. During flight testing, the superior gliding capability of the Komet proved detrimental to safe landing. As the now un-powered aircraft completed its final descent, it could rise back into the air with the slightest updraft. Since the approach

5880-484: The Komet . The Hertel team had to compete with the Lippisch team and their Me 163C. Hertel investigated the Me 163 and found it was not well suited for mass production and not optimized as a fighter aircraft, with the most glaring deficiency being the lack of retractable landing gear. To accommodate this, what would eventually become the Me 263 V1 prototype would be fitted with the desired tricycle gear, also accommodating

6048-564: The Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270 . The initial test deployment of the Me 163A, to acquaint prospective pilots with the world's first rocket-powered fighter, occurred with Erprobungskommando 16 (Service Test Unit 16, EK 16), led by Major Wolfgang Späte and first established in late 1942, receiving their eight A-model service test aircraft by July 1943. Their initial base was as the Erprobungsstelle (test facility) at

6216-743: The Mizuno Shinryu ; neither the J8M or the Shinryu ever saw combat. The Japanese also produced approximately 850 Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka rocket-powered suicide attack aircraft during the Second World War, a number were deployed in the Battle of Okinawa . Postwar analysis concluded that the Ohka ' s impact was negligible, and that no U.S. Navy capital ships had been hit during the attacks due to

6384-401: The Opel RAK.3 ) was the world's first purpose-built rocket-powered aircraft. It was designed and built by Julius Hatry under commission from Fritz von Opel , who flew it on September 30, 1929 in front of a large crowd at Rebstock airport near Frankfurt am Main . The RAK.1 plane was part of a series of rocket-powered vehicles that were developed and demonstrated within the Opel RAK program,

6552-595: The Peenemünde-West field. They departed permanently the day after an RAF bombing raid on the area on 17 August 1943, moving southwards, to the base at Anklam , near the Baltic coast. Their stay was brief, as a few weeks later they were placed in northwest Germany, based at the military airfield at Bad Zwischenahn from August 1943 to August 1944. EK 16 received their first B-series armed Komets in January 1944, and

6720-506: The Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor , either as a primary or auxiliary engine. The Northrop HL-10, Northrop M2-F2 and Northrop M2-F3 were examples of a lifting body , which are aircraft which have very little if any wing and simply obtain lift from the body of the vehicle. Another example is backslider rockets in amateur rocketry. The EZ-Rocket research and test airplane was first flown in 2001. After evaluating

6888-529: The Ruhr and the German Bight . A typical Me 163 tactic was to fly vertically upward through the bombers at 9,000 m (30,000 ft), climb to 10,700–12,000 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 fire a few rounds from his cannons before gliding back to his airfield. It was often difficult to supply

Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet - Misplaced Pages Continue

7056-462: The SNCASE SE.212 Durandal . In comparison to other French mixed-power experimental aircraft, such as the competing SNCASO Trident prototype interceptor, it was a heavier aircraft, intended to fly primarily on its jet engine rather than its rocket motor. A pair of prototype aircraft were constructed; on 20 April 1956, the first performed its maiden flight, initially flying only using jet power. It

7224-439: The elevon control surfaces, and just behind and at the same angle as the wing's leading edge . It would neither stall nor spin. 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. It would also slip well. Because the Me 163B's airframe design was derived from glider design concepts, it had excellent gliding qualities, and

7392-677: The pitot tube on the leading edge of the port wing, and a small pitot inlet in the nose, just above the top edge of the underskid channel. There was a further tapping-off of pressure-ducted air from the pitot tube which also provided the rate of climb indicator with its source. The resistance group around the Austrian priest Heinrich Maier (later executed) had contacts with the Heinkelwerke in Jenbach in Tyrol , where important components for

7560-475: The 1950s, the British developed several mixed power designs to cover the performance gap that existed in then-current turbojet designs. The rocket was the main engine for delivering the speed and height required for high speed interception of high level bombers and the turbojet gave increased fuel economy in other parts of flight, most notably to ensure that the aircraft was able to make a powered landing rather than risking an unpredictable gliding return. One design

7728-497: The AVUS track in Berlin is not just the daring feat itself, but its aftermath: Both the public and academics have finally seen the light and have begun to believe in the future of the rocket as an engine for new rapid transit devices.« Otto Willi Gail, Illustrierte Zeitung, Leipzig, 1928 Opel, Sander, Valier and Hatry had engaged in a program that led directly to use of jet-assisted takeoff for heavily laden aircraft. The German Reich

7896-514: The B-0. Early in the war, when German aircraft firms created versions of their aircraft for export purposes, the a was added to export ( ausland ) variants (B-1a) or to foreign-built variants (Ba-1) but for the Me 163, there were neither export nor a foreign-built version. Later in the war, the "a" and successive letters were used for aircraft using different engine types: as Me 262 A-1a with Jumo engines, Me 262 A-1b with BMW engines. As

8064-627: The British serial numbers AM200 to AM220. As part of their alliance, Germany provided the Japanese Empire with plans and an example of the Me 163. One of the two submarines carrying Me 163 parts did not arrive in Japan, so 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

8232-516: The British at Husum , the squadron's base at the time of Germany's surrender in 1945. According to the RAF museum, 48 aircraft were captured intact and 24 were shipped to the United Kingdom for evaluation, although only one, VF241 , was test flown (unpowered). Eventually an elderly German woman came forward with Me 163 instruments that her late husband had collected after the war, and the engine

8400-439: The British never tested the Me 163 under power themselves; due to the danger of its hypergolic propellants it was only flown unpowered. Brown himself piloted RAE's Komet VF241 on a number of occasions, the rocket motor being replaced with test instrumentation. When interviewed for a 1990s television programme, Brown said he had flown five tailless aircraft in his career (including the British de Havilland DH 108 ). Referring to

8568-415: The DFS 194's airframe from the earlier DFS 39's wingtip rudders, to a conventional vertical stabilizer at the rear of the aircraft. 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

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8736-548: The EZ-Rocket, the Rocket Racing League developed three separate rocket racer aircraft over the following decade. During 2003, another privately developed rocket-powered aircraft performed its first flight. SpaceShipOne functions both as a rocket-powered aircraft—with wings and aerodynamic control surfaces —as well as a spaceplane —with RCS thrusters for control in the vacuum of space. For their work,

8904-555: The German Reich government. Valier continued the rocket development after the Opel RAK break-up on his own. In collaboration with Heylandt-Werke, he also was focusing his efforts on liquid-fuelled rockets. Their first successful test firing with liquid fuel (five minutes) occurred in the Heylandt plant on 25 January 1930. Valier was killed less than a month later when an alcohol-fuelled rocket exploded on his test bench in Berlin. He

9072-499: The German military, which provided funding for further development of rockets as a replacement for artillery. This led to an array of military applications, among them Germany's V-2 terror weapon, the world’s first ballistic missile. After World War II, these German rocket and missile scientists and engineers would have an immense impact on missile and space programs by the United States of America. Walter J. Boyne , Director of

9240-431: The German rocket enthusiasts. VfR members began to view black powder as a hindrance for rocket propulsion, with Valier himself believing that Paulet's engine was necessary for future rocket development. Paulet would soon be approached by Nazi Germany to help develop rocket technology, though he refused to assist and never shared the formula for his propellant. The Nazi government would then appropriate Paulet's work while

9408-606: The King of Italy Victor Emmanuel III appointed Cattaneo count of Taliedo ; due to his pioneering role in rocket flight, his likeness is displayed in the Space Museum of Saint Petersburg as well as in the Museum of Science and Tech of Milan. The Heinkel He 176 was the world's first aircraft to be propelled solely by a liquid-propellant rocket engine. It performed its first powered flight on 20 June 1939 with Erich Warsitz at

9576-452: The Komet, he said "this is the only one that had good flight characteristics"; he called the other four "killers". It has been claimed that at least 29 Komets were shipped out of Germany after the war and that of those at least 10 have been known to survive the war to be put on display in museums around the world. Most of the 10 surviving Me 163s were part of JG 400, and were captured by

9744-400: The Me 163 Erection & Maintenance manual obtained from Germany. The prototype J8M crashed on its first powered flight and was completely destroyed, but several variants were built and flown, including: trainers , fighters , and interceptors , with only minor differences between the versions. Rocket-powered aircraft Rockets have been used simply to assist the main propulsion in

9912-522: 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 was equipped with two 30 mm (1.18 inch) MK 108 cannons that had a relatively low muzzle velocity of 540 meters per second (1,772 feet/sec), and were accurate only at short range, making it almost impossible to hit

10080-642: The Me 163 was planned with an alternative BMW P3330A rocket engine, it is likely the "a" was used for this purpose on early examples. Only one Me 163, the V10, was tested with the BMW engine, so this designation suffix was soon dropped. The Me 163 B-1a did not have any wingtip "washout" built into it, and as a result, it had a much higher critical Mach number than the Me 163 B-1. The Me 163B had very docile landing characteristics, mostly due to its integrated leading edge slots , located directly forward of

10248-621: The Me 163 were also produced. The group supplied location sketches of the production facilities to the Allies, thus greatly aiding Allied bombers in carrying out targeted air strikes against them. In early 1941, production of a prototype series, known as the Me ;163 , began. Secrecy was such that the RLM's "GL/C" airframe number , 8-163 , was actually that of the earlier Messerschmitt Bf 163 . Three Bf 163-prototypes (V1 to V3) had been built, and it

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10416-556: The Me 163. Prospective Me163 pilots received training in Stummelhabicht gliders which, like the Komet, had a short wingspan and high landing speed. Training included gunnery practice with a machine pistol mounted in the glider nose. As the cockpit was unpressurized, the operational ceiling was limited by what the pilot could endure for several minutes while breathing oxygen from a mask, without losing consciousness. Pilots underwent altitude chamber training to harden them against

10584-551: The Me 163; the only other operational rocket-powered aircraft was the Japanese Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka which was a manned flying bomb. The world's first piloted rocket flights were performed by the German vehicle manufacturer Opel RAK . The first flight of such an aircraft, a rocket-modified glider designed by Alexander Lippisch, took place at Wasserkuppe Mountain on 11 June 1928. Two black powder rockets, designed by Friedrich Wilhelm Sander , were fitted to

10752-450: 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 spring 1945. During this time, there were nine confirmed kills with ten Me 163s lost. Feldwebel Siegfried Schubert was the most successful pilot, with three bombers to his credit. Each engagement would see as many as

10920-519: The Moon , world boxing champion Max Schmeling and many more sports and show business celebrities: A world record for rail vehicles was reached with RAK3 on June 23, 1928, with the car attaining a top speed of 256 km/h over a 5-km stretch of straight track near Hanover. Some 20,000 spectators watched RAK 3 breaking the existing world speed record of railcars by nearly 40 km/h. The resulting international publicity after RAK2 and RAK3 demonstrations

11088-464: The OPEL RAK experimentations with Lippisch's design. Opel did not get the chance to fly it, however, as the aircraft was destroyed by an engine explosion on its second test flight. With a wingspan of just under 12 metres (40 ft), and a length of some 4.3 metres (14 ft), the Ente featured a canoe-like fuselage, canard surfaces, and rudders mounted outboard on a straight rectangular wing. Each of

11256-590: The RLM reassigned the project 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. By the time the design was ready to go into production, the plant where it was to be built was overrun by Soviet forces. While it did not reach operational status, the work was briefly continued by the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) design bureau as

11424-502: The Reich. Although the engine proved to be extremely unreliable, the aircraft had excellent performance, reaching a speed of 550 km/h (340 mph) in one test. It is important to note that the wing sweep incorporated in the design stemmed from its tailless nature and the need to balance centre of gravity and centre of lift positions for stability purposes. It is not possible for a straight winged tailless aircraft to fly, unless it uses

11592-636: The SpaceShipOne team were awarded the Space Achievement Award. In April 2019, the Chinese company Space Transportation carried out a test of a 3,700-kilogram technology demonstrator named Jiageng-1 . The 8.7-meter-long plane has a wingspan of 2.5 meters and it is a part of development of the larger, future Tianxing-I-1 vertical takeoff, horizontal landing reusable launch vehicle. Opel RAK.1 The Opel RAK.1 (also known as

11760-622: The US and eventually to France and Switzerland where he died in 1971. He lived long enough to see the fulfillment of his dreams with the successful Apollo missions which can be traced back to Opel RAK. His sister Elinor von Opel had to flee Germany in 1935 with her sons, Ernst Wilhelm Sachs von Opel and Gunter Sachs von Opel, due a legal battle on her divorce, particularly bitter about the custody of both sons, and because of her public aversion to Nazi leadership, friends of her former husband Willy Sachs . Elinor's German assets were blocked and confiscated by

11928-833: The USSR. No images of the vehicle configuration have been released. The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle was a mixed powered vehicle- a jet engine cancelled 5/6 of the force due to gravity, and the rocket power was able to simulate the Apollo lunar lander. Various versions of the Reaction Motors XLR11 rocket engine powered the X-1 and X-15, but also the Martin Marietta X-24A , Martin Marietta X-24B , Northrop HL-10 , Northrop M2-F2 , Northrop M2-F3 , and

12096-417: 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 fix other problems. 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

12264-437: The X-1 did. The X-1 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 start" ground takeoff, without an air drop from a mother ship. Neville Duke exceeded Heini Dittmar's record mark roughly 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 years after Yeager's achievement (and some 263 km/h short of it) on 31 August 1953 with

12432-401: 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. The additional tank capacity and cockpit pressurization allowed

12600-432: The aircraft and say 'You know, I'm going to fly it to the limit.' You had very much to familiarise yourself with it because it was state-of-the-art and the technology used." Acting unofficially, after a spate of accidents involving Allied 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

12768-522: The aircraft during the attempt. Some postwar aviation history publications stated that the Me 163A V3 was thought to have set the record. The 1,004  km/h (542  kn ; 624  mph ) record figure would not be officially surpassed until after the war, specifically by the American Douglas D-558-1 on 20 August 1947. Ten Me 163As (V4-V13) were built for pilot training and further tests; these were unarmed. During testing of

12936-489: The aircraft took off and flew a 1,500 metre (4,900 ft) circuit of the Wasserkuppe's landing strip. On the second flight, the team decided to try firing both rockets together for increased thrust over a shorter period. Something went wrong, however, and rather than burning properly, one of the rockets exploded, punching holes in both wings and setting the aircraft afire. Stamer was nevertheless able to bring it down from

13104-563: The aircraft were made (most notably the development of the Messerschmitt Me 263 ), but many of these did not see actual combat due to the sustained advancement of the Allied powers into Germany in 1945. After being introduced into service the Me 163 was credited with the destruction of between 9 and 18 Allied aircraft against 10 losses. Aside from the actual combat losses incurred, numerous Me 163 pilots had been killed during testing and training flights. This high loss rate was, at least partially,

13272-439: The aircraft would take off, in a so-called " scharfer Start " ("hot 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 (420 mph) was reached, at which point it would jettison the dolly, retract its extendable skid using a knob-topped release lever just forward of

13440-406: The aircraft’s rear. Due to the use of a forward canard arrangement, Lippisch named the glider "Ente", German for duck. After a failed first attempt, one rocket finally ignited as intended and the Ente lifted off, test pilot Fritz Stamer flying it for 4,900 feet (1,500 m) before making a controlled landing. Another flight using both rockets did not go as planned, as one of the two rockets exploded;

13608-430: The aircraft’s two 200-newton-thrust (44 lbf) rocket engines were tightly packed with about 4 kilograms (8 lb) of black powder. Designed to fire in sequence, the rockets were ignited electrically by the pilot. An automatic counterweight system was set to adjust the aircraft’s center of gravity as the rocket fuel was consumed. An elastic launching rope was used to catapult the Ente into the air. After one false start,

13776-412: The attracted positive publicity for the science of rocketry, but also the Opel company. Nevertheless it was clear to the RAK program leadership, they had no plans to commercially produce rocket cars for end customers, the aim was the development and demonstration of a rocket-powered aircraft. The group continued their land projects and built RAK 2, designed by Volkhart from the ground up as a rocket car. It

13944-426: The car’s wheels on the ground at expected high speeds, the group attached behind each front wheel a small, wing-like stub, set at a negative angle of attack. For propulsion, they elected to use 12 black-powder rockets, mounted in four rows of three rockets each and ignited electrically. The propellant, similar to gunpowder, burned in a subsonic deflagration wave and not in a supersonic detonation wave. A demonstration for

14112-450: The concept of the two-wheel tractor , carrying a detachable third swiveling wheel at the extreme rear of its design for stability in normal use—this swiveling third wheel was replaced with a pivoting, special retrieval trailer that rolled on a pair of short, triple-wheeled continuous track setups (one per side) for military service wherever the Komet was based. This retrieval trailer usually possessed twin trailing lifting arms, that lifted

14280-568: The controls. The He 176, while demonstrated to the Reich Air Ministry did not attract much official support, leading to Heinkel abandoning its rocket propulsion endeavours; the sole aircraft was briefly displayed at the Berlin Air Museum and was destroyed by an Allied bombing raid in 1943. The first rocket plane ever to be mass-produced was the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet interceptor, introduced by Germany towards

14448-432: The course and personally went over every detail of the plane — cables, fittings and rockets... Finally I draw a deep breath and then ignite. Tremendous pressure! I feel the machine racing forward. It tries to rear like a horse. Thus I race into space as in a dream, without any feeling for space or time. The machine practically flies itself. I scarcely need to touch the wheel. I only feel the boundless intoxicating joy of making

14616-431: The damaged aircraft took off due to the active intact rocket, but the control surfaces did not work and much of it aflame, Stamer barely survived while fire destroyed the Ente. After the Ente's loss, Fritz von Opel commissioned a dedicated rocket plane, the Opel RAK.1 . It was designed by Julius Hatry , another early Wasserkuppe pioneer, and also equipped with Friedrich Sander's Opel RAK rockets. The first public flight of

14784-403: The death of test pilot Charles Goujon. Two months later, all work was halted on the programme. The advancement of the turbojet engine output, the advent of missiles, and advances in radar had made a return to mixed power unnecessary. The development of Soviet rockets and satellites was the driving force behind the development of NASA's space program. In the early 1960s, American research into

14952-452: The design was the short flight time, which never met the projections made by Walter. Being capable of a maximum of seven and a half minutes of powered flight - which was only roughly 25% of the 30-minute combat time that the "light-class" Heinkel He 162 A Spatz single-BMW 003 jet fighter possessed, when the Komet entered combat in April 1945; the solely rocket-powered Me 163B fighter truly was

15120-415: The development of an operational version was encouraged, the Me 163 programme was not assigned the highest priority due to competition from other projects; this lack of focus protracted its development. 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-scale production. The result

15288-431: The effect that they were acting under his orders. On the rocket-powered " scharfer-start " takeoff the next day, after dropping the takeoff dolly and retracting the skid, Brown later described the resultant climb as "like being in charge of a runaway train", the aircraft reaching 32,000 feet (9,800 m) altitude in 2 minutes, 45 seconds. During the flight, while practicing attacking passes at an American B-17 bomber, he

15456-609: The effective defensive tactics that were employed. Other experimental aircraft included the Soviet Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 that flew in 1942 while the Northrop XP-79 was originally planned with rocket engines but switched to jet engines for its first and only flight in 1945. A rocket-assisted P-51D Mustang was developed by North American Aviation that could attain 515 mph (829 km/h). The engine ran on fumaric acid and aniline which

15624-478: The final years of the conflict as one of several efforts to develop effective rocket-powered aircraft. The Luftwaffe's first dedicated Me 163 fighter wing, Jagdgeschwader 400 (JG 400) was established in 1944, and was principally tasked with providing additional protection for the manufacturing plants producing synthetic gasoline , which were prominent targets for Allied air raids . It was planned to station further defensive units of rocket fighters around Berlin ,

15792-489: The first aircraft to break the speed of sound in level flight, and would be the first of a series of NACA/NASA rocket-powered aircraft. Amongst these experimental aircraft were the North American X-15 and X-15A2 designs, which were operated for around a decade and eventually attained a maximum speed of Mach 6.7 as well as a peak altitude in excess of 100 km, setting new records in the process. During

15960-439: The first rocket-powered flights but also the speed records of the land vehicles, were described in the media as the start of a new era: »… Nevertheless, few, if any, among the many thousands of onlookers who witnessed the demonstration on the AVUS track could help but feel that we are poised at the beginning of a new era.« (…) P. Friedmann, Das Motorrad No. 12/1928, June 9, 1928 »The amazing thing about Opel’s rocket run on

16128-496: The first test flight, following up with the maiden flight of the second prototype XD151, on 6 December 1957. During the subsequent flight test programme, these two prototypes flew 56 separate test flights, during which a maximum speed of Mach 1.33 was recorded. Furthermore, since late 1953, Saunders-Roe had worked upon a derivative of the SR.53, which was separately designated as the SR.177 ;

16296-435: The form of jet assisted take off (JATO) also known as rocket-assisted takeoff ( RATO or RATOG ). Not all rocket planes are of the conventional takeoff like "normal" aircraft. Some types have been air-launched from another plane, while other types have taken off vertically – nose in the air and tail to the ground (" tail-sitters "). Because of the use of heavy propellants and other practical difficulties of operating rockets,

16464-483: The fuselage that it charged, provided electrical power for various pieces of onboard equipment. Such apparatus included the radio , reflector gunsight (either Revi16B, -C, or -D), direction finder , compass , firing circuits for the twin cannons, as well as some of the lighting for the cockpit instrumentation. Due to the limited capacity of the battery, the fitting of an electrical generator had been necessary. The airspeed indicator averaged readings from two sources:

16632-399: The help of a cooperative German ground crew, after initial towed flights in an Me 163A to familiarise himself with the handling. 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

16800-625: The initial plan was a course from Frankfurt to Rüsselsheim, site of the Opel Automobile Works and about 16 km due southwest. At the last minute, however, the Government intervened in the name of safety: There was fear that he might crash into a village or railroad station. He was thus obliged to confine the flight to the immediate environs of the Rebstock Airport, set in an otherwise uninhabited forest glade. As for

16968-408: The intercepting fighters could dive. A typical Me 163 tactic was to fly vertically upward through the bombers at 9,000 m (30,000 ft), climb to 10,700–12,000 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 fire a few rounds from his cannons before gliding back to his airfield. The pilots reported it

17136-470: The jet engines alone would be used to return to base. On 2 March 1953, the first prototype Trident I conducted the type's maiden flight ; flown by test pilot Jacques Guignard, the aircraft used the entire length of the runway to get airborne, being powered only by its turbojet engines. On 1 September 1953, second Trident I prototype crashed during its first flight after struggling to gain altitude after takeoff and colliding with an electricity pylon . Despite

17304-493: The lifting arms and could also be towed by the Scheuch-Schlepper tractor, inflating the air bags to lift the aircraft. The three-wheeled Scheuch-Schlepper tractor used for the task was originally meant for farm use, but such a vehicle with a specialized trailer—which could also lift the Me 163's airframe completely clear of the ground to effect the recovery as a normal part of the Me 163's intended use—was required as

17472-564: The loss, the French Air Force were impressed by the Trident's performance and were keen to have an improved model into service. On 21 May 1957, the first Trident II, 001 , was destroyed during a test flight out of Centre d'Essais en Vol (Flight Test Center); caused when highly volatile rocket fuel and oxidiser, Furaline ( C 13 H 12 N 2 O) and Nitric acid (HNO 3 ) respectively, accidentally mixed and exploded, resulting in

17640-532: The lower-thrust B-version of the new twin-chamber engine (mandating twin combustion chamber pressure gauges on the instrument panel of any Komet equipped with them), a retractable tailwheel, and tested in spring 1944. The main Hauptofen combustion chamber of the 509B engine used for the B V6 and V18 occupied the same location as the A-series' engine did, with the lower Marschofen cruise chamber housed within

17808-635: The majority of rocket planes have been built for experimental or research use, as interceptor fighters and space aircraft . Peruvian polymath Pedro Paulet conceptualized the Avión Torpedo in 1902 – a liquid-propellant rocket -powered aircraft that featured a canopy fixed to a delta tiltwing – spending decades seeking donors for the aircraft while serving as a diplomat in Europe and Latin America. Paulet's concept of using liquid-propellant

17976-456: The maximum altitude to increase to 15,850 m (52,000 ft), as well as 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 only one was flown, but without its intended engine. By this time the project was moved to Junkers. There, a new design effort under the direction of Heinrich Hertel at Dessau attempted to improve

18144-544: The needed fuel for operating the rocket motors. In the final days of the Third Reich , the Me 163 was withdrawn in favor of the more successful Messerschmitt Me 262 , which used jet propulsion instead. Other German rocket-powered aircraft were pursued as well, including the Bachem Ba 349 "Natter", a vertical takeoff manned rocket interceptor aircraft that flew in prototype form. Further projects never even reached

18312-453: 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 ). The new powerplant and numerous detail design changes meant to simplify production over the general A-series airframe design resulted in

18480-582: The partly completed DFS 194 to the Messerschmitt works at Augsburg . The delays caused by this move allowed the engine development to catch up. Once at Messerschmitt, the team decided to abandon the propeller-powered version and move directly to rocket-power. The airframe was completed in Augsburg and in early 1940 was shipped to receive its engine at Peenemünde-West , one of the quartet of Erprobungsstelle -designated military aviation test facilities of

18648-669: The pilot of some 120 litres (31.7 US gal) of the chemically active T-Stoff oxidizer, split between two auxiliary oxidizer tanks of equal volume to either side within the lower flanks of the cockpit area—besides the main oxidizer tank of some 1,040-litre (275 US 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. Two prototypes were followed by 30 Me 163 B-0 pre-production aircraft armed with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon and some 400 Me 163 B-1 production aircraft armed with two 30 mm (1.18-inch) MK 108 cannons , but which were otherwise similar to

18816-699: The point defense role that the Me 163 played would be taken over by the surface-to-air missile , Messerschmitt's own example being the Enzian . Captain Eric Brown RN, Chief Naval Test Pilot and commanding officer of the Captured Enemy Aircraft Flight , who tested the Me 163 at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough , said, "The Me 163 was an aeroplane that you could not afford to just step into

18984-500: The press and public, von Opel this time sincerely wished to keep them within limits, "to avoid any possible trouble with the unruly crowds." According to Winter, von Opel had invited a few newspaper media and granted exclusive American rights to The New York Times and Fox Movietone for filming. Nevertheless, Universal Newsreel of the US also found a way to report on the flight with film footage as "Speeds through air in rocket airplane - Fritz von Opel, millionaire daredevil, goes one and

19152-625: The press on April 11, 1928, in Rüsselsheim was arranged: Opel engineer and race driver Kurt C. Volkhart developed and tested the Opel-RAK 1, a converted racing car equipped with Sander rockets instead of an internal combustion engine, which was the first rocket powered automobile. During the April 1928 experiments, piloted by Volkhart, RAK 1 reached the symbolic speed of 100 km/h in just eight seconds. Von Opel, Sander and Valier were satisfied by RAK 1’s performance, and in particular by

19320-402: The previous several months. After the flight (according to one account), she was the first to run up and congratulate him. Ten minutes after the flight, von Opel wrote down his impressions, which he afterwards dispatched to The New York Times as his exclusive. "My first rocket flight!," he began. "...For today's flight I have trained for a year... For an hour before this morning's start I inspected

19488-407: The principal change was the presence of an onboard radar , lacking on the SR.53 and the Avro 720 as it not being a requirement of the specification, but left the pilot dependent on his own vision other than radio-based directions supplied from ground-based radar control. Both the SR.53 and its SR.177 cousin were relatively close to attain production status when wider political factors bore down upon

19656-572: The programme being terminated. At the request of the French Air Staff, the French aircraft company SNCASO also developed its own point defence interceptor, the SNCASO Trident . It was primarily powered by a single SEPR-built rocket engine and augmented with a set of wing-tip mounted turbojet engines; operationally, both rocket and turbojet engines were to be used to perform a rapid climb and interception at high altitudes, while

19824-524: The programme. During 1957, a massive re-thinking of air defence philosophy in Britain occurred, which was embodied in the 1957 Defence White Paper . This paper called for manned combat aircraft to be replaced by missiles , and thus the prospects of an order from the RAF evaporated overnight. While both the Royal Navy and Germany remained potential customers for the SR.177, the confidence of both parties

19992-477: The prototype (A-series) aircraft, the jettisonable undercarriage presented a serious problem. The original dollies possessed well-sprung independent suspension for each wheel, and as the aircraft took off, the large springs rebounded and threw the dolly upward, striking the aircraft. In comparison, the production (B-series) aircraft used much simpler, crossbeam-axled dollies, and relied on the landing skid's oleo-pneumatic strut to absorb ground-running impacts during

20160-722: The prototype stage, such as the Zeppelin Rammer , the Fliegende Panzerfaust and the Focke-Wulf Volksjäger . Having a much larger size than any other rocket-powered endeavor of the conflict, the Silbervogel antipodal bomber spaceplane was planned by the Germans, however, later calculations showed that design would not have worked, instead being destroyed during reentry. The Me 163 Komet

20328-517: The rear edge of the canopy. The corrosive nature of the liquids, especially for the T-Stoff oxidizer, required special protective gear for the pilots. To help prevent explosions, the engine and the propellant storage and delivery systems were frequently and thoroughly hosed down and flushed with water run through the propellant tanks and the rocket engine's propellant systems before and after flights, to clean out any remnants. The relative "closeness" to

20496-495: The retractable tailwheel's appropriately widened ventral tail fairing. 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 airframe modifications beneath the original rocket motor orifice to accept the extra combustion chamber, set a new unofficial world speed record of 1,130 km/h (702 mph), piloted by Heini Dittmar, and landed with almost all of

20664-588: The rigors of operating in the thin air of the stratosphere without a pressure suit . Special low fiber diets were prepared for pilots, as gas in the gastrointestinal tract would expand rapidly during ascent. 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's purpose

20832-507: The significantly modified Me 163B of late 1941. Due to the Reichsluftfahrtministerium requirement that it should be possible to throttle the engine, the original power plant grew complicated and lost reliability. The fuel system was particularly troublesome, as leaks incurred during hard landings easily caused fires and explosions. Metal fuel lines and fittings, which failed in unpredictable ways, were used as this

21000-499: The single chamber 509A version, with the C-version having a forward chamber shape of a more cylindrical nature, designed for a higher top thrust level of some 2,000 kg (4,410 lb) of thrust, while simultaneously dropping the use of the cubic-shape frame for the forward engine propellant flow/turbopump mechanisms as used by the earlier -A and -B versions. The 509B and 509C rocket motors' main combustion chambers were supported by

21168-460: The start that their experiments with cars were only a prelude to grander experiments with air- and spacecraft: They agreed on the final goal for Opel RAK of working on rocket-powered aircraft at the same time they were building their famous rocket cars, as pre-condition for the anticipated spaceflight application. The group went to an Opel race car, “RAK 1.” The RAK 1 demonstrator was stripped of its engine and radiator to reduce weight. To help keep

21336-405: The stationary aircraft off the ground from under each wing whenever it was not already on its twin-wheel dolly main gear, as when the aircraft had landed on its ventral skid and tailwheel after a mission. Another form of trailer, known also 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

21504-530: 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 . This version used wingtip -mounted rudders that Lippisch felt would cause problems at high speed. Lippisch changed the system of vertical stabilization for

21672-452: The takeoff run, as well as to absorb 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 be for takeoff), the impact of a hard touchdown on the skid could cause back injuries to the pilot. Once on the ground, the aircraft had to be retrieved by a Scheuch-Schlepper , a converted small agricultural vehicle, originally based on

21840-590: The tarpaulin off the Opel RAK 2 and carefully pushed it to the start. Eventually the rockets were installed and connected to the ignition mechanism. Police cleared the AVUS track and von Opel drove the RAK 2 car to a record-setting speed of 238 km/h, successfully mastering the challenge of insufficient downforce from the wings for these velocities. The RAK 2 rockets were operational for a ride of circa three minutes, watched by 3,000 spectators and world media, among them Fritz Lang , director of Metropolis and Woman in

22008-462: The tendency to continue flying above the ground due to ground effect . On the other hand, making a too close turn from base onto final, the sink rate would increase, and one could quickly lose altitude and come in short. Another main difference from a propeller-driven aircraft is that there was no slipstream over the rudder. On takeoff, one had to attain the speed at which the aerodynamic controls become effective—about 129 km/h (80 mph)—and that

22176-492: The throttle (as both levers were located atop the cockpit's portside 120-litre T-Stoff oxidizer tank) that engaged the aforementioned pneumatic cylinder, and then pull up into a 70° angle of climb, to a bomber's altitude. It could go higher if required, reaching 12,000 m (39,000 ft) in an unheard-of three minutes. Once there, it would level off and quickly accelerate to around 880 km/h (550 mph) or faster, which no Allied fighter could match. The usable Mach number

22344-555: The thrust tube exactly as the 509A motor's single chamber had been. They were tuned for high power for takeoff and climb. 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. These HWK 109–509B and C motors would improve endurance by as much as 50%. Two 163 Bs, models V6 and V18, were experimentally fitted with

22512-497: The trailer's arms to hoist the aircraft off the ground or place it back on its take-off dolly to tow it back to its maintenance area. At the end of 1944, 91 aircraft had been delivered to JG 400, but a persistent lack of fuel had kept most 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 point, JG 400 had lost only six aircraft due to enemy action. Nine Me 163s had been lost to other causes, remarkably few for such

22680-446: The truck left 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. 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

22848-520: The twin-chamber Walter rocket from the start—later it was assigned to the Ju 248 program. The resulting Junkers Ju 248 used a three-section fuselage to ease construction. The V1 prototype was completed for testing in August 1944, and was glider-tested behind a Junkers Ju 188 . Some sources state that the Walter 109–509C engine was fitted in September, but it was probably never tested under power. At this point

23016-499: The upgraded Me 163B , which was optimized for large-scale production. During early July 1944, German test pilot Heini Dittmar reached 1,130 km/h (700 mph), an unofficial flight airspeed record that remained unmatched by turbojet -powered aircraft until 1953. That same year, the Me 163 began flying operational missions, being typically used to defend against incoming enemy bombing raids . As part of their alliance with Empire of Japan , Germany provided design schematics and

23184-414: The upper surface of the Komet triggered the weapons by detecting the change in brightness when the aircraft flew under a bomber. As each shell shot upwards, the disposable gun barrel that fired it was ejected downwards, thus making the weapon recoilless . It appears that this weapon was used in combat only once, resulting in the destruction of a Lancaster bomber on 10 April 1945. The biggest concern about

23352-524: The vertical rudder surface broken away from flutter. This record was not broken in terms of absolute speed until 6 November 1947 by Chuck Yeager in flight number 58 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). However, it is unclear if Dittmar's flight achieved sufficient altitude for its speed to be considered supersonic, as

23520-512: The weight of the fuel, but the wheels, forming a takeoff dolly under the landing skid, were released shortly after takeoff . The designers planned to use the forthcoming Walter R-1-203 cold engine of 400 kg (880 lb) thrust, which like the self-contained Walter HWK 109-500 Starthilfe RATO booster rocket unit, used a monopropellant consisting of stabilized HTP known by the name T-Stoff . Heinkel had also been working with Hellmuth Walter on his rocket engines, mounting them in

23688-410: The work of the German aeronautical engineer Alexander Lippisch and the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS). Initially an experimental programme that drew upon traditional glider designs while integrating various new innovations such as the rocket engine, the development ran into organisational issues until Lippisch and his team were transferred to Messerschmitt in January 1939. Plans for

23856-524: The world's first large-scale rocket program. The idea to build and race a rocket-powered car as an intermediate step to realize rocket-powered aviation and even spaceflight was suggested to von Opel by Max Valier . After the World War I, Valier became highly interested in rocketry. Valier, in 1927, he was one of the co-founders of the German Verein für Raumschiffahrt , or "Spaceflight Society",

24024-424: Was always a critical factor. Pilots accustomed to flying propeller-driven aircraft had to be 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 training. The performance of the Me 163 far exceeded that of contemporary piston engine fighters. At a speed of over 320 km/h (200 mph)

24192-635: Was completely overloaded with production of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and attempts to bring the Me 210 into service. Production in a dispersed network was handed over to Klemm, but quality control problems were such that the work was later given to Junkers, who were, at that time, underworked. As with many German designs of World War II's later years, parts of the airframe (especially the wings) were made of wood by furniture manufacturers. The older Me 163A and first Me 163B prototypes were used for training. It

24360-467: Was constructed in response to a Soviet Air Forces requirement issued during the previous year for a rocket -powered interceptor aircraft in the point-defence role. The design of the I-270 incorporated several pieces of technology that had been developed by Sergei Korolev between 1932 and 1943. During 1947, a key milestone in aviation history was reached by the rocket-powered Bell X-1 , which became

24528-540: Was decades ahead of rocket engineers at the time who utilized black powder as a propellant. Reports of Paulet's rocket aircraft concept first appeared in 1927 after Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic Ocean in an aircraft. Paulet publicly criticized Austrian rocket pioneer Max Valier 's proposal about a rocket-powered aircraft completing the journey faster using black powder, arguing that his liquid-propellant rocket aircraft from thirty years earlier would be

24696-615: Was enormous and gave the science of rocketry a major boost. A replica of the RAK 2 rocket-propelled car is on display at the Opel museum in Rüsselsheim , another one at the "Deutsches Museum" in Munich. After testing at Wasserkuppe , in June 1928, Fritz von Opel had purchased an Alexander Lippisch -designed sailplane , the Ente , and fitted it with rockets. Fritz Stamer was the pilot during

24864-649: Was far larger and more streamlined than its predecessor. The RAK 2 was powered by 24 rockets packing 264 pounds of explosives. On May 23, 1928, Fritz von Opel himself demonstrated the car, Opel RAK 2, on the Avus Speedway near Berlin . Prior to the start Professor Johann Schütte, Chairman of the Scientific Society of Aviation, and Fritz von Opel held prophetic speeches on the future of rocket-based aviation and spaceflight. After these introductory remarks, mechanics August Becker and Karl Treber then took

25032-504: Was felt that the monopropellant fuel's high reactivity with organic matter would be too dangerous in a wooden fuselage structure. Work continued under the code name Projekt X . The division of work between DFS and Heinkel led to problems, notably that DFS seemed incapable of building even a prototype fuselage. Lippisch eventually asked to leave DFS and join Messerschmitt instead. On 2 January 1939, Lippisch moved with his team and

25200-478: Was first to test the approach in August 1929 when a battery of solid rocket propellants supported a Junkers Ju-33 seaplane to get airborne. The Opel RAK experiments had a tremendous influence on Lippisch, whose experience with the rocket-powered "Ente" eventually paved the way to the Messerschmitt Me-163 , the first operational rocket fighter craft. The Opel RAK experiments excited also the interest of

25368-473: Was not a straightforward target to down. Another Allied method of engagement was to attack the airfields from which the Komets operated, performing strafing runs upon them after the Me 163s had landed. Due to the skid-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 two rear arms under the wing panels, and jack up

25536-416: Was planned to introduce the Me 163S , which removed the rocket engine and tank capacity and placed a second seat for the instructor above and behind the pilot, with his own canopy. The Me 163S would be used for glider landing training, which as explained above, was essential to operate the Me 163. It appears that the Me 163S was produced via the conversion of the earlier Me 163B series prototypes. In service,

25704-411: Was possible to make four passes on a bomber, but only if it was flying alone. According to the historian Mano Ziegler, German officials were allegedly considering using the Me 163 to directly ram into enemy aircraft in suicide attacks; this desperate tactic was never actually used. During early 1944, routine aerial reconnaissance flights over German aerodromes had made the Allies aware of the existence of

25872-665: 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 prototype (V41), bearing the Stammkennzeichen PK+QL. As EK 16 commenced small-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 even faster than

26040-444: Was reproduced by a machine shop owned by Me 163 enthusiast Reinhold Opitz. The factory closed in the early 1990s and "Yellow 25" was moved to a small museum created on the site. The museum contained aircraft that had once 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

26208-597: Was shaken by the move. Further factors, such as the Lockheed bribery scandals to compel overseas nations to order the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter , also served to undermine the sale prospects of the SR.177, costing potential customers such as Germany and Japan. Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, the French Air Staff also had considerable interest in rocket-powered aircraft. According to author Michel van Pelt, French Air Force officials were against

26376-418: Was sidelined by the Nazis since he had a Jewish grandfather. He had to start anew and became a screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Finally, Hatry is drawn into theater and fiction. As last survivor of the original RAK.1 aircraft team, he died in 2000. The impact of Opel RAK was both immediate and long-lasting on later spaceflight pioneers, but also on the general audience and media. The experiments, not only

26544-459: 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 risk 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". By this point, Messerschmitt

26712-484: Was stored in two 75-US-gallon (280 L) under wing drop tanks. The plane was tested in flight in April 1945. The rocket engine could run for about a minute. Similarly, the Messerschmitt Me 262 "Heimatschützer" series used a combination of rocket and jet propulsion to allow for shorter take-offs, faster climb rate, and even greater speeds. During 1946, the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270

26880-434: Was surprised at how well the Komet accelerated in the dive with the engine shut down. 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 flat angle of glide, the aircraft touching down at 200 km/h (120 mph). Once down safely, Brown and his much-relieved ground crew celebrated with a drink. Beyond Brown's unauthorised flight,

27048-635: Was the Avro 720 , which was primarily propelled by an 8,000 lbf (36 kN) Armstrong Siddeley Screamer rocket engine that ran on kerosene fuel mixed with liquid oxygen as the oxidizing agent . Work on the Avro 720 was abandoned shortly after the Air Ministry 's decision to terminate development of the Screamer rocket engine, allegedly due to official concerns regarding the practicality of using liquid oxygen, which boils at -183 °C (90 K) and

27216-473: Was the Me 163B subtype that had the desired, more mass-producible fuselage, wing panel, retractable landing skid and tailwheel designs with the previously mentioned unsprung dolly takeoff gear, and a generally one-piece conical nose for the forward fuselage which could incorporate a turbine for supplementary electrical power while in flight, as well as a one-piece, perimeter frame-only hinged canopy for ease of production. Meanwhile, Walter had started work on

27384-501: Was the best technology available. Both fuel and oxidizer were toxic and required extreme care when loading in the aircraft, yet there were occasions when Komets exploded on the tarmac from the propellants' hypergolic nature. 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. For safety purposes,

27552-418: Was the second prototype that first made use of the rocket motor during April 1957. During flight testing, a maximum speed of 1,444 kilometres per hour (897 mph) was attained at an altitude of12,300 metres (40,400 ft), even without using the extra power of the rocket motor; this rose to 1667 km/h at 11,800 m while the rocket was active. A total of 45 test flights were performed prior to work on

27720-518: Was then going at 90 mph (150 km/h). According to Heinz Gartmann, "a downward gust of wind, coinciding with the edge of the landing ground, caused him to make a forced landing after only using up five rockets. At a speed of 80 mph (129 km/h) this was a difficult feat, and Opel hit the ground with a crash as the landing-skid broke and the cockpit floor was shaved away, leaving him hanging by his safety-belt with an inch to spare." Officially, von Opel had been aloft for an estimated 75 seconds, attaining

27888-524: Was thought that foreign intelligence services would conclude any reference to the number "163" was for that earlier design. During May 1941, the first prototype Me 163A , V4, was shipped to Peenemünde to receive the HWK RII-203 engine. By 2 October 1941, Me 163A V4, bearing the radio call sign letters, or Stammkennzeichen , "KE+SW", set a new world speed record of 1,004.5 km/h (624.2 mph), piloted by Heini Dittmar , with no apparent damage to

28056-461: Was to provide additional protection for the Leuna synthetic gasoline works which were raided frequently during almost all of 1944. A further group was stationed at Stargard near Stettin to protect the large synthetic fuel plant at Pölitz (today Police, Poland ). Further defensive units of rocket fighters were planned for Berlin , the Ruhr , and the German Bight . The first actions involving

28224-408: Was unpowered, there was no opportunity to make another landing pass. For production models, a set of landing flaps allowed somewhat more controlled landings. This issue remained a problem throughout the program. Nevertheless, the overall performance was tremendous, and plans were made to put Me 163 squadrons all over Germany in 40-kilometre rings (25 mi) around any potential target. However, while

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