Fieseler Reichenberg Re IV (Fi 103)

[Snautzer01]

 

[Wurger]

Interesting shots.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Nice!

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Snautzer01]

 

[stona]

They built about 175 of these things before the project was abandoned in late 1944. Some claim that as many as 70 pilots were being trained to fly them. Contrary to popular belief flying one of these was not supposed to be a suicide mission, the pilot was to parachute to safety. It's a good job they never tried it
Cheers
Steve

 

[Wurger]

 

[Snautzer01]

They built about 175 of these things before the project was abandoned in late 1944. Some claim that as many as 70 pilots were being trained to fly them. Contrary to popular belief flying one of these was not supposed to be a suicide mission, the pilot was to parachute to safety. It's a good job they never tried it
Cheers
Steve

What makes you so sure? There were several other kamikaze projects which i have documentation of. They called it "Bemannte geschosse"

 

[FLYBOYJ]

"When Werner Baumbach assumed command of KG 200 in October 1944, he shelved the Reichenberg in favour of the Mistel project. He and Speer eventually met with Hitler on 15 March 1945 and managed to convince him that suicide missions were not part of the German warrior tradition, and later that day Baumbach ordered the Reichenberg unit to be disbanded"

Leonidas Squadron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Snautzer01]

Die bemannte geschosse der deutschen Kamikaze (prt 1)
From "Waffen Revue" nr 87 from IV quartal 1992 publisher Publizistiche Archiv fur Militar- und Waffenwessen gegr 1956 Karl R Pawlas pages 65 to 82

Die bemannte geschosse der deutschen Kamikaze (prt 2)
From "Waffen Revue" nr 88 from I quartal 1993 publisher Publizistiche Archiv fur Militar- und Waffenwessen gegr 1956 Karl R Pawlas pages 31 to 54

Die bemannte Glietbombe Me328B (manned german gliderbomb)
From "Waffen Revue" nr 88 from I quartal 1993 publisher Publizistiche Archiv fur Militar- und Waffenwessen gegr 1956 Karl R Pawlas pages 93 to 122

The Reichenberg came second after the Me328. Although they did not put them in action the possibility and study in to it was certainly there. For sure the Reichenberg was developed for just such a one way deal.

 

[GrauGeist]

The first two photos and the one in post #5 are the Fieseler Fi103R, the un-manned version was the Fi103 or simply called the V-1

While the Fi301R was flown many times in testing trials (with a considerable amount of crashes as a result), none of the aircraft were used on missions against Allied targets.

The "Bemannte geschosse" or "Manned Bullet/missile" is better associated with the Ba349 "Natter Viper", which also was not used in combat and killed it's test pilot and unlike the Fi103R, was intended to launch rockets at it's target and return to earth with it's pilot compartment by parachute.

The Fi103R was closer to the Yokosuka MXY7 "Ohka" which was used in combat by the Japanese (though with little success).

 

[Snautzer01]

T

The "Bemannte geschosse" or "Manned Bullet/missile" is better associated with the Ba349 "Natter Viper",

To be fair there were others like Me328B, Bv40 not as spectacular as The Natter , but developed quite far

 

[GrauGeist]

To be fair there were others like Me328B, Bv40 not as spectacular as The Natter , but developed quite far

There were "some", but none prepared operationally like the Fi103R (with additional marks: R I, R II, R III, R IV, R V) and the Ba349.

There were ones proposed and some built:
Zepplin "Fliegende Panzerfaust", One full-sized mockup made.
Zepplin "Rammjäger", 16 ordered by RLM, none ever produced.
Sombold So344 "Schußjäger", scale model built for testing.
DFS "Eber", none built.
Blohm Voss Bv40 attack glider, 7 built, none used.

 

[Graeme]

And this must be the French version of the V1? The Arsenal 5501...

 

[Capt. Vick]

The US made straight-up knock-off of the V-1 for use against Japan. They surrendered before it could be used. The pulse-jet was made by Ford and the rest by Republic. The US Navy version was called the JB-1 Loon IIRC

 

[nuuumannn]

The US Navy version was called the JB-1 Loon IIRC

There's a Loon in a museum here in New Zealand, but it was once gaudily painted with a swastika to make it look 'German' and I remember seeing it as a kid at a parade through town on a float! The weirdest thing. Still don't know why a 'V-1' was put on a parade float!

 

[Capt. Vick]

Hahahahaha

 

[stona]

None of the German projects often described as 'suicide missions' from ramming to manned flying bombs to the 'Natter' were intended to actually kill the pilot. All, at least theoretically, gave the pilot the opportunity to escape. We know that this was not always the case, some pilots chose to go into that B-17 or bridge at the controls in true kamikaze style.

The Ba 349 had an elaborate system for jettisoning the nose, the pilot would then release his harness and push the control column forward. This would release the tail parachute (to save the motor) and the deceleration would throw the pilot free to deploy his parachute. The system on the Fi 103 was rather simpler as nothing apart from the pilot was supposed to be re-used, but it still had a canopy jettison mechanism to aid escape. At least one person did manage to bail out of a Fi 103, though how many could have managed in an operational scenario is something we'll never know.
I doubt the Japanese 'Okha' had such a system, or that there was even room to wear a parachute in the cockpit.

Cheers

Steve

 

[GrauGeist]

The MXY7 was a pure suicide craft.

While very few hits were accomplished out of all of the missions conducted, all Okha pilots perished with their aircraft.

 

[Snautzer01]