ccheese
Member In Perpetuity
A short time ago, a thread was started pertaining to the German pilots who
intentionally rammed allied bombers over Germany. These were not intended
to be suicide missions, the pilot was suppose to bail out before the hit, or
hit a bomber with his wing, and (hopefully) bail out after the collision.
But, Germany did start a program of suicide pilots, flying the V-1 designed
with a cockpit. This was the V-1e program. Fortunately it never got passed
the testing phase. Hanna Reitsch, a test pilot, made several flights in the
V-1e, but some German pilots were killed trying to test it.
It was a suicide mission, the V-1e was not intended to be recovered.
It would have been launched, then guided to its target by a pilot on a
suicide mission. Similar to the Japanese kamikaze concept, the V-1e
group was code-named Project Reichenberg.
The V-1e was about 27 feet long and employed a cockpit and pilot
instrumentation. The V-1e was test flown several times by German
test pilot Hanna Reitsch, and other pilots.
Reitsch confirmed that the basic V-1 airframe was prone to severe
vibration resulting from engine noise. She believed the deployment
of the V-1e as introduced would result in significant pilot losses,
even if the pilot had agreed to perform a suicide mission. The Germans
could not sustain design changes late in the war, so the V-1e was never
deployed in combat.
Makes you wonder .......
Charles
intentionally rammed allied bombers over Germany. These were not intended
to be suicide missions, the pilot was suppose to bail out before the hit, or
hit a bomber with his wing, and (hopefully) bail out after the collision.
But, Germany did start a program of suicide pilots, flying the V-1 designed
with a cockpit. This was the V-1e program. Fortunately it never got passed
the testing phase. Hanna Reitsch, a test pilot, made several flights in the
V-1e, but some German pilots were killed trying to test it.
It was a suicide mission, the V-1e was not intended to be recovered.
It would have been launched, then guided to its target by a pilot on a
suicide mission. Similar to the Japanese kamikaze concept, the V-1e
group was code-named Project Reichenberg.
The V-1e was about 27 feet long and employed a cockpit and pilot
instrumentation. The V-1e was test flown several times by German
test pilot Hanna Reitsch, and other pilots.
Reitsch confirmed that the basic V-1 airframe was prone to severe
vibration resulting from engine noise. She believed the deployment
of the V-1e as introduced would result in significant pilot losses,
even if the pilot had agreed to perform a suicide mission. The Germans
could not sustain design changes late in the war, so the V-1e was never
deployed in combat.
Makes you wonder .......
Charles