Me-163
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Lightning Guy
Master Sergeant
- 2,511
- Apr 29, 2004
Very few, if any, kills were scored by the Me-163. I imagine Erich will have more precise information on that. I believe some of the Me-163s were fitted with five upward-firing 50mm rockets in each wing triggered by a photo-receptor on the upper fuselage. When a 163 flew beneath an Allied bomber it would great a shadow firing the rockets into the bomber's belly. Potentially a devestating weapon but I don't think it worked so well in practice.
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Erich
the old Sage
yes the Me 163 was a flop but still during ww2 a wild example of what the German drawing boards could produce.
Talking with Gruppenkommandeur Rudi Opitz of II./JG 400 several years ago he said the biggest problem was landing the silly liitle bug on a single skid and hopeful that both the toxic and explosive fuels had been evaporated during flight otherwise............well you can let your imagination go if you think about how these poor pilots suffered.
Fuels were such a premium that the whole Geschwader was almost abandoned by january of 45 as the complex mixtures were developed in eastern Germany and the Soviets were quick to over-run the manufacturing facilities and to capture a running example, so the small rocket fighter wing was constantly on the move westward to escape the Red hand. there has been talk over the years of at least one rocket fighter with an upward firing mortar and that it actually scored 1 victory against a B-17 in 1945 ? have found no concrete evidence to justify this claim.
About 12 victories were claimed by I. and II./JG 400 total. I have a book that is probably the top notch narrative so far on the unit written by ex-pilot and Kommandeur of the wing. Wolfgang Späte's " Top Secret Bird". some excellent first person accounts, good pics. 270 pages, colour photos of well-cared for museum pieces as many of the rocket fighters were stored away in barns by war's end and captured by US forces.
ISBN # 0-929521-08-0 p[ossibly out of print as I secured my copy back in 1992 with a sepcial book plate singed by 9 living pilots including Späte who has passed away.
Cllasic Publication's of the UK is working on if not already published a book just on the Me 163 so this maybe a hot item to look for.
A most mis-understood a/c that obviously needed further development in the way of fuels and pilot protection. Essentially the a/c after fuel expenditure was a slow moving glider and was easily bounced by Allied fighters as it made it's way back to base. It could not be caught in a flat out flight and because of it's speed, the German pilots almost always overshot their targets. Equipped with two 30mm canon which had a very short range and slow muzzle velocity the rocket/jets had to close in to within 100 yards to make a kill and at the closing speeds the pilot had possibly a 1-2 seconds of time to determine when and what areas of the US bomber group and aircraft to attack before he was long past the formation.
Talking with Gruppenkommandeur Rudi Opitz of II./JG 400 several years ago he said the biggest problem was landing the silly liitle bug on a single skid and hopeful that both the toxic and explosive fuels had been evaporated during flight otherwise............well you can let your imagination go if you think about how these poor pilots suffered.
Fuels were such a premium that the whole Geschwader was almost abandoned by january of 45 as the complex mixtures were developed in eastern Germany and the Soviets were quick to over-run the manufacturing facilities and to capture a running example, so the small rocket fighter wing was constantly on the move westward to escape the Red hand. there has been talk over the years of at least one rocket fighter with an upward firing mortar and that it actually scored 1 victory against a B-17 in 1945 ? have found no concrete evidence to justify this claim.
About 12 victories were claimed by I. and II./JG 400 total. I have a book that is probably the top notch narrative so far on the unit written by ex-pilot and Kommandeur of the wing. Wolfgang Späte's " Top Secret Bird". some excellent first person accounts, good pics. 270 pages, colour photos of well-cared for museum pieces as many of the rocket fighters were stored away in barns by war's end and captured by US forces.
ISBN # 0-929521-08-0 p[ossibly out of print as I secured my copy back in 1992 with a sepcial book plate singed by 9 living pilots including Späte who has passed away.
Cllasic Publication's of the UK is working on if not already published a book just on the Me 163 so this maybe a hot item to look for.
A most mis-understood a/c that obviously needed further development in the way of fuels and pilot protection. Essentially the a/c after fuel expenditure was a slow moving glider and was easily bounced by Allied fighters as it made it's way back to base. It could not be caught in a flat out flight and because of it's speed, the German pilots almost always overshot their targets. Equipped with two 30mm canon which had a very short range and slow muzzle velocity the rocket/jets had to close in to within 100 yards to make a kill and at the closing speeds the pilot had possibly a 1-2 seconds of time to determine when and what areas of the US bomber group and aircraft to attack before he was long past the formation.
cheddar cheese
Major General
Stuka-99, ever heard of the ME-263? It was an attempt to rectify the shortcomings of the ME-163, by being more reliable etc. It was even slightly faster.
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cheddar cheese
Major General
You can find more info on it here: http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/me263.html
Erich
the old Sage
the 263 was an enlarged version of the Me 163 Komet but nothing more. never flew on ops.............
personally the whole rocket interceptor program should of been dumped and more protypes such as the swept wing Fw's should of been brought to the operating stages
personally the whole rocket interceptor program should of been dumped and more protypes such as the swept wing Fw's should of been brought to the operating stages
cheddar cheese
Major General
and the heavy bombers they had in development.
Erich
the old Sage
but it was too late in the war to take on an agressive attacking mode. Germany could only put a/c in the defense of it's own air.
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cheddar cheese
Major General
yep, theres a discussion about that in the polls forum 8)
Piaggio108
Airman
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kiwimac
Staff Sergeant
The HE 280 was a much better jet than the Me 262, it was more manoeuverable and had a much better wing-loading, as well it could have been in production by 1940-41.
Kiwimac
Kiwimac
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lesofprimus
Brigadier General
Once again, another 2 year old thread.... U may want to check out the date of the last post before replying...
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