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One or twoYou got any more pictures of this project Colin?
During the middle of October 44, proposals were made for towing both extra fuel and ordnance behind the Me262 in the Deichselschlepp rigid tow arrangement. In this, the bomb or drop tank had an auxiliary wing mounted above it and was fitted with a two-wheeled take-off dolly. It was attached to the aircraft by a 19ft 8in (6m) hollow pole, this having a double joint to allow both vertical and horizontal motion.
After take-off the wheels were jettisoned by exploding bolts and on reaching the target, the aircraft was put into a shallow dive, the weapon being targetted using the normal Revi sight and launched via another exploding bolt.
When a fuel tank was used, the line passed through the centre of the hollow pole.
Following the repair of the W.Nr 130005 which had been damaged by an air attack on the Leipheim fied on 12Sep44, the aircraft flew the first test with a towed 500Kg bomb on 22Oct44. It later tested a 1,000Kg weapon but this caused many problems. Messerschmitt test pilot Gerd Lindner, who conducted trials with the Deichselschlepp arrangement found that the larger bomb tended to 'porpoise' disconcertingly.
On one occasion the explosive bolts failed to jettison the bomb and Lindner had to land with the bomb still attached.
During another test, putting the aircraft into too tight a turn caused the towing swivel to break away and damage the rear fuselage.
Despite this Lindner considered that with an improved wing and the addition of a vertical fin, good results could have been obtained with towed bombs.
Lindner rated it despite the tribulations it gave himSome ideas that German engineers came up with towards the end of war were just bordering with crazy...
Just realisedThat's quite interesting. I never knew the Luftwaffe tried this sort of thing