Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messer...t_Me_163_Komet

The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet (not to be confused with Messerschmitt Bf 163)
was a German rocket-powered interceptor aircraft. Designed by Alexander
Lippisch, it is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been
operational and the first piloted aircraft of any type to exceed 1000 km/h (621
mph) in level flight. Its performance and aspects of its design were
unprecedented. German test pilot Heini Dittmar in early July 1944 reached 1,130
km/h (700 mph), an unofficial flight airspeed record unmatched by
turbojet-powered aircraft for almost a decade. Over 300 Komets were built, but
the aircraft proved ineffective in its dedicated role as an interceptor and
destroyed about 9 to 18 Allied aircraft against 10 losses. Aside from combat
losses many pilots were killed during testing and training.

Work on the design started under the aegis of the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für
Segelflug (DFS)—the German Institute for 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, which Lippisch felt would cause problems at high speed.
Lippisch changed the system of vertical stabilization for 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 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 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 was felt that the
highly volatile monopropellant fuel's reactivity with organic matter would be
too dangerous in a wooden fuselage structure. Work continued under the code name
Projekt X.

In the Me 163B and -C subtypes, a ram-air turbine on the extreme nose of the
fuselage, and the backup lead-acid battery inside the fuselage that it charged,
provided the electrical power for the radio, the Revi16B, -C, or -D reflector
gunsight, the direction finder, the compass, the firing circuits of the cannon,
and some of the lighting in the cockpit instrumentation.

There was an onboard lead/acid battery, but its capacity was limited, as was its
endurance, no more than 10 minutes, hence the fitted generator.

The airspeed indicator averaged readings from two sources: 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.

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, pre-July 1938 Messerschmitt Bf 163, a competitor for the
Luftwaffe's liaison aircraft production contract in the 1930s, which it lost to
the contract-winning Fieseler Fi 156. It was thought that intelligence services
would conclude any reference to the number "163" would be for that earlier
design. In May 1941, the Me 163A V4 was shipped to Peenemünde to receive the HWK
RII-203 engine. By 2 October 1941, the 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 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 was only officially surpassed
after the war, by the American Douglas D-558-1 on 20 August 1947 with no damage.
Five prototype Me 163A V-series aircraft were built, adding to the original DFS
194 (V1), followed by eight pre-production examples designated Me 163 A-0.


Role
Interceptor

National origin
Germany

Manufacturer
Messerschmitt

First flight
Me 163A V4 on 1 September 1941

Introduction
1944

Primary user
Luftwaffe

Number built
~370

Developed into
Messerschmitt Me 263

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 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 was ready for action by May while at Bad
Zwischenahn. Major Späte flew the first-ever Me 163B combat sortie on May 13,
1944 from the Bad Zwischenahn base, with the Me 163B V41 armed prototype
aircraft, bearing the Stammkennzeichen of PK+QL.

Establishing a defensive perimeter with anti-aircraft guns ensured that Allied
fighters avoided these bases. At the end of 1944, 91 aircraft had been delivered
to JG 400 but 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 were
lost to other causes, remarkably few for such a revolutionary and technically
advanced aircraft. In the last days of the Third Reich, 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, the Komet was a failure. Although it shot
down 16 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 spawned later weapons like the vertical-launch,
similarly rocket-powered Bachem Ba 349 Natter, and the postwar, American
turbojet-powered Convair XF-92 delta wing interceptor. Ultimately, the point
defense role that the Me 163 played would be taken over by the surface-to-air
missile (SAM), Messerschmitt's own example being the Enzian.

Flying the Me 163

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 (RAE) at Farnborough, said, "The Me 163 was an aeroplane that you
could not afford to just step into 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 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 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 ft (9.76 km) altitude in 2 minutes, 45 seconds. During the
flight, while practicing attacking passes at an imaginary bomber, he 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, 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 (which did not include the pair of American Northrop X-4s) in
his career (including the British de Havilland DH 108). Referring to the Komet,
he said "this is the only one that had good flight characteristics"; he called
the other four "killers".

Specifications: Me 163B-1a

General characteristics
Crew: 1
Capacity: (Me 163S + 1)
Length: 5.7 m (18 ft 8 in)
Wingspan: 9.3 m (30 ft 6 in)
Height: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 19.6 m2 (211 sq ft)
Empty weight: 1,905 kg (4,200 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 4,309 kg (9,500 lb)
Fuel capacity:
C-Stoff (fuel) 468 kg (1,032 lb)
T-Stoff (oxidiser) 1,550 kg (3,420 lb)

Powerplant: 1 × Helmut Walter Kiel Kommandogesellschaft HWK 109-509A-2
bi-propellant liquid-fuelled rocket motor, 14.71 kN (3,307 lbf) thrust maximum ;
980 N (220 lbf) minimum, fully variable

Performance
Never exceed speed: 900 km/h (559 mph; 486 kn) at all altitudes, sea level to
12,000 m (39,000 ft)

Flap limiting speed: 300 km/h (190 mph; 160 kn)
Rotate speed at take-off: 280 km/h (170 mph; 150 kn)
Best climbing speed: 700–720 km/h (430–450 mph; 380–390 kn)
Endurance: 7.5 mins powered
Rate of climb: 81 m/s (16,000 ft/min)
Time to altitude: From standing start
2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 1.48 min
4,000 m (13,000 ft) in 2.02 min
6,000 m (20,000 ft) in 2.27 min
8,000 m (26,000 ft) in 2.84 min
10,000 m (33,000 ft) in 3.19 min
12,000 m (39,000 ft) in 3.45 min

Wing loading: 209 kg/m2 (43 lb/sq ft) at maximum take-off weight
Thrust/weight: 0.42 lbf/lb (0.004 kN/kg)

Armament

Guns:
2 × 30 mm (1.181 in) Rheinmetall Borsig MK 108 cannon with 60 rpg (B-1a)

or2 × 20 mm (0.787 in) MG 151/20 cannon with 100 rpg (Ba-1 / B-0 pre-production
aircraft)




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