Like a flea, but oh…!

***image2***There were severe restrictions on German military development after World War I, but Germany found a way around the restrictions by developing new technologies that could, in the long run, be applied to weapons.

One of the new technologies was the rocket and, in 1926, the German “Society for Spaceship Travel” was founded for rocket research. Their experimental rocket engines were soon fit on Opel cars and a tailless glider, as well as used to boost power for piston-engine aircraft.

By the late 1930s, with Germany rearming, the tailless, flying wing type glider seemed to have promising military applications, and flying wing pioneer Dr. Alexander Lippisch joined the Messerschmitt company to develop a small, tailless rocket-powered fighter, the single seat Me 163.

In October 1941, the prototype had attained a speed of over 600 mph on test flights, and a small production batch was ordered as a short-range, fast-climbing interceptor.

The production Me 163 was only 18 feet long, had a 30-foot-long wooden wing and was armed with two 30mm Mk 108 cannons in the wing roots. It had no landing gear, took off on a trolley and landed on a single skid. The radical power plant was a single Walther HWK bi-fuel rocket motor developing 3,750 pounds of thrust, but the two fuels that mixed for engine’s power, called “T-Stoff” (a 80 percent hydrogen peroxide solution), and “C-Stoff,” the catalyst, were to cause no end of problems.

***image1***Fueling an Me 163 was a delicate proposition because T-Stoff caught fire on contact with any organic substance (like flesh) and forced pilots to wear acid-proof flight gear. When there was any contact between T-Stoff and C-Stoff, they produced (logically) an explosion.

In mid-1942, a special Luftwaffe group, Erprobungskommando (Test Detachment) 16, was established to bring the Me 163 to combat readiness. The Me 163’s performance was remarkable – it could reach 40,000 feet in four-and-a-half minutes – but the rocket motor only ran for seven-and-a-half minutes, at which point the Me 163 became a glider. There were also challenges taking off.

If released too early, the trolley would bounce up and hit the aircraft; too late, and the aircraft would stall and crash. Landing on the single skid was also a challenge; the aircraft had a tendency to turn upside down. In the event of a hard landing, the pilot risked severe spinal injuries or, in the worst case, having unexpended fuel explode.

Despite heavy Allied bombing raids on the test airfield and facilities, by March 1944, the Me 163 was flying simulated combat missions and by mid-May 1944, it was ready for its first combat mission. The designated Me 163 was painted a bright red like the aircraft of Germany’s leading WWI ace, the “Red Baron” Manfred von Richthofen.

On May 14, 1944, Maj.Wolfgang Spate flew the first combat sortie in a non-propeller driven aircraft. Anticlimactically, while diving to attack two P-47s, the Me 163 approached the sound barrier and temporarily went out of control. By the time it slowed down to a controllable speed, the rocket engine had burned out and Major Spate returned safely, but unsuccessfully. The Me 163’s first combat kill was not until mid-August, when in a few days, Me 163s shot down four bombers but lost two of their own to P-51s.

The combat profile of the Me 163 was to climb to 40,000 feet then dive on a bomber formation and attack with its 30mm cannon. Normally it only had time for one or two passes before it had to dive away from home with enough fuel to separate from American fighters. In the end, the Me 163’s shortcomings – its low endurance and deadly fuel mixture – kept if from having an influence on the war, but it has a permanent place in military aviation history.

Questions or comments, contact Dr. Michel at marshall.michel@ramstein.af.mil.