Rocket Fighters

Prefac he jet engine wasa‘secret project’ like no Ifirstbecame awarethatSecond Wo rldWar other.Developed forthe mostpart while aircraft designsmightgobeyond the likes of the Tthe largest airwar in history wasbeing Hurricane, Bf 109 and P-47Thunderboltin1991 with fought with piston-engined aircraft, it wasatthe therelease of LucasFilm Games’ SecretWeapons centreofatechnological arms race hidden from all of the Luftwaffegame forthe PC, which featured a but those withthe highestmilitary clearance. pair of Horton8-229 flyingwingsonthe cover. Then Oncethe first operationaljets –the Messerschmitt in 1998afriend drew my attention to Dan Johnson’s Me 262and Me 163 –had been identified by Allied Luft46.comwebsite,which opened my eyestothe intelligence (the term‘jet’ covering both turbojet and huge number and varietyofGerman ‘secret projects’. rocket propulsion), all service personnel were notified Perhaps the most striking aspect of this website of their existenceand thewordquickly spread.When wasthe incredible ‘Luft Art’section. Heremorethan jet aircraft were finally revealed to apublic brought adozentalented artists had transformed the flat up on propellers, they acquired an enduringmystique. black andwhite perioddrawings into 3D renders, Immediately after the war, when hundreds of showing howthe project aircraft might have looked thousands of capturedGermanaviation industry had theyeverbeen built.Among those artists were documents were assessed by the Allies, it became Ronnie Olsthoorn –who wouldlatergoontoprovide clear that Germanyhad pouredhugeresources the coverand contents page illustrations formy into researching jet engines and designing the Luftwaffe: Secretseries, Marek Rys, JozefGatial, aircraft that wouldbepowered by them. GarethHector and... Brazilian artistDanielUhr. In January 1946, Squadron Leader HoraceFrederick Having beenaware of Daniel’sworksince those ‘HF’King, known to his friends as Rex, produced early days of Luft46, Iwas surprised and delighted to A.I.2(g) Report No. 2383 German Aircraft: New gettoknowhim personally through working on my and Projected Types, which he introducedsaying: British Secret Projects 5: Britain’s SpaceShuttle (2016) “Although notexhaustive [this report] is believed book –heprovided such astunningcover thatIhad to give afair cross-section of German design no hesitation in commissioning him toproduce profile technique. Some of the later proposals areofspecial artworkfor my Luftwaffetitles and the coverofmy interest,particularly thefighters and supersonic RAF: Secret Jets of ColdWar Britain (2017) publication. research aircraft with turbojet, liquid rocket or The various titlesinthe Luftwaffe:Secret series athodyd propulsion.There aresomeambitious have beenillustrated primarily with drawings designs forjet-propelled long-range bombersand scanned directly from original Germandocuments multi-seat fighters, andamong the rotating-wing andfromperiod microfilmed copies of original aircraft is afighterentirely novelinconception. documents, andIalwaysfeltthatthe various ‘Mistel’composite aircraft,specialised tugs for colourprofiles commissioned to sit alongsidethem launching jet bombers, jet-propelledarmy-support received insufficientspace to reallybeappreciated. aircraft and a‘glide-fighter’ arealsoinevidence.” Nowthat imbalance can finally be corrected. The reportincludes 174 illustrations,108 of them Luftwaffe:Secret Project Profilesfeaturesmore jets, and in fact theaccompanyingtextmentions than200 of Daniel Uhr’sexcellent profiles–each one agrand total of 315 types, includingall sub-types based firmly on designdrawingsproduced during the andsome designs thataren’tillustrated –more SecondWorld Wa r. Daniel hasused genuine wartime than half of them jets. Kinghad worked for Flight camouflage and colour schemes to bring them vividly to magazine beforethe war, having joined in 1931,and life,includingexamples as they might have appearedif rejoineditafter the war, writing severalarticleson ‘captured’ by the Allies or the neutralSwiss, or operated theadvanced German designs he had seen. He and by other Axis nations. Seeing the designs fleshed out others like himhelpedtofeed the British public’s this wayprovides aunique perspective on types that curiosity about the development of ‘enemy’ jetsand have previously only everbeen seen as pure black and what types might, under different circumstances, white linedrawings and evokes thespiritand fascination have beenunleashed to battle Spitfires and of Luft46inimagining justwhat those oddities of Mustangs during thefinal stages of the war. German aircraft designmighthavereally looked like. • While interest in these German projects waned in Britain andAmerica during the1960s and1970s, in Germany it underwent arevival. Authors including Heinz JNowarraand Karl R ALSO AVAILABLE Pawlasuncovered previously unseen designs and Luftwaffe: Secret Jets of the Third Reich (2015) photographs andduring the 1990s they were joined Luftwaffe: Secret Bombers of the Third Reich (2016) by others,includingHorstLommel, Manfred Luftwaffe: Secret Wings of the Third Reich (2017) Griehl, Wa lter Schick andDieter Herwig, who each Luftwaffe: Secret Designs of the Third Reich (2018) discoveredyet morepreviously unknown designs. Visit www.classicmagazines.co.uk to order. Luftwaffe:Secret Project Profiles 003 16 20 26 30 46 50 58 006 Introduction 026 Arado Ar 234 versions 050 1000 x1000 x1000 bomber 016 Early jet designs at Messerschmitt 030 Rocket fighters 058 Pulsejets 020 Messerschmitt Me 262 versions 046 Interim night fighters 062 Ein-TL-Jäger 004 Luftwaffe:Secret Project Profiles Contents FRONT COVER: Junkers EF 128by DanielUhr 62 ALL ARTWORKS: Daniel Uhr WORDS: Dan Sharp DESIGN: Lucy Carnell -atg-media.com PRODUCTION EDITOR: Pauline Hawkins PUBLISHER: Steve O’Hara ADVERTISING MANAGER: Sue Keily, [email protected] PUBLISHING DIRECTOR: Dan Savage 82 MARKETING MANAGER: Charlotte Park COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR: Nigel Hole PUBLISHED BY:Mortons Media 88 Group Ltd, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, LincolnshireLN9 6JR. Tel. 01507 529529 DANIEL UHR THANKS: Claudio Lamas, 94 Dan Sharp, DiteroSigmar Uhr,Isaac Uhr, Isis Uhr,SérgioAdriano Menezes, Veronica Carvalho DAN SHARP THANKS: Elizabeth CBorja, Steven Coates, Olivia TGarrison, Carlos Alberto Henriques, Becky SJordan, Paul Martell-Mead, Ronnie Olsthoorn, Alexander Power,Stephen Walton and Tony Wilson PRINTED BY:William Gibbons and Sons, Wolverhampton 108 ISBN: 978-1-911276-69-2 ©2018 Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or 118 transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher. 082 Volksjäger 108 Advanced night fighters 088 Ramjet fighters 118 Miscellaneous jets 094 Jet bombers Luftwaffe:Secret Project Profiles 005 Introduction Development Jets in Second World WarGermany Germany ploughed huge resources into scientificresearch during the late 1930s –resulting in massive financial and industrybacking for new forms of aircraft propulsion. This led to development programmes which would produce the world’s first fully operational jet and rocket fighters. he turbojet wasinvented in Britain during the 1920s –but wherethe TBritish government hesitated to provide the financial support needed to develop it, the Nazi government had no qualms about taking agamble on this potentially revolutionary engine. Moneywas also made available in large quantities to pursue intensiveresearch on liquid-fuelled rocket motors and pulse jet engines forboth missiles and aircraft. It wasanage of unprecedented technological discovery and scientific progress right across Europe and the arms race that precipitated the slide into war only accelerated the rate of advancement. At the beginning of 1939, the Reichsluftministerium (RLM) issued the world’sfirst specification foraturbojet- propelled fighter aircraft and in the months leading up to the Second Wo rldWar the Germans flight-tested both the world’s first turbojet aircraft and the world’sfirst liquid-fuelled rocket-propelled aircraft. The German aeroengine industry was actively encouraged to invest in research on newturbojet and rocket motor designs ABOVE: Aradically different Me 262. This drawing shows amodel that was tested in the DVL’ swind tunnel in July 1942. Even at this stage Messerschmitt was making plans to improve the aircraft’s and companies including BMW,Bramo, aerodynamics. Daimler-Benz, Junkers and Heinkel each had GERMAN JET DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE • November 9, 1935 Hans von Ohain is granted apatent for Germany’s firstturbojet design. • Early 1936 Dr Herbert Wagner begins developing gas turbine engines for Junkers. • April 15, 1936 VonOhain is hired by Ernst Heinkel to work on his jet engine. • Circa February28, 1937 VonOhain’s first working jet engine, the HeS 1iscompleted and installed in atest rig. • Early 1938 Design work begins at Heinkel on an aircraft thatcan be powered by von Ohain’snew engine. At Junkers, Wagner begins construction of his ownturbojet engine. • Autumn 1938 German aero engine manufacturers Daimler-Benz, BMW,Brandenburgische Motorenwerke (Bramo) and Junkers are encouraged to look at turbojet development by the RLM. • Early 1939 Junkers’ Rückstoss-Turbinen-Strahltriebwerk (RTO) or ‘Reaction Turbojet Engine’ runs up to 6500rpm on atest stand. It is designed to reach 12,900rpm. • January2,1939 Alexander Lippisch and his team transfer from the DFS to Messerschmitt AG at Augsburg. TheyformAbteilung

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