🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <22162@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>, tedrick@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Tom Tedrick) writes:
> 
> page 267: "The first fighter plane of the world to exceed 600 mph
> had rocket propulsion. It was built by Messerschmidt in Augsburg
> before the outbreak of WW2, in April 1939 ... Several prototypes
> had been already built by the beginning of the war and bore the
> mark ME-163 ... 
> 
The trouble with the Me163B, otherwise known as the Komet (the Me163A had no
motor at all, it was a glider) was that it was as dangerous to its pilot as to
anything it attacked. The fuel was VERY unstable, and all the plane had for
landing gear was a single ski. If ANY fuel was left in the tank when it landed,
the plane was likely to explode. Also, it had very short endurance - about 10
minutes flying time, extended a bit if the motor was turned on and off. The
Komet was stationed close to important factories. When any bombers that had
survived more conventional defences got close enough, the Komets took off, made
one or two passes at the bombers till their fuel ran out, then glided back to
base. If they were lucky, they didn't get chased by escort fighters on the way
down, and didn't explode on landing.

The Germans were also developing another rocket fighter, but it never saw
combat. Called the Natter, or Viper, its armament was a salvo of small rockets
in the nose. It would take off vertically, attack its targets, then the pilot
would eject and come down by parachute. The plane would come down the same way.

Incidentally, how good is radar against non-metallic targets? How good are
infra-red missiles against piston-engined planes? If the answer to either of
these is "not very", then I suggest the new stealth bomber be a copy of the WW2
British Mosquito. These were made largely of balsa wood, to save weight, and
they were fast - they could match most fighters, and with their bombs gone they
could dogfight too if they had guns (which some variants did).

-- 
 "Keyboard? Tis quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs
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