German Air Force

Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet

The world’s first and only operational rocket powered aircraft, the Komet was a point defence fighter whose performance was, quite literally, explosive. On paper it looked like a winner. It would streak into the sky to intercept American bomber formations and launch a diving attack at speeds well beyond any escorting fighters. Just a few rounds from its deadly twin 30mm cannons would be enough to destroy a four engined bomber, and plans were soon for hundreds of fighters to protect Germany’s industrial heartland. Testing proved encouraging with prototypes reaching speeds of 885kph (550mph) In reality, the Komet was beset by problems. Although it was extremely fast, it only allowed the pilot a few seconds firing time, and the low rate of fire and muzzle velocity of the cannons made aiming extremely hard. Fuel was used up very quickly, after which the pilot had no option other than to glide back to base. The chief flaw, however, was the extremely volatile nature of the propellant. A hard jolt on takeoff or landing would cause the aircraft to explode, whereas if the fuel leaked it was quite capable of fusing flesh to steel. It didn’t even have a proper undercarriage, only a disposable wheeled dolly for take off and crude skid for landing. The Komet could also only take off in the direction the wind was blowing and the fuel lasted for 7 minutes 30 seconds at absolute maximum. One was sent to Japan but lost in transit, although the Japanese Army Air Force managed to built the Mitsubishi Ki-200 using only the instruction manual. It flew one test fight, crashed and the project was halted by the end of the war Of all the Komets lost, 80% were in take off and landing accidents, 15% due to loss of control or fires, and the remaining 5% to Allied aircraft. Only one front line squadron was ever equipped with the Komet. They claimed 9 aircraft for the loss of 14.