Me-163

Stuka-99 · 06-07-2004, 12:57 PM

Anyone got info on the Me-163 komet? blueprints images etc.
I heard it was a total disaster but I thought it flew alongside the Me-262 in last days of the war.Any help is useful

Lightning Guy · 06-07-2004, 01:14 PM

Very few, if any, kills were scored by the Me-163. I imagine Erich will have more precise information on that. I believe some of the Me-163s were fitted with five upward-firing 50mm rockets in each wing triggered by a photo-receptor on the upper fuselage. When a 163 flew beneath an Allied bomber it would great a shadow firing the rockets into the bomber's belly. Potentially a devestating weapon but I don't think it worked so well in practice.

Stuka-99 · 06-07-2004, 01:38 PM

Oh well thx anyway

Erich · 06-07-2004, 01:59 PM

yes the Me 163 was a flop but still during ww2 a wild example of what the German drawing boards could produce.

Talking with Gruppenkommandeur Rudi Opitz of II./JG 400 several years ago he said the biggest problem was landing the silly liitle bug on a single skid and hopeful that both the toxic and explosive fuels had been evaporated during flight otherwise............well you can let your imagination go if you think about how these poor pilots suffered.

Fuels were such a premium that the whole Geschwader was almost abandoned by january of 45 as the complex mixtures were developed in eastern Germany and the Soviets were quick to over-run the manufacturing facilities and to capture a running example, so the small rocket fighter wing was constantly on the move westward to escape the Red hand. there has been talk over the years of at least one rocket fighter with an upward firing mortar and that it actually scored 1 victory against a B-17 in 1945 ? have found no concrete evidence to justify this claim.

About 12 victories were claimed by I. and II./JG 400 total. I have a book that is probably the top notch narrative so far on the unit written by ex-pilot and Kommandeur of the wing. Wolfgang Späte's " Top Secret Bird". some excellent first person accounts, good pics. 270 pages, colour photos of well-cared for museum pieces as many of the rocket fighters were stored away in barns by war's end and captured by US forces.

ISBN # 0-929521-08-0 p[ossibly out of print as I secured my copy back in 1992 with a sepcial book plate singed by 9 living pilots including Späte who has passed away.

Cllasic Publication's of the UK is working on if not already published a book just on the Me 163 so this maybe a hot item to look for.

A most mis-understood a/c that obviously needed further development in the way of fuels and pilot protection. Essentially the a/c after fuel expenditure was a slow moving glider and was easily bounced by Allied fighters as it made it's way back to base. It could not be caught in a flat out flight and because of it's speed, the German pilots almost always overshot their targets. Equipped with two 30mm canon which had a very short range and slow muzzle velocity the rocket/jets had to close in to within 100 yards to make a kill and at the closing speeds the pilot had possibly a 1-2 seconds of time to determine when and what areas of the US bomber group and aircraft to attack before he was long past the formation.

cheddar cheese · 06-07-2004, 02:24 PM

Stuka-99, ever heard of the ME-263? It was an attempt to rectify the shortcomings of the ME-163, by being more reliable etc. It was even slightly faster.

Stuka-99 · 06-07-2004, 02:31 PM

hmm no I didn't, thx for that cheddar

cheddar cheese · 06-07-2004, 02:37 PM

You can find more info on it here: http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/me263.html

Erich · 06-07-2004, 03:09 PM

the 263 was an enlarged version of the Me 163 Komet but nothing more. never flew on ops.............

personally the whole rocket interceptor program should of been dumped and more protypes such as the swept wing Fw's should of been brought to the operating stages