He-162 Salamander

[Soren]

The He-162A-2 Salamander whilst being an excellent design and one of the best fighters of the war, is often over-looked & incorrectly referred to as flimsy and hard to fly. The He-162 is infact an engineering marvel of its time, with excellent aerodynamic properties & weight distribution. The problems plaguing the final A-2 production model were engine unreliability, scarce supply of the right materials forcing use of substitute ones which in turn caused defects, and bombing of production facilities. The Allied bombing of factories forced a few production lines to move underground, and it was from there the few excellent condition He-162’s delivered came from.



From an aerodynamic & engineering point of view the He-162 is an 100% excellent & sound design with a very good layout. The low weight, high performance engine and small size of the a/c coupled with the perfectly sized wings and aerodynamically clean design meant a very high top speed, climb rate, excellent turn rate and roll rate. The good layout also meant it was a delight to fly, being very agile in all aspects of flight and featuring good control & responsiveness. The only thing to take care of was applying too much rudder, as the aircraft was unusually responsive here and applying to much rudder at high speed could cause a structural failure of the tail.

All of the above coupled with a few new advanced features (Ejection seat) made the He-162A-2 a truly excellent fighter aircraft and one of the best designs to see service during the war.

Eric Brown called the He-162 a first class fighter aircraft, and often flew it for fun after the war.



After the war a good number of He-162’s were restored and used as solo trainers for Jet fighter pilots, a role in which it served beautifully.

He-162 A-2 specifications:

Length: 9.05 m
Wing span: 7.2 m
Wing area: 14.5 m^2
Weight empty: 1,660 kg
Weight fully loaded: 2,800 kg

Climb rate: 23.4 m/s (4,615 ft/min)
Service ceiling: 12 km (39,400 ft)
Take Off Roll: 500m (Very short for an early jet fighter!)
Range: 975 km (606 miles)

Armament: 2 x 20mm MG151/20 cannons

[eddie_brunette]

I also think its a beautifull plane.

[Soren]

It was certainly a fine looking aircraft.

Some pictures of an amazingly detailed 1/48 scale model of the He-162 A-2 "Red 1".

[The Basket]

Eric Brown also said that one of his highly experienced comrades was killed because the rudders fell off. How can an aircraft be good if it suffers from structual failures...

Didn't know they flew them post war except for testing...

[Graeme]

Originally Posted by Soren

After the war a good number of He-162’s were restored and used as solo trainers for Jet fighter pilots, a role in which it served beautifully.

Soren, are you referring to the French experience? (A-2 airframes) They described it thus;

"In all, this aircraft was pleasant in 'recreational' use, but could become terribly vicious in manoeuvres relatively common for a classic fighter".

"The next incident led to subsequent flights being cancelled, as, during the sixth go-around on landing, an undercarriage door was found half torn away. On debriefing, the pilots came to the conclusion that the aircraft was potentially dangerous because of its unexpected reactions, and tricky on landing".



From the April 2006 edition of 'Aeroplane Monthly'.

[Soren]

Basket,

I already mentioned you had to be careful with the rudders as they were too responsive, thus overstressing the tail structure at high speed was a hazard. The pilot you're refering to crashed during his first ever flight in the a/c. Eric Brown mentions this as-well, and he UNLIKE the other British pilot you're refering to was warned about the responsiveness of the rudders before his first flight. And as long as you kept the responsiveness of the rudder in mind the He-162 was a fantastic a/c according to Brown, a very nice a/c to fly to the limit. And this opinion is mirrored by a couple of German aces who flew the a/c as-well.

As for the French, well again inexperience, you needed to be darn careful with the rudders. Eric Brown made it quite clear that it wasn't an a/c for rookies.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Originally Posted by The Basket

Eric Brown also said that one of his highly experienced comrades was killed because the rudders fell off. How can an aircraft be good if it suffers from structual failures...

Didn't know they flew them post war except for testing...

So I guess most aircraft must not be very good by your criteria because almost all aircraft can suffer from structural failures.

[Arneken]

Well the germans did good jobs with theire planes. Right so there were some minor problems with the rutter but If you look at the whole picture it seems to be a good plane.

[A4K]

Interesting stuff, guys. Good or bad, she's beautiful aircraft.
If ya's ever get the chance, go to Hinterbruhl near Mödling in Austria (Just south of Vienna). This was the 'Langusta' ('Lobster') Heinkel plant set up in the local mine. They have a number of original components in a fairly crude display, including 2 instrument panels, nose wheel and gear, etc. Interesting to see where they were made, and in what conditions.

[Heinz]

I've always liked this plane and am tempted to get the new tamiya kit thats come out. Includes the engine to build and display!

I also think that the RAF roundals dont look that bad on it either

[A4K]

True, Heinzy! Was thinking the same thing.

[FLYBOYJ]

I think it has to be understood that there is a tendency to fly fighter type aircraft aggressively. With that said the Salamander was coming from an era where aircraft were flown with a lot of rudder. In jets there is little use of the rudder, just enough to coordinate a turn or correcting for crosswind on landing. Based on the Salamander's construction and configuration, had the aircraft been built in substantial numbers or have been built in the post war period I don't see this as an operational handicap.

I agree - the Salamander was a good aircraft and it had a lot of growth potential had the war not ended.

[Glider]

Originally Posted by Soren

Basket,

I already mentioned you had to be careful with the rudders as they were too responsive, thus overstressing the tail structure at high speed was a hazard. The pilot you're refering to crashed during his first ever flight in the a/c. Eric Brown mentions this as-well, and he UNLIKE the other British pilot you're refering to was warned about the responsiveness of the rudders before his first flight. And as long as you kept the responsiveness of the rudder in mind the He-162 was a fantastic a/c according to Brown, a very nice a/c to fly to the limit. And this opinion is mirrored by a couple of German aces who flew the a/c as-well.

As for the French, well again inexperience, you needed to be darn careful with the rudders. Eric Brown made it quite clear that it wasn't an a/c for rookies.

It isn't often Soren and I are in total agreement but we are in this case. Eric Brown was probably unique at this time as he had flown all the jets then flying, German, American and British and this was the one he liked the most.

Re the rudder being overly sensitive, no doubt if the German designers had a little more time, this would have been resolved in the normal process of moving an aircraft from prototype to production. Its what test flying is designed to do.

[Konigstiger205]

Well the He-162 was an interesting design but it had like all aircraft problems and the fact that there was a shortage of...well everything didn't help.It was however a design ahead of its time.Makes one wonder how would things would have looked if it wasn't a war...

[Evil_Merlin]

I'd take the 162 over the 262 any day.