- 2 days ago
For educational purposes
In 1944, Hitler ordered the full-scale production of, what he called the Miracle Weapons, a new breed of aircraft designed to change Germany's declining military fortunes.
As a result, the first Jet Fighters were unleashed on the world, the potentially devastating ME262 and Arado 234 were underdeveloped.
Their moderate successes could not prevent the desperate situation which resulted in the introduction of the dangerous ME163 Kommet and the disastrous Heinkel HE162 the Peoples Defender, more dangerous to its pilot than the enemy.
Featuring rare archive footage, stunning 3-D computer graphics and rare film of the last surviving jet aircraft, this is a sinister glimpse into what might have been.
In 1944, Hitler ordered the full-scale production of, what he called the Miracle Weapons, a new breed of aircraft designed to change Germany's declining military fortunes.
As a result, the first Jet Fighters were unleashed on the world, the potentially devastating ME262 and Arado 234 were underdeveloped.
Their moderate successes could not prevent the desperate situation which resulted in the introduction of the dangerous ME163 Kommet and the disastrous Heinkel HE162 the Peoples Defender, more dangerous to its pilot than the enemy.
Featuring rare archive footage, stunning 3-D computer graphics and rare film of the last surviving jet aircraft, this is a sinister glimpse into what might have been.
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LearningTranscript
00:09World War II
00:10The aircraft of World War II cast familiar shadows at the Aerospace Museum in Cosford, England.
00:15Sometimes they speak of Stark, uncompromising efficiency.
00:21Sometimes the beauty of finely honed aerodynamics.
00:25In our mind's eye, we associate the aircraft of World War II with images of supercharged piston engines,
00:33of aero engines, of aluminium, wood and steel, as ingenuity struggled with the technology of the 1940s
00:40to create the optimum fighting machines in every theatre of aerial combat.
00:50It is a world where the three-bladed propeller reigned supreme.
00:55Supreme, that is, save for a few brave exceptions.
01:00This was the Messerschmitt 262, known as the Swallow.
01:10Alexander Lippisch conceived a rocket-powered aircraft,
01:13which will be capable of blasting to high speed and altitude to destroy the Allied bombers.
01:21This was to become the Messerschmitt Me 163, the Comet.
01:28The End
01:29The End
01:33The End
01:36The End
01:36The End
01:39The End
01:53The End
01:54The End
01:55The End
02:05The End
02:09The End
02:10The End
02:25Swept wings and sleekly flowing lines set this plane apart.
02:34But it is the jet engine slung beneath the wings which make it difficult to believe
02:38that it entered battle more than half a century ago.
02:48This was the fighter which shook the Allied air forces to the core by its dazzling performance and firepower.
02:54So advanced was the Messerschmitt Me 262, it could have changed the outcome of the war.
03:10Fortunately for the rest of humanity, the 262 was never able to turn the tide of a war, which was
03:16already lost.
03:17But it could have become the worst possible adversary if it had been available in numbers.
03:34The End
03:43Throughout 1944, Germany writhed under a merciless tide of Allied bombing.
03:48By day, the tracery of massed vapour trails across the skies of Europe plotted the course of the Boeing B
03:55-17s and B-24s.
04:04At night, the RAF Lancasters continued the assault.
04:09The skies of Germany were aglow as fires raged in the heart of her shattered cities.
04:24The End
04:36Piece by piece, the German war machine was being systematically destroyed.
04:41Facing the agony of defeat, Adolf Hitler searched frantically for new weapons that would relieve Germany's beleaguered forces.
04:56Adolf Hitler knew that the German forces and people needed to maintain faith in the Third Reich's ability to salvage
05:03something from the demoralizing tide of defeat.
05:06He promised that vengeance weapons would finally turn the tide.
05:11It is testament to the evil power of his oratory that the people's belief endured to the last days of
05:17the war.
05:18For once, there was at least some truth behind the propaganda.
05:41In the heady days of 1940, German forces reigned supreme.
05:47And Britain, it was believed, could be dispatched with existing machinery.
05:52The older model Ju-88s, Dornier Do-17s, He-111s and Stuka 87 dive bombers were to pound the British
06:01airfields and other military targets under the protection of Me-109s and Me-110 fighters.
06:07And the Royal Air Force would be swept aside.
06:12At that time, nothing could have been further from the minds of the German chiefs of staff than the devastating
06:18damage that would be endured by Germany in the dark days of 1944.
06:24The combined might of the Allied air forces would rain saturation bombing upon Germany's defenseless industrial heartland to the point
06:33of annihilation.
06:34Nor could they envisage the remorseless advance of the Red Army from the east.
06:49It was four years before, in May 1940, that the detailed design for a revolutionary fighter plane was submitted to
06:58the German Air Force.
06:58The design, by Messerschmitt engineers, was for a fighter with performance and firepower far in excess of any other fighter
07:06of the time.
07:07This was the Messerschmitt 262, known as the Swallow.
07:34Had the 262 been developed with less haste and built in sufficient numbers,
07:40the fighter would have given the Luftwaffe the overwhelming air superiority in Western Europe, North Africa and the crucial Eastern
07:47Front.
07:48It could have given Hitler the breathing space he needed to consolidate the huge territories conquered by the Third Reich.
08:02When the German Air Ministry considered Messerschmitt's new design, Blitzkrieg was sweeping across Holland and Belgium.
08:09By June 1940, France had fallen, and Britain alone was the only foe.
08:33Germany need only destroy the hard-pressed squadrons of hurricanes and spitfires protecting the skies above the south of England
08:40before a full-scale invasion would commence.
08:43And with the conquest of Britain, Hitler would have complete mastery of Western Europe.
08:50With Germany's star in the ascendant and the imminent collapse of Britain,
08:55it was small wonder then that Messerschmitt received little encouragement to develop their jet fighters.
09:00Although an order for three prototype Me 262s was placed, the project was effectively put on the back burner.
09:14Also placed on the back burner was the Heinkel's rival to the 262.
09:22The Heinkel aircraft was in many respects superior, but the internal politics meant it never saw full production.
09:41For the next three years, the development program quietly progressed, with little response from the chiefs of staff.
09:49Messerschmitt's design was for a twin-engine plane, the initial straight wing giving way to a swept wing and a
09:55high tail plane.
09:56The two jet engines were sensibly fitted in under-wing nacelles.
10:01Little was known about jet engine performance, and this would allow larger engines to be fitted, if necessary, with the
10:07minimum of re-engineering.
10:23A rocket engine was closed in the sea, the mainframe is for this galaxy, the Anyway.
10:24Yet, the 264thani on the line was shown to be fitted with the mainframe.
10:26And that印象 was found quite as if no one vid ever, too, under-wing nacelles.
10:28The generalization was caused by now, and the suspension of the sky, and the bottom line was caused by the
10:28end of the sea.
10:28The first phase of the shell has caused the heat, the heat, the heat, and the smoke.
10:29The heat and the heat, the heat wod-films, the heat, the heat was caused by the heat.
10:41This prototype 262 had a conventional undercarriage with a tailwheel,
10:46and this gave it an exaggerated nose-up appearance as it sat on the runway.
10:53The slim profile of the wings did not allow the wheels to be stowed within them.
10:58This problem was overcome by adopting a triangular section for the main fuselage.
11:04This gave the 262 its menacing shark-like appearance,
11:07with a flat belly into which the wheels folded.
11:11Messerschmitt possessed only one small wind tunnel,
11:14where aerodynamic testing was carried out on models.
11:18The aerodynamic efficiency of the 262 owes as much to the instinctive flair
11:22of the Messerschmitt aerodynamicists as it did to scientific evaluation.
11:28These prototypes were the forerunners of the aircraft,
11:31which for a brief and glorious moment would be the most powerful fighter of World War II.
11:38But how could a nation ravaged by four years of war produce a weapon of such magnificence?
11:44It would be seen that the world's best aircraft was destined to be flown in the world's worst cause.
12:01The first prototype 262 took to the air with a single Junkers piston engine.
12:07Valuable testing of the airframe was carried out
12:10whilst BMW struggled to get the required thrust from their 003 jet engine.
12:16The first test flight with BMW jet engines was cut short
12:20when both engines failed,
12:22forcing a landing under piston power from the retained Junkers engine.
12:27A series of engine failures obliged Messerschmitt to search for an alternative,
12:32and the sole alternative was the Junkers YUMO 004.
12:37Heavier it may have been, and longer,
12:39but fitted to the third prototype,
12:42a modest improvement in reliability was found.
12:47On July 18th, 1942,
12:50this plane finally took to the sky at Leipheim,
12:53the first pure jet flight.
12:55This rare footage shows the first test flights.
13:05Urgent redesign of the undercarriage was called for.
13:08As the nose pointed skywards,
13:10the jet engines were literally blowing chunks out of the runways.
13:14Take-off was difficult,
13:15as the elevators were virtually ineffective.
13:18The only way to lift the plane into the sky
13:21was by touching the brakes at 120 miles an hour
13:24to lift the tail,
13:26a hair-raising way of getting airborne.
13:29Engine problems continued,
13:31and here, this test pilot struggles to land a prototype
13:34with the added difficulty of a starboard engine ablaze.
14:02The introduction of the new tricycle landing gear
14:06solved most of the design problems
14:08and gave the pilot greatly increased visibility
14:10during take-off and landing.
14:16The increased weight penalty was not significant,
14:20but the fragility of the nose wheel
14:22when the 262 was operated from rough airfields
14:25would dog the plane throughout its life.
14:35By 1943, Germany faced the increasing might
14:40of British, American, and other Allied forces.
14:43It was clear that a war of attrition
14:46against numerically overwhelming odds
14:48could not be won.
14:50German forces were hopelessly overextended.
14:52Air defences were reliant upon increasingly obsolete aircraft.
14:58Germany began to suffer punishing bombing raids
15:02from Britain's strategic bombing offensive.
15:04It had no strategic bombing capability of its own.
15:09Four years of war left a desperate shortage
15:11of skilled middle-ranking officers.
15:14If Germany was to have even a slim chance of victory
15:17or of a negotiated peace,
15:19she must regain the initiative
15:21and reverse the series of punishing defeats.
15:28Hitler and his high command
15:30finally recognised the need for advanced weapons,
15:33but too late to turn the tide of events.
15:44Hitler saw the 262 for the first time
15:47on November the 26th, 1943.
15:50Even then, the potential of the plane
15:52was not fully appreciated.
15:55Hitler saw it as a means
15:56to penetrate the impenetrable fighter screen
15:59that would protect the invasion forces
16:01when they inevitably landed in France.
16:04In June 1944,
16:07to the exasperation of the Messerschmitt engineers,
16:09Hitler decreed that although production
16:12was to have high priority,
16:13the 262 was to be built
16:15as a light bomber only.
16:21The inevitable upheaval caused delays,
16:24which were only partially offset
16:26by the allocation of greater resources
16:28to the project.
16:29It would not be until November 1944
16:32that the illogical edict would be reversed.
16:37Modification to fighter-bomber capability
16:39required extensive alteration to the airframe.
16:42Furthermore, two programs had to be devised
16:46for the training of pilots,
16:47two programs for the development of tactics,
16:50and two systems for the support equipment.
16:54In addition to these two types,
16:56the familiar problems
16:57which dogged weapons development in Germany
17:00also affected the 262 program.
17:03Far too many variants were in development
17:05at any given time,
17:07namely night fighters.
17:10The fast reconnaissance aircraft.
17:15Tank busters.
17:20High-altitude fighters of great speed.
17:28As a bomber,
17:29the 262 was a major disappointment.
17:36The aircraft had not been designed for this purpose.
17:39The position of the cockpit
17:40meant that the pilot
17:41could not easily observe
17:42the fall of the bombs.
17:44The decision to develop a 262 bomber
17:47was even more incomprehensible
17:48as a serviceable jet bomber
17:50had already been designed
17:51and developed in Germany.
17:53The fast reconnaissance aircraft,
17:55the Arado AR-234,
17:57with its lengthy fuselage,
17:59was eminently more suited
18:00to the role of a bomber.
18:02The Arado was conceived from the outset.
18:04With a pressurized cabin
18:06and capable of flying at high altitude,
18:08it was virtually immune from Allied fighters.
18:16Both aircraft, however,
18:18used the same YUMO-004 engines,
18:21and the scarcity of engines
18:23restricted production of both planes.
18:25There was constant infighting
18:27as resources which should have been dedicated
18:29to a single purpose
18:30became locked in bitter squabbles.
18:35The original design of the Arado 234
18:38was found to be so correct
18:40that its prototypes were, in 1944,
18:43made operational straight away.
18:46200 of the aircraft were built
18:47and were effective in bombing
18:49and reconnaissance roles,
18:50but they did take vital resources away
18:53from the 262 program,
18:55which fulfilled an even more pressing need,
18:57the need to try and keep the Allied bombers at bay.
19:11The Yunker's engineers' struggle
19:13to obtain the reliability from the engines
19:15would be vital if the plane was to succeed.
19:18They were venturing into unknown territory
19:20with hopelessly inadequate resources.
19:23The high temperatures in the engines
19:26were causing the turbine blades
19:27to become brittle and to disintegrate,
19:30and the engine would be destroyed.
19:32The fierce heat of the exhaust gases
19:35buckled the plates of the exhaust orifice.
19:37Heat-resistant alloys made of rare metals
19:40would have overcome these problems,
19:42but were unavailable.
19:43The sole source of chromium
19:45was in British hands.
19:47The Yunker's engineers
19:48were forced to build the engines from steel.
19:52After only 10 hours of operation,
19:54every engine had to be removed
19:56and completely rebuilt.
19:59This is one of the original engines
20:01for the 262 program.
20:03The troublesome turbine blades
20:05can be clearly seen on this cross-section.
20:08The engineering and the concept is significant
20:11and stands the test with many later engines,
20:14but the desperate shortage of raw materials
20:17was in every way as much of a difficulty
20:19as the overwhelming power
20:21of the British and American air forces.
20:44Despite glaring deficiencies,
20:46there was no alternative
20:48but for the design
20:49to be signed off for production.
20:51In April 1944,
20:54the first 16 262s
20:56were accepted by the Luftwaffe
20:57and almost immediately
20:59flew their first missions.
21:01In September,
21:02Hitler grudgingly allowed
21:04one in 20 to be built as fighters.
21:11In November,
21:12production of the 262 fighters
21:14was able to commence in earnest.
21:18Given the appalling conditions
21:20in which the Messerschmitt team
21:21was operating,
21:22it is astonishing
21:23that the plane entered service at all.
21:26Shortages of engineers,
21:28skilled workers,
21:29precious metals,
21:30and other materials
21:31dogged the final stages of development.
21:35Little fuel was available for testing
21:37and the factory was devastated by bombing.
21:40The 262 was built from poor quality materials
21:44by semi-skilled workers
21:46in primitive factories.
21:48Large quantities of putty and tape
21:50were used to smooth the poorly formed panels.
21:54It would, nonetheless,
21:56outperform all other fighters of its time.
22:01The advantage of the 262
22:03was its astonishing speed
22:06of nearly 525 miles an hour.
22:10It was no less than 100 miles an hour faster
22:14than any Allied aircraft then flying.
22:16With four 30mm Mark 108 cannon
22:20packed into the nose of the aircraft,
22:22it could deliver a deadly punch.
22:25Where the Spitfires and Mustangs
22:27had reigned supreme,
22:28there was now a new
22:29and devastating force
22:31to be reckoned with.
22:32It had the potential
22:33to win back air supremacy
22:35for Germany.
22:37These are two of the cannons
22:39which once saw service
22:41over the skies of Germany.
22:42The awesome power
22:44and the concentrated punch
22:45could literally blow a bomber
22:47to pieces.
22:59When first encountered
23:00by the Western Allies,
23:02there was alarm
23:03at the sudden appearance
23:04of a vastly superior fighter.
23:06On July 25th, 1944,
23:09an RAF Mosquito
23:10was flying at 30,000 feet
23:12on a reconnaissance mission
23:13when a 262 appeared behind.
23:16The Mosquito dived on full power
23:19to a speed of over 400 miles an hour
23:21but found the 262 firmly on its tail
23:24until cloud cover aided in escape.
23:29The 262 clearly had the capacity
23:31to change the balance of the air war
23:34but it would be required
23:35in huge numbers.
23:37Time was fast running out
23:39and the odds
23:40were becoming daunting.
24:06During the D-Day invasions
24:08of Normandy in June 1944,
24:10120 German fighters
24:13had faced 7,000 Allied aircraft.
24:16The momentum of the Red Army
24:18in the east was ever increasing.
24:25The men flying the 262
24:28were immediately aware
24:29of one fatal flaw.
24:30The engines could not instantly generate full power
24:34without the risk of a fire caused by overheating.
24:37When the Allied pilots learned of the weakness
24:40it made the 262s easy prey
24:42as they coasted into land.
24:45Soon the Allied aircraft stalked around their victims' airfields.
24:50This combat footage shows a U.S. plane closing in for the kill
24:54as a 262 pilot lowers its undercarriage
24:57and desperately tries to land.
24:59It was called rat catching.
25:05The ME 262 at the Aerospace Museum at Cosford is an A1A Schwalb.
25:18It was by chance
25:19that the 262 became the most aerodynamically advanced aircraft
25:23of World War II.
25:25The swept-back wing configuration
25:27so familiar today
25:28was a radical departure
25:30from the straight wings of the time.
25:32This was a design necessity
25:34to keep the aircraft balanced
25:36when the engine size was increased.
25:39Unbeknown to the Messerschmitt engineers
25:41they had invented a wing configuration
25:43that overcame the effect of the shock waves
25:46created by the nose of the aircraft.
25:48The greatly reduced drag from the wings
25:51contributed towards the 262's astonishing speed.
25:57The sweeping lines of the fuselage
25:59were created from semi-unitary construction.
26:03The four 30mm Rheinmetall Borsig Mark 108 cannon
26:07fired through apertures in the nose.
26:12The troublesome axial flow engines
26:15were nevertheless light, compact and powerful
26:18each developing nearly 2,000 pounds of thrust.
26:24The notoriously weak nose wheel
26:27accounted for no less than 34%
26:29of all 262 accidents.
26:33The cockpit was an advanced piece
26:35of German design ingenuity.
26:37All the instruments, controls and seat
26:40were a self-contained bathtub unit
26:42which was dropped into the fuselage
26:44at a late stage in the assembly.
26:46Here we can see the layout of the instruments
26:49and the armour plate protection
26:50for the precious pilot.
26:55Above the instrument panel
26:56there was a bar-mounted Revy 168 sight
26:59which was used for aiming both cannon
27:01and R4M missiles.
27:09Given more time for development
27:11the facility was there to install
27:12a pressurised cabin.
27:19During 1944 allied bombing caused more disruption
27:23to the Messerschmitt factory.
27:25But despite almost insuperable difficulties
27:28over 1,400 Me 262s were built
27:31during 1944 and 1945.
27:36Some of these aircraft were built
27:38in open air factories
27:39located in forest clearings.
27:40Many of them were destroyed
27:43before they could be delivered.
27:44Less than 400 machines ever saw combat.
27:48Many of these were delivered
27:50so late in the war
27:51that they were destroyed
27:52as they stood helpless on the ground.
27:57The 262 engines ran on the evil-smelling
28:01J2 jet fuel
28:02a type of paraffin made from brown coal.
28:05It was more readily available
28:07than expensive synthetic fuels
28:09required by the piston-engined aircraft.
28:14But even a short flight
28:15meant that over 500 gallons
28:18of J2 fuel would be consumed.
28:21Lacking the resources
28:23to properly train pilots
28:24the Luftwaffe was forced
28:26to deploy the 262
28:27without the proper development
28:29of operational tactics.
28:30The lack of two-seater training aircraft
28:33posed a very real problem
28:36for the pilots
28:36more familiar with the characteristics
28:38of piston-engined aircraft.
28:41After a short ground course
28:43the trainee jet pilots
28:44had a rudimentary eight-hour course.
28:49This instructor
28:50is clinging to the cockpit
28:52of a single-seat 262
28:54giving final instructions
28:55to a pilot
28:56about to make his first jet flight.
29:01Towards the end of the war
29:03the pilots might get
29:04no more than a brief description
29:05of the controls
29:06before they took to the air
29:08to join the desperate battles
29:09in the skies over Germany.
29:25The 262 pilots
29:26faced overwhelming odds.
29:28The highest number of 262s
29:30which flew in a single day
29:31was 59.
29:33They flew against
29:341,200 Allied bombers
29:36and 800 fighters.
29:39Remarkably
29:40the 262s claimed
29:41more than 700 kills
29:43during their limited period
29:44of operation.
29:46Some were armed
29:47with a battery of 48 rockets.
29:49In one engagement
29:50six 262s
29:51shot down
29:5214 B-17 bombers
29:54without sustaining any loss.
30:08the 262s
30:10the Allied commanders
30:10gave high priority
30:12to the Messerschmitt factories
30:13and these were relentlessly
30:15targeted by Allied bombers.
30:19Messerschmitt were forced
30:20to transfer all production
30:21to the forest factories.
30:23still the 262s rolled off
30:25the Messerschmitt production lines.
30:28The airfields
30:29from which the 262s operated
30:30were subjected
30:31to regular attacks
30:33this damage
30:34having been caused
30:35after one visit
30:36by the US Air Force.
30:40Towards the end of the war
30:42as one last desperate measure
30:44the 262s
30:45had to fly from autobahns
30:47using bridges
30:48as makeshift hangars.
30:59As the Germans struggled
31:01to make the 262 operational
31:03the British
31:04had a parallel program
31:05for the development
31:06of a jet fighter
31:07the Gloucester Meteor.
31:09By late 1944
31:11the British jet fighter
31:13went into limited service.
31:14By comparison
31:16with the 262
31:16the Meteor's Rolls-Royce
31:18centrifugal flow turbojets
31:20were bulky
31:21heavy
31:21and underpowered
31:22but they were
31:23more reliable
31:24and serviceable.
31:26The two aircraft
31:27never met in combat.
31:29Had the war
31:30been prolonged
31:30there is no doubt
31:31that the first aerial combat
31:33would have been
31:34between these two
31:34jet fighters.
31:36It is generally believed
31:38that the 262
31:39with greater speed
31:40maneuverability
31:41and firepower
31:41would have emerged
31:42victorious.
31:47The final word
31:49on what would have been
31:49the outcome
31:50of the battle
31:51of the jets
31:51which never was
31:52must go to
31:53German fighter ace
31:54Adolf Galland
31:55seen here discussing
31:56his daring exploits
31:58in the 262.
31:59Galland was
32:00Hitler's fighter general
32:01and commanded
32:02the last operational
32:03262 unit.
32:05After the war
32:05he emigrated
32:06to Argentina
32:07to take command
32:08of General Juan Perron's
32:09fledgling jet fighter squadrons.
32:12Galland commanded
32:13and flew Gloster Meteor jets
32:15bought from Britain.
32:16Thus Galland flew
32:17not only the Me 262
32:19but also its British rival.
32:21Galland declared
32:22that the Me 262
32:24was superior to the Meteor
32:25except in regard
32:26to the engines.
32:27He maintained
32:28that the perfect weapon
32:30would have been
32:30the 262
32:31fitted with the Meteor's
32:33Rolls-Royce engines.
32:35Although it never met
32:36other jets in combat
32:37the undoubted success
32:38of the Me 262 squadrons
32:40paved the way
32:41for the next generation
32:42of jet fighters.
32:47At the end of the war
32:48Alexander Lippisch
32:50the German aircraft designer
32:51was spirited to America
32:53with his prototype
32:54DM-1
32:54an aerodynamic test vehicle
32:57for a ram jet
32:58supersonic interceptor.
32:59Within two years
33:01the Lippisch designed
33:02XF-92 prototype
33:03was being flown
33:04by the US Air Force
33:05and these productions
33:07Sabre jet fighters
33:08followed soon after.
33:10During the Korean War
33:11Sabre jets accounted
33:13for 759 Russian-built MiGs
33:15for only 79 losses
33:17of their own.
33:19Had the Second World War
33:21lasted until 1946
33:22would the Third Reich
33:24have possessed
33:24such aircraft
33:25and with what
33:26devastating result.
33:30The 262
33:31was the forerunner
33:32of generations
33:33of jet fighters
33:34and the lineage
33:35can be traced
33:36to the fighters of today.
33:37But 1944
33:38saw the debut
33:40of another weapon
33:41of even greater relevance
33:42to future advanced technology.
33:46Alexander Lippisch
33:47conceived a rocket-powered aircraft
33:49which will be capable
33:50of blasting
33:51to high speed
33:51and altitude
33:52to destroy
33:53the Allied bombers.
33:54This was to become
33:56the Messerschmitt
33:57ME-163
33:58The Comet.
34:28The Comet
34:29was nothing new
34:30about rocket propulsion.
34:31Black powder rockets
34:33had been used
34:33as weapons
34:34in the early 19th century.
34:36But a manned
34:37rocket-powered weapon
34:38was certainly new.
34:52The high altitude
34:54at which the Allied bomber
34:56formations flew
34:56meant that the Comet
34:58meant that the Comet
34:58would have to climb
34:58rapidly to 30,000 feet.
35:01Its remaining supply
35:03of fuel
35:03could be used
35:04to launch brief attacks
35:05before it glided
35:06back to base.
35:07Above and to the left
35:09is the early development
35:10version of the Comet,
35:11the Messerschmitt
35:12ME-163A.
35:14The production model
35:15of the ME-163
35:17is to the right.
35:21The Comet was by far
35:22the fastest aircraft
35:23of World War II.
35:25It flew at 700 miles an hour
35:27and was close
35:28to breaking the sound barrier.
35:34The Comet consumed fuel
35:36at a tremendous rate
35:37during take-off.
35:38It only carried enough
35:39for seven minutes
35:40of powered flight,
35:41which gave a range
35:42of only 50 miles.
35:50The squadrons equipped
35:52with the Comet
35:52were therefore forced
35:53to sit at action stations
35:55along known bomber routes.
36:00If Allied bombers
36:01chanced to fly overhead,
36:03the Comets would blast
36:04into the sky
36:05and intercept them.
36:06If the bombers
36:07did not come,
36:08they could do nothing.
36:20To save weight,
36:21the undercarriage
36:22was detachable
36:23and dropped to the ground
36:24immediately after take-off.
36:26This risky procedure
36:27often resulted
36:28in the undercarriage dolly
36:30bouncing back
36:30and striking the aircraft.
37:09For pilots and ground crew alike,
37:11there was the ever-present prospect
37:12of explosion.
37:15When the Comet returned
37:17from a mission,
37:18as it now had no wheels,
37:19landing was particularly difficult.
37:21The plane had to glide
37:23back to the airfield
37:24and land on its skid.
37:26With the knowledge
37:26that the rocket was powered
37:28by two fuels which,
37:29if mixed, would explode,
37:31landing was a nerve-wracking
37:32experience for the pilot.
37:36Once landed,
37:37the Comet was helpless
37:38and had to be retrieved
37:39by a special recovery vehicle,
37:41the Shysleper.
37:45The Shysleper.
38:11The Sanctuary
38:13As the plane glided back to its slow and hazardous landing, the pilot relied for protection from the enemy fighters
38:20upon this small piece of armoured plated glass.
38:23From time to time, the heat generated by the combustion of the fuels would damage the glass to the extent
38:29where it might shatter, injuring or even killing the pilot.
38:36The pilot of the Comet had a central instrument panel with a rate of climb indicator, altimeter, turn and bank
38:43indicators and an airspeed indicator.
38:45At the top was the gun sight mounting.
38:56The secret of the Comet's phenomenal performance was this Walter HWK bi-fuel liquid rocket motor.
39:04It stretched technology and safety to the limits.
39:07The highly corrosive fuels attacked anything organic and when accidentally mixed together in even the smallest quantities could cause a
39:16violent and fatal explosion.
39:32Rocket propulsion in the Comet was created when two chemical fuels were mixed.
39:38T-stof was hydrogen peroxide.
39:41C-stof was hydrazine hydrate, methanol and water.
39:45Great care had to be taken with the two fuels.
39:50If they mixed freely, a massive explosion resulted.
39:54The fact that T-stof and C-stof looked identical caused several disastrous errors.
40:02Rigid safety procedures were employed.
40:05At each refuelling, all surfaces were meticulously cleaned with water.
40:11The T-stof was handled by an entirely separate crew, who would only approach the aircraft when the C-stof
40:18tanker and its crew had moved away.
40:26Despite all of this, many comets simply blew up as they were flying, landing or being refuelled.
40:49Like the 262, the Comet was easy prey to Allied fighters as it glided back to base.
41:12The Luftwaffe was in no position to pick and choose its aircraft on grounds of safety.
41:17Its desperate predicament meant that, notwithstanding the Comet's glaring faults,
41:22their pre-production aircraft were introduced into active service in June 1944.
41:30On 16th August, they recorded their first kills.
41:35Series production was immediately ordered.
42:03The early successes were not repeated.
42:12Series production was made by the Comet of the Comet of the Comet of the Comet of the Comet of
42:13the Comet.
42:13Although 300 Comets were built, they are credited with a mere nine confirmed Allied bombers.
42:31Ironically, it was the Comet's incredibly high speed that proved to be an unforeseen drawback.
42:35An Allied bomber flew at about 230 miles per hour, but the Comet closed at over 400 miles per hour.
42:45The pilot had little time to aim and fire.
42:48An elaborate but successful device was employed.
42:52Upward-firing cannon were triggered by photoelectric cells
42:56as the shadow of a bomber fell on the Comet as the fighter passed underneath.
43:07Clearly, the Comet would never prove a great threat, even with improved armaments.
43:11But despite its cumbersome characteristics and poor combat record,
43:15Germany persevered with the rocket fighters,
43:17and the Comet was due for replacement with a wheeled version known as the ME-263.
43:23The end of the war meant it never reached active service.
43:40A fourth jet was to emerge before the end of World War II,
43:44the Heinkel He-162, or Salamander.
43:56High hopes were had for this aircraft,
43:58but unfortunately the frantic desperation which had spread throughout the German nation in late 1944
44:04took its toll on the finer points of the design.
44:08In September, 1,000 Salamanders a month were ordered into production.
44:12The figure was unachievable, and yet output was ordered to be increased to 4,000 a month.
44:19The target was impossible,
44:21and after the German surrender in 1945,
44:24just over 300 aircraft had been manufactured,
44:27and another 800 or so lay unfinished.
44:30The manufacturers had achieved a mammoth task,
44:34producing this number considering the crumbling resources that were available to them.
44:42The Heinkel He-162 only had a wingspan of 7.2 meters,
44:47and when in full working order,
44:49it was a superior craft for its time.
44:56However, there were many problems that faced the inexperienced German pilots.
45:01The Heinkel He-162 was built almost entirely from wood.
45:06This in turn was hazardous,
45:08because the turbojet engine all too often burst into flames,
45:12both in the air and on the ground.
45:15The few Salamanders that saw action encountered major problems in the air.
45:20It was nicknamed the Volksjager, or People's Fighter,
45:24which came from the theory that very little training was needed,
45:27or indeed available, in order to fly them.
45:29In truth, the simple controls were extremely difficult to master,
45:34and, coupled with the short wingspan,
45:37the jet fighter was prone to literally falling from the sky.
45:41A sharp turn during flight could also be potentially dangerous.
45:45Pressures on the plane sometimes led to parts of the bodywork coming loose,
45:50or even coming off altogether.
45:52A staggeringly high proportion of pilots and aircraft
45:55were lost in training and standard flight,
45:57rather than in combat.
45:59In the closing three weeks of World War II,
46:0313 planes and 10 pilots were lost.
46:05Only three of these were through combat.
46:08In all, the Heinkel He-162 was the epitome of the disarray
46:13which was occurring in Germany in 1945,
46:16and ultimately led to their defeat.
46:43It would be nearly 40 years before the rocket-powered shuttle of the 19th century,
46:48and the 1980s would blast into space and serenely glide back to Earth.
46:53Alexander Lippisch, the father of the comet,
46:56died in 1976 without seeing his early vision so emphatically endorsed.
47:03It is chilling to consider what terrible weapons Hitler would have contrived
47:07with such powerful technology in his grasp.
47:12With such powerful technology in his grasp.
47:13with such powerful technology in his grasp.
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