In the past I have blogged about all kinds of trivial weaponry developed during World War II. It was a desperate time and both the allies and nazis came up with all kinds of weird shit.
Honestly I thought I knew about them all, till today that I was introduced to this cool looking plane:
Public Domain
So what's so special about it? Looks like yet another jet plane, right? Yeah, no!
Meet the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, the first and only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history!
Development started in 1937 and sometime in July 1944, German pilot Heini Dittmar took it for the first official test flight. He reached a speed of 1,130 km/h (700 mph), a record that remained unbeaten by turbojet aircraft until 1953.
On paper it was a formidable beast that could intercept Allied bombers with unmatched speed. As expected though from a rocket plane, it was plagued with all short of issues and problems, like short range and its highly volatile nature... It's a rocket after all 😂
The plane had a maximum of 7.5 minutes of powered flight and as result was mostly used to defend against bombing raids.
This was one dangerous fucker to fly, costing the lives of 163 pilots just during the testing and training phase.
As for real combat, records instate 9 and 18 Allied aircrafts were destroyed by the Komet against 10 losses.
Public Domain
I wonder how many pilots today would have the balls to take one of these volatile babies for a flight 😄
Here are a couple of videos with actual footage of the plane in action and some more info if you'd like to learn more:
Despite its little success, it's an iconic aircraft and stands as a testament to human ingenuity when facing great odds!
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