The development of the Me 262 was going strong for a late 43 deployment. We would have been in a world of hurt if Hitler hadn't screwed that up to.
They were haveing problems with the turbine fin metal in the early engines and , of course, flame outs. What Hitler did was demand that the Me 262 be converted to a bomber. That delayed the Me 262 another year. Which was good for us.
Here's a list of some other planes the Germans were working on. Some were in the development stage and others were on the table for development.
The Bachem Natter Ba349 Manned Rocket
The Bachem Natter was projected as a small lightweight expendable interceptor, capable of destroying any enemy bomber using the least possible weapon expenditure. To achieve this objective, this ambitious project employed a vertical rocket-assisted takeoff followed by separate descent and landing of pilot and aircraft by separate parachutes.
It was believed that pilots having little or no experience would need only rudimentary flight and gunnery instruction, rather than spending valuable training resources on the finer points of flight training. Erich Bachem reasoned that, a reasonable number of such interceptors and launch sites could be installed around key industrial targets, to make attacking Allied bombers pay a prohibitively high price.
Heinkel He-162 Salamander Volksjager Nazi Jet Fighter
The prototype of the Heinkel He 162 turbojet-engine interceptor was flown for the first time on 6 December 1944, only 38 days after detail drawings had been issued to the factory. This prototype was lost in a fatal flying accident on 10 December, but the program was continued and revealed some aerodynamic problems, these being remedied in the third and fourth prototypes, both flown on 16 January 1945; first deliveries of aircraft for operational evaluation and service trials were also made during January 1945.
On 4 May 1945 one Gruppe of three squadrons, with a total of 50 aircraft was formed at Leck in Schleswig-Holstein, but British forces occupied the air field on 8 May and accepted the unit's surrender. A total of 116 He 162s was built, and more than 800 were in various stages of assembly when the underground production centers were captured.
Lippisch P-13a Ramjet Interceptor
The last desperate attempts by the Luftwaffe to stop the Allied bomber streams were exemplified by the demand: fighters, fighters, fighters - quick and simple to build, cheap and from easily accessible materials, small dimensions, superior speed compared to enemy escort fighters and firepower. Nearly all aircraft manufacturers and designers in the Third Reich put designs to paper along these lines. Even Dr. Lippisch's ideas during the last year of the war fit into this concept. Of his numerous variants, the Lippisch 13a was actually given serious consideration.
The Lippisch P.13a was an experimental ramjet-powered delta wing interceptor aircraft designed in late 1944 by Dr. Alexander Lippisch for Nazi Germany. The aircraft never made it past the drawing board, with testing of wind tunnel models showing the design had extraordinary stability into the Mach 2.6 range. As conventional fuel was in short supply at the end of the war, the ramjet was to be powered by powdered coal.
It was the end of the war that prevented further development beyond the un powered DM-1 test glider. After the war, Lippisch, working with American aircraft designer Convair, developed and tested the XF-92 based on his designs, leading to the eventual adoption of the F-102 Delta Dagger and its successor, the F-106 Delta Dart
Me P 1109 ScissorsWing (Oblique Wing)Top Secret Project
Twenty-five years before the Ames-Dryden AD-1 ScissorsWing experiment, and most probably a major inspiration for the same, this Messerschmitt Me-P-1109 was being developed in February 1944 as yet another 'last ditch' WWII effort to thwart the Allies.
The Ames-Dryden AD-1 scissor wing research aircraft tested a wing that could pivot fore and aft to form oblique angles up to 60 degrees. Tests revealed that the scissor wing decreased aerodynamic drag, permitting higher speeds and longer range. The concept was not new. Dr. Vogt designed the BV P 202, with a similar scissor wing that could pivot up to 35 degrees
The Horten Ho 229 Flying Wing
The first Horten wing (a glider as were many of their designs), flew in 1934 and their devotion to the design carried them on even after the war. What is truly amazing about their story is that often their work was done in secret, even from the Luftwaffe, who did not want a new design interfering with other types.
The final design they were working on during the closing days of the war was one that would be able to carry two atomic bombs to the U.S. and return. It was thought to be able to do over 600 mph.
The Focke-Wulf Triebflugel
In 1944, at Focke-Wulf, Professor Otto Pabst worked on an interesting fast vertical takeoff aircraft named the Triebflugel. Its purpose was to rise quickly from just about anywhere and attack the allied bombers.
Similar to a helicopter, it was powered by THREE large wing-like rotors but unlike a helicopter, the rotors turned around the fuselage. To preclude fuselage torque, the rotors were powered by small ramjets mounted on the tips and these were to be boosted to start speed by rockets. The landing gear casters in the tail were retractable.The use of the ramjet made it possible to use various cheap fuels.
The Nazi WWII Secret X-Plane-Huckebein Ta-183
The Nazi WWII Secret X-Plane-Huckebein was the officially recognized identifier however, soon thereafter it became known by the nickname Huckebein, after a cartoon raven who got others into trouble.
This was one of the last secret Nazi X-planes that were designed by the brilliant German designers and almost flown at the very end of WWII.. A scarcity of parts and constant bombing of the factories made things difficult as best.
The Allied forces crated and sent home the prototypes for 'evaluation'. Both the Russians and the Americans came out with a flying version in the late 1940
These are just a few of the planes the Germans were working on. Just think of what would of happened if they developed any number of these. Damn!
We haven't even got to the German Heavy Water project yet.
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