Jet aircraft of Germany. Could they change the course of the war? Jets in World War II

A unique document from the category “For official use” describing the design and operation of the YuMO-004B jet engine of the last and most advanced military aircraft of Nazi Germany at that time in the world, the Messerschmitt-262. In the last months of the war, it was with this aircraft that Hitler and Goering’s hopes for a turning point in the “air war” were tied, during which the Reich suffered one defeat after another. However, testing and serial production of the Me-262 began too late due to the shortsightedness of the Luftwaffe leadership, led by Ernst Udett and Goering's deputy Erhard Milch. The document was developed by a team of the so-called “Bureau of New Technology” of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry in 1946. Each copy of this document had its own registration number - in our case No. 233. A similar document issued by the same bureau was devoted to the fuselage and aerodynamic qualities of the aircraft (not in our collection). Original, condition consistent with age. document is located in.

The German Me-262 fighter is considered by many experts to be one of the best military aircraft that took part in the Second World War. If the leaders of the Third Reich had timely assessed its capabilities and combat potential, victory in Europe would have gone to the Allies at a much higher price. However, Hitler’s short-sightedness, the lack of professionalism of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering, and bureaucratic delays turned this first jet fighter in the history of air warfare into a kind of “pariah” in the squadron of combat aircraft. But no matter how unsuccessful and short the fate of the Me-262 turned out to be, so surprising was the post-war history of the ideas of jet aviation embedded in it.

THE FURER'S LAST HOPE

This plane had its own mission from the very beginning. Along with the “weapon of retaliation” (atomic bomb) being hastily developed by German scientists, the Messerschmitt-262 was considered as a “weapon of salvation” of the Third Reich from total defeat by the Allies. Under the influence of the Imperial Minister of Propaganda J. Goebbels, whose opinion was shared by many generals of the German High Command, Germany owed its defeats on the fronts primarily to the unprofessionalism of the commander of the air force, Hermann Goering, who was unable to protect the skies and cities of the Reich from the destructive raids of allied aviation. Many believed that if the German Luftwaffe had managed to become master of the situation in the air, a decisive turning point could have occurred in the course of the war. And the main hope in this matter rested on the new jet Messerschmitt.

In the notes of Joseph Goebbels, which he kept punctually throughout the war, the theme of the Me-262 jet comes up constantly, and in the last weeks of the war it sounds like a spell: “In accordance with the availability of gasoline, all but five types of aircraft will be withdrawn from our weapons program. The main attention, according to the Fuhrer’s decision, will be given to the production of ME-262.” “Direct hits from the ME-262 simply tear apart the Mosquito.” It takes four hits to shoot down such a bomber. In a month of such battles, the Anglo-American enemy must suffer such significant losses that he will have to limit his activity in the air.” “Now the Fuhrer has great hopes for jet fighters. He even calls them “machines of German destiny.” He believes that thanks to jet aircraft it will be possible - at least through defensive actions - to undermine the enemy's superiority in the air." “The Fuehrer now places his greatest hopes in new jet aircraft. This month 500 of them will be produced, and next month - 1000. Airfields for them can be built with great difficulty.” “The Fuehrer pins all his hopes on the use of these new jets. The enemy will not be able to oppose anything significant to them in the air.”

All these are records dated March and April 1945, when the outcome of the Second World War was no longer in doubt. Already in the last days of the war, when Soviet troops stood at the walls of Berlin, six commissioners were appointed at Hitler's headquarters to implement the program for accelerated production of the Me-262. Management of the program was entrusted to two trusted combat generals - Joseph Kammhuber, who was responsible for the production of night fighters, and Dietrich Peltz, who was responsible for the production of day fighters. The Third Reich was dying, but an order was sent to flight schools to recruit 20 thousand cadets who were to take to the air on the planes of the “German hope.”

The German jet fighter "Messerschmitt-262" also had another name - Schwalbe, which translated means "Swallow". Its flight advantages were demonstrated already in the first battle - on July 25, 1944, in the skies over Munich, the new Messerschmitt was almost torn to pieces by the English high-speed Mosquito bomber. However, the Third Reich did not have enough time to produce a sufficient number of “miracle aircraft”. And although from 1944 to 1945, 1,433 Me-262 jet fighters were assembled at German aircraft factories and transferred to the front, which also became the most popular jet aircraft of the Second World War, it failed to fulfill its original mission. Perhaps due to the fact that the new plane’s path to the sky turned out to be surprisingly difficult.

LONG ROAD TO SKY

The idea of ​​​​creating a jet fighter aircraft in Germany was born almost simultaneously with the beginning of the development of a turbojet engine (TRE). It should be noted that in the 1930s, the labor intensity of creating a turbojet engine, as one of the most knowledge-intensive finished aircraft products, was considered the greatest. In addition, the very idea of ​​​​transonic aircraft was perceived with some skepticism, since the wind tunnels that existed at that time did not make it possible to determine the characteristics of such high-speed aircraft. The development of a pursuit aircraft under the designation P-1065 first began in October 1938. It was planned to install two P3302 jet engines with a thrust of 600 kgf each. It was expected that a fighter with these turbojet engines would be able to reach speeds of up to 900 km/h. The appearance of the aircraft did not take shape immediately, and its evolution is in many ways similar to the development of flora and fauna: from simple to complex. In addition, the new aircraft could fly “in the slop,” as aircraft designers joked - that is, it did not require special highly purified aviation gasoline. At the end of the war, when Germany lost access to oil, this turned out to be an important argument in his favor.
Based on the dimensions of the turbojet engine, which was manufactured at the BMW plant, German aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt approved the first version of the future Me-262. The unusual combination of fuselage contours and load-bearing surface (the Me-262 was equipped with a so-called “swept” wing) was a step towards an integral aircraft layout, which, as is known, became widespread during the creation of fourth-generation combat aircraft. The design of the aircraft was developed in such a way that each part was easy to manufacture and could be manufactured at various enterprises. A large shortage of aluminum alloys forced designers, to the detriment of the weight of the airframe, to widely use steel and wood in the airframe construction.

Fritz Wendel (right) and aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt after a test flight. 1935

The first flight of a jet fighter, piloted by one of Germany's best pilots, Wendel, took place on March 25, 1942 and almost ended in disaster. The plane slowly gained an altitude of 50 meters, and when the pilot began to retract the landing gear, the left turbojet engine failed, and a little later the right one. The pilot managed to turn the car around and successfully land it at the airfield. This was a result of the low reliability of early turbojet engines. However, in the meantime, the Heinkel plant completed testing of the Junkers Jumo 004 A engine, which developed a thrust of 840 kgf. These engines were installed on the Me-262 and tests continued.

A total of three prototypes were produced, and its testing did not go very smoothly. On April 18, 1942, an experienced Me-262 crashed, killing the pilot. All this threatened that the idea of ​​​​a jet fighter could be abandoned altogether, but the situation was saved by one of the best test pilots in Germany, Adolf Galland. He thoroughly tested the aircraft in the air and on the ground and a few days later reported to Reichsmarschall Goering that “this machine is a real smile of Fortune! It gives us an advantage while our opponents use piston engine aircraft. This aircraft opens a new page in combat use.” Galland proposed some technical improvements to the design of the fighter, in particular, from now on all Me-262s were equipped - for the first time in the history of fighter aviation - with ejection seats for emergency evacuation of pilots in case of damage to the vehicle. By the way, until the end of the war, this saved the lives of 70 Luftwaffe pilots whose high-speed fighters were shot down or damaged.

Goering himself became infected with the enthusiasm of the pilots. The Luftwaffe was rapidly losing air supremacy, and the appearance of a new “indestructible” aircraft was supposed to correct the reputation of Goering himself. However, he did not immediately manage to convince Hitler that the Me-262 should become that “miracle weapon”. Hitler even then treated Goering and the entire Luftwaffe with such great distrust that he personally wanted to verify the effectiveness of the new technology. He demanded from engineers, designers and specialists obligations and guarantees that they could not give. When the designer Messerschmitt himself arrived at headquarters with a report on the new aircraft, Hitler attacked him with reproaches, not allowing him to say a word. He ordered to continue testing on a few prototypes, and because of this whim of the Fuhrer, preparations for mass production of one of the best aircraft of the Second World War were delayed for almost a year!

Not only the choleric temperament of the German Fuhrer played a role, but also his attitude to issues of strategy. Defense in Hitler's eyes was a secondary matter. Where the Luftwaffe was concerned, he listened only to what related to offensive actions; he was deaf to the needs of air defense. When, at the end of August 1944, Speer and Galland personally brought to his attention the vital need to concentrate German fighter power in defense of the Reich, Hitler simply threw them out the door shouting that they must obey his orders. In turn, Goering never objected to Hitler, but only passed down the destructive orders of the Fuhrer. In relation to honored pilots, he sometimes behaved completely insultingly. At one of the meetings, Goering began to argue that German fighter pilots had received too many awards that they did not deserve. Galland, who was present at the meeting, upon hearing this, turned pale, tore off the Knight's Cross and noisily threw it on the Reich Minister's table. An icy silence reigned, but Goering left it without consequences. At the very end of the war, Galland, who was, in fact, one of the creators of combat jet fighter aircraft, was sent to Italy with tacit instructions not to return to Germany until the end of the war. He survived, and in 1953 he wrote memoirs in which he spoke in detail, among other things, about the history of the creation of the Me-262.

BATTLE OF THE DOOMED

Meanwhile, the situation at the fronts was rapidly deteriorating, and already in November 1943, Nazi leaders again remembered the “miracle plane.” Its construction was hastily included in the weapons program and given emergency powers to organize rapid production. Goering personally visited the Messerschmitt factories to get acquainted with the progress of work on the Me-262. However, now another hitch arose: Hitler proposed converting the Me-262 into a jet bomber, which would require a complete change in design, attaching bomber sights and suspensions for aerial bombs. This could have slowed down the production of the aircraft for a long time, since the jet fighter, due to its flight characteristics and visibility from the cockpit, was not at all suitable for targeted bombing.

And a few weeks later, a large-scale disaster overtook the German aviation industry: in February 1944, Allied aircraft carried out targeted mass raids on German aircraft factories (the so-called Operation Big Week). As a result, more than 100 Me-262 aircraft were destroyed at the factories in Augsburg and Regensburg, and many technicians and workers were killed. The production of jet aircraft was urgently moved deep into Germany, to Leipheim, but even there, on April 24, the final assembly shops were destroyed by a powerful daytime raid by American bombers...

Jet Messers began to enter service with the troops only in the fall of 1944. The first squadron of jet fighters was assigned to form one of the best German aces, Walter Nowotny, who had 250 downed aircraft and was one of the most successful fighter pilots in the Reich. The creation of the first jet fighter unit, called the 7th Fighter Squadron (JG-7), began in the air town of Achmer near Osnabrück. Novotny personally selected the pilots for his squadron and equipped it with the best fighter aces that the Luftwaffe had at that time. The “bomber hunters” had to take their “baptism of fire” on the Western Front, which especially suffered from Allied air raids. The pilots noted that the Me-262 was much easier to control than the main Luftwaffe fighter Messerschmitt-109 (Gustav). True, the Me-262 accelerated worse, but in a dive it could easily exceed the speed limits. In addition, the jet fighter flew quite well on one engine, and its speed reached 450-500 km/h. The duration of its flight at an altitude of 7000 meters reached 2.25 hours. The fighter's armament consisted of four 30-mm MK 108A-3 cannons with 100 rounds of ammunition for the upper guns and 80 rounds for the lower ones. The choice of such guns indicated that the aircraft was intended to fight enemy bombers, and there was no talk of any maneuverable combat with fighters. According to the German historian K. Becker, “with these weapons, the pilots of the JG-7 squadron destroyed 45 four-engine bombers and 15 accompanying fighters in the last week of February 1945.” For example, on March 17, several Me-262s from Group III took off to intercept B-17s bombing Ruland, Bohlen and Cottbus. In that battle, non-commissioned officer Koster shot down two “Flying Fortresses”, and Oberleutnant Wegmann and Oberfeldwebel Gobel - one each.

Mostly the Me-262 fought in the West, but there were also clashes with Soviet pilots. The first battles between Soviet aircraft and the Me-262 showed the vulnerability of Soviet aircraft to German jets. At the end of February 1945, Soviet pilots even received a special order - to open fire on the Me-262 without waiting for approach, from a distance of 600 meters. However, some Soviet aces - for example, the famous Ivan Kozhedub and Yevgeny Savitsky - managed to shoot down a Messerschmitt-262. Alexander Pokryshkin also encountered the Me-262, but was unable to shoot it down. It also happened that a Soviet pilot managed to shoot down an Me-262, but the command did not believe him. This happened to fighter pilot Major Okolelov, who shot down a Messerschmitt-262 in the last days of April 1945 in the area of ​​the Breslau-Berlin highway. The downed plane fell in a hard-to-reach area, and the command simply did not believe the Soviet pilot. Only many years later did he manage to prove that he was right - and only thanks to the memoirs of an English pilot who witnessed this battle and wrote about it in his memoirs. The Soviet command believed the Englishman.

Soviet pilot, commander of the 518th Fighter Aviation Regiment Yakov Okolelov waited for confirmation of his victory over the Me-262 for many years after the war.

The enormous advantage that jet fighters had over piston-engined machines was best demonstrated on April 7, 1945. On this day, the Luftwaffe, acting according to the "Wehrwolf" (werewolf) plan, aimed its attacks not as usual against the bombers, but against the escort of fighters accompanying them. Without suffering any significant losses, JG-7 reported twenty-eight enemy fighters shot down. On the other hand, on the same day, American P-51 Mustang fighters staged a deadly hunt for the German Messerschmitt-109 and Focke Wulf-190. The war diary of the US I Air Corps records the loss of at least 133 German aircraft and the death of seventy-seven pilots.

This was the last great air battle in the skies over Europe. A few days later, the Me-262 pilots had to relocate to an airfield in Prague, which was very far away for active participation in hostilities. And the courage and perseverance of individual pilots could no longer prevent the military defeat of Nazi Germany. Thus ended the combat history of the Me-262. Developed before the war, ignored for years and almost even banned by Germany's top military leaders, the German fighter jet remains a shining symbol of German ingenuity even in times of crisis, although its influence on the outcome of the war was negligible. A significant part of the Me-262s built were lost during Anglo-American air raids, many of them never managed to take to the skies.

FALCONS VS SWALLOWS

Of course, the Kremlin knew that the Germans had a jet fighter, and were waiting for an opportunity to get at least one copy of this miracle of German engineering. In general, the USSR was as jealous of the German achievements in military aircraft construction as Germany was of the characteristics of Soviet tanks. The rivalry between Russian and German pilots began during the First World War (see note) and continued during the Spanish Confrontation (see note). Perhaps it was in Spain that the most sensitive blow was dealt to the pride of the Soviet military aircraft industry. Despite the incredible efforts of the USSR, German aviation reigned supreme in the Spanish skies, completely wiping out the Spanish city of Guernica as a demonstration of its power. And this despite the fact that the USSR did not skimp on expenses, trying to bring its aviation closer to the battle sites in Spain. These days, few people know that the Canelobre caves, which have become a tourist attraction in the city of Alicante, were used in 1936 as a hangar for the assembly and shelter of Soviet Polikarpov aircraft - the U-2 multi-purpose biplanes (known in the West as Po-2). The work on equipping this natural cave, pouring concrete, making a giant tunnel (which still serves as the entrance to the cave), as well as laying almost three kilometers of mountain road took Soviet military specialists less than a year.

Today, only specialists know about this episode of the war in Spain. On the Canelobre cave itself there is not a single indicator of what happened here during the Civil War. And in the USSR itself, they tried not to remember the war in Spain once again. Only occasionally - and even then due to oversight - did the Soviet press publish materials on this topic, such as the one shown in the illustration below - which depicts Polikarpov’s planes in the skies of Spain.

However, the Soviet pilots also had one more tooth against the German aces. The fact is that many of them, in the 20s and 30s, bypassing the terms of the Versailles Treaty, studied in the USSR and were even graduates of higher military educational institutions: the future Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Field Marshal Walter Model, Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch, General Manstein, Kruse, Horn, Feige, Hitler's adjutant from the Air Force, Colonel Nicholas von Below and many others. And the future developer of Luftwaffe military aviation, aircraft designer Hugo Junkers, also lived in Moscow in the late 20s, where he trained at the design bureau of Andrei Tupolev. And although many of them did not share the idea of ​​war with the USSR in their hearts, they all used their experience gained during their studies in the USSR in the war. Thus, in the memoirs of Nicholas von Below there is an interesting dialogue that took place between him and Hitler back in 1939, when the Fuhrer asked his adjutant what experience he had learned from his training in the USSR. In response, von Below said that one day, when German pilots were conducting training bombing in the Lipetsk area (where they studied at the local secret aviation school), one of the bombs exploded in a field where local boys were grazing horses. Both children and horses died, but the Soviet authorities billed the German command only for the horses. Not a word was said about the dead children. From this incident, von Below drew a conclusion, which he shared with Hitler: “In war, the Russians will not count people...”

German cadets are future aces of World War II at a flight school near Lipetsk. Photo by D. Sobolev

Of course, such treachery did not add to the love of the German pilots among the Soviet military. It is known that in many units German pilots were not even captured alive. The technical superiority of German aircraft, which had developed at the beginning of the war, was leveled off by the middle of it. New Soviet fighters, as well as Soviet tanks, were not inferior to, and in many respects even superior to, the enemy. And then, out of nowhere, the Me-262, practically inaccessible to Soviet aircraft. It was urgent to study a new machine - but for this it was necessary to get it somewhere. Such an opportunity presented itself only in April 1945. Then Chief Sergeant Major Helmut Lennartz from the same 7th Fighter Squadron was forced to make an emergency landing on territory occupied by Soviet troops. At the same time, the engines of his plane received additional damage from the earth that fell into them. After that, the car ended up in the hands of the Soviet troops, it was taken to the Air Force Research Institute and, under the leadership of the chief engineer, I. G. Rabkin, it was repaired. It was then repainted in Soviet military aviation colors, the swastika on the tail was replaced with a red star, and the vehicle was handed over for flight testing.

Captured Me-262, which became a Soviet fighter

A little later, units of the 16th Air Army captured more than 20 Me-262 jet fighters at airfields in Oranienburg, Dalgov, and later in Tempelhof in Berlin. General Savitsky came to test the captured jet machine. He took off in a two-seat fighter and was assisted in the flight by a German captured pilot. The aircraft were transported to the Air Force Research Institute, where Soviet specialists became familiar with their design. Our pilots knew that jet Messers were repeatedly pulled into a dive at high speed and German pilots crashed along with their vehicles, so the candidate for testing was selected especially carefully. The first Soviet pilot to fly the Me-262 was Andrei Kochetkov. On September 15, 1945, he took off on a repaired Schwalbe for a test flight. Until November 1945, he completed 17 more flights, for which he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During the tests, the same unpleasant features were revealed when flying at high speeds that German specialists had previously encountered. While trying to reach a maximum speed of 870 km/h, the plane entered an uncontrolled dive. Luckily for the pilot, this happened at an altitude of 11,000 m and Kochetkov, with great difficulty, managed to save the car. Until the end of the summer of 1945, the Air Force Research Institute was able to test the gas turbine Jumo 004 using domestic low-octane gasoline, and another turbojet engine, the BMW 003, using tractor kerosene. For the first time, it was possible to determine the thrust, fuel consumption, and optimal speed of the most advanced German engines.

Meanwhile, in the occupied regions of Germany, Soviet and American specialists were on a real hunt for military-technical documentation and all kinds of “know-how” of German industry. In April 1945, army counterintelligence officers arrested the chief technical adviser on jet aircraft, engineer E. Purucker, in Berlin. Within a few days, the head of the GRU, General F. Kuznetsov, informed the USSR Minister of Aviation Industry A. Shakhurin: “The prisoner E. Puruker is of great interest to you, as he is widely aware of the production of jet engines for aircraft in Germany. The prisoner is in Moscow and can be presented for special interrogation by your representative.” It was from Purucker that it became known where exactly the technical documentation for the Me-262 and other experimental Luftwaffe aircraft was kept. Special teams were sent to retrieve the drawings and thoroughly searched the design offices in Ceske Budejovice, Wiener Neustadt and Bergkristall east of Linz. A high-ranking engineer also reported about a secret airfield in the vicinity of Prague, where about 60 aircraft were based. Purucker turned out to be a very valuable informant, because it was he who spoke about the technical difficulties that the Germans encountered in the process of “bringing to mind” their jet Swallows. He also clarified that the German aircraft industry reached its largest production of Me-262s in March 1945, having received 237 aircraft from assembly lines.

Numerous reports from German pilots, engineers, and high-ranking aviation officials increased interest in the Messerschmitt jet in the Soviet Union. The captured aircraft were sent to aircraft factories in Syzran and to the experimental sites of the Air Force Research Institute, where specialists carefully studied each component. At the conclusion of the act based on the results of flight tests, it was noted, in particular, that the Me-262 is a mature jet aircraft and has a great advantage in maximum horizontal speed over modern domestic and foreign fighters with piston engines. Deputy People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry P.V. Dementyev, having received the first results of flight tests of a captured fighter, sent a letter to Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars G.M. Malenkov with a proposal to immediately begin serial production of Soviet jet aircraft based on the Me-262. Production of the aircraft was planned to be organized at factories No. 381 in Moscow and No. 292 in Saratov. The study of the design of the aircraft, the production of drawings and adaptations of the aircraft for Soviet equipment and weapons were entrusted to the chief designer of the department, Myasishchev, and the development of engines was entrusted to the designer Klimov. Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev, having carefully studied the design of the Me-262, also noted in his report: “I should note that this aircraft, according to the review of the Air Force Scientific Research Institute, has a number of operationally proven designs, such as a three-wheeled landing gear, cabin pressurization, etc., and has good controllability characteristics , allows for the possibility of installing very powerful weapons and using them as an attack aircraft, has a proven two-seat training version and the ability to further increase the maximum flight speed (up to 900-960 km/h) and range (up to 1200 km). At the same time, equipping the Air Force with jet aircraft (in single-seat and two-seat training versions) can begin in mid-1946.”

However, the famous aircraft designer Alexander Yakovlev turned out to be a fierce opponent of this idea. In his book “The Purpose of Life” he wrote: “At one of Stalin’s meetings, when discussing issues of the aviation industry, the proposal of People’s Commissar Alexei Shakhurin was considered for the serial production of the captured Messerschmitt-262 jet fighter captured by our troops. During the discussion, Stalin asked if I was familiar with this plane and what was my opinion. I replied that I know the Me-262 aircraft, but I object to its launch in our series because it is a bad aircraft, difficult to control and unstable in flight, which suffered a number of accidents in Germany. If it enters our service, it will scare our pilots away from jet aviation. They will quickly see from their own experience that this plane is dangerous and also has poor takeoff and landing properties. I also noticed that if we copy the Messerschmitt, then all attention and resources will be mobilized on this machine, and we will cause great damage to the work on domestic jet aircraft...” After subsequent discussion, the proposal to copy the Me-262 was rejected. Although the Soviet history of the German jet Messerschmitt did not end there. In preparation for the November 1946 parade over Red Square, the Air Force proposed using the Me-262 to train pilots selected to fly the first MiG-9 and Yak-15 jets at a rate of 5-6 flights each. To train pilots, it was planned to transport 20 Me-262 aircraft to the airfield of the 16th Air Army in Chkalovskaya. However, this proposal did not pass: the first Soviet jet fighters, the famous MIG-9, were designed for one pilot, and our pilots would have to retrain from the German “sparks”.

Life itself put the final stop on the issue of copying German jet aircraft. On September 17, 1946, during a test flight at the Chkalovsky airfield near the village of Kishkino in the Moscow region, one of the German Messerschmitt-262 crashed, burying test pilot F.F. Demid under its rubble. From that moment on, the final decision was made - not to copy the “Germans”, but to develop our own. Nevertheless, the Me-262 left a deep mark on Soviet aviation. It's just not acceptable to talk about it.

TROPHY AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

In fact, this is one of the carefully hushed up topics of post-war Soviet history - how exactly Soviet science, the military-industrial complex and industry disposed of the engineering “legacy of the enemy” that we inherited as a result of the war. During the fighting on German territory, the zone of Soviet occupation included areas in which many aviation enterprises were concentrated - mainly large aircraft manufacturing concerns such as Junkers, Arado, Heinkel, Focke-Wulf, Dornier. Most of the factories were heavily damaged by aerial bombardment, many turned into ruins. Aircraft designers and developers of new military equipment - Prandtl, Betz, Busemann, Georgi, Heinkel, Lippisch and others - went to the West (it is believed, not without the help of Western intelligence services). However, what the winners got could be enough for many years with thoughtful and serious study. Therefore, almost simultaneously with the beginning of the fighting on the territory of the Third Reich, a special scientific and technical council (NTS) was created in Moscow, which immediately after the war was transformed into the Bureau of New Technology - it was it that issued the document presented in our collection. Professors, academicians, and leading scientists were mobilized to work in the STS, whose task was to “determine scientific and technical policy for the further development of the army and navy,” or, simply put, to make the most of the captured military-technical and scientific potential of Germany for needs of Soviet industry. Thousands of pages of drawings and texts, product samples, descriptions of experiments, and scientific literature were delivered to Moscow in a continuous stream. Hundreds of German translators were recalled from the front and retrained as specialists in scientific and technical translation. At the same time, in Germany itself, everything that was of even the slightest value was being dismantled. By mid-1946, 123 thousand machine tools and other industrial equipment were exported from Germany to the USSR. This made it possible to create nine new aircraft factories in the Soviet Union, including two aircraft and three engine factories.

Naturally, special attention was paid to the latest types of weapons - jet aircraft, rocket technology, nuclear projects... Although Stalin, Voroshilov, Budyonny before the war did not believe in the power of new developments in the field of weapons and spoke contemptuously about missiles, the experience of the war taught them a lot. In March 1945, when the war was still raging, but Germany’s fate had already been decided, the State Defense Committee issued a decree on the removal of radar documentation and equipment from German factories for their production in the USSR. Soon the State Defense Committee issued a decision “On sending a commission to remove equipment and study the work of the German Rocket Institute in Peenemünde.” We are talking about the enterprise where the German “miracle weapons” - V-1 and V-2 - were created. Academician Georgy Byushgens wrote: “After the end of the war in 1945, TsAGI scientists and other aviation specialists had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with captured aviation research materials from the German DVL Institute in the city of Adlershof. These materials contained, in addition to the results of tests in the wind tunnels of the institute, models of specific aircraft, and general data.”
Captured materials from TsAGI scientists - Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after N.E. Zhukovsky was not immediately appreciated. However, many specialists at the institute quickly realized the promise of this area. Further theoretical and experimental research was entrusted to a team of the most authoritative scientists of the institute. In addition to technical documentation, Soviet specialists discovered unfinished samples of Me-162 single-engine jet fighters and three damaged He-280 twin-engine jet fighters. Soviet doctrines studied enemy developments. Here is a quote from one of the reports: “The development of jet technology in Germany has taken on a large scale in recent years. Captured samples of German jet technology available in the USSR - jet aircraft (fighters, attack aircraft, bombers), aviation jet gas turbine engines, liquid jet engines, radio-controlled and unguided missiles (long-range and for combating anti-aircraft targets), projectile aircraft and jet glide bombs controlled by radio from aircraft show that the introduction of jet technology in aviation, navy and artillery was carried out in Germany on a large scale, and the Germans had serious success in this area.”

To study enemy achievements and the possibility of using them in the USSR, by government decision in the summer of 1945, an interdepartmental Commission on Jet Technology was created under the State Defense Committee. In August 1945, bench tests of German jet engines were carried out. At pilot plant No. 51, production of “10X” projectile aircraft began, similar to the German V-1 cruise missile. Also in 1945, the idea arose to use German specialists to develop jet aviation in the USSR. People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry Shakhurin addressed the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks with a secret letter. It said, in particular: “A large number of German specialists and scientists in the field of aviation are now in our hands. These scientists and specialists have enormous reserves of knowledge accumulated during their work in research and experimental organizations in Germany... From our point of view, it would be advisable to have a special type of organization with a special regime on the territory of the USSR or in the zone of Germany occupied by us (under the supervision of the NKVD ), where German scientists could conduct research work - according to our instructions...".
This was immediately reported to Stalin, and the green light was given to use the “enemy’s legacy” for the development of the domestic military industry. The search for and attraction of German specialists to cooperation occurred in various ways. Some, for example, the former head of pilot production at Junkers, Dr. B. Baade, voluntarily expressed a desire to cooperate in order to continue working in aviation. The leading aerodynamics specialist at Heinkel, Z. Gunther, also contacted the Soviet authorities. Many were motivated by mercantile considerations - money and food rations. Some scientists, having heard about the cruelties of the NKVD, were simply afraid to refuse.
In total, over a thousand German scientists were involved in the work. They were collected in Berlin, Dessau, Leipzig, Halle, Strasfurt and Rostock. Everyone wrote a report on the past activities of the scientific institution and spoke about their work. Having become acquainted with these materials, Soviet specialists gave their resumes and set new tasks for the “trophy” scientists. The completed work was sent to the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry, to research institutes and enterprises for more complete study for application in their future work.
At the end of August 1946, the most valuable and promising German specialists were transported to the USSR. There were about seven thousand of them. Aircraft builders were assembled at pilot plant No. 1 in the village of Podberezye, Kimry district, on the shores of the Moscow Sea. Specialists in turbojet engines and instruments were sent to pilot plant No. 2, located near Kuibyshev. Scientists working on engines took their jobs at enterprises near Moscow - plant No. 500 in Tushino and No. 456 in Khimki. It is still unknown exactly what contribution German teaching made to the development of Soviet aircraft construction and how many ideas they suggested to their colleagues from the USSR. However, one can guess that the contribution of 7 thousand of the best minds of the German aviation industry to the development of Soviet military-technical thought turned out to be very significant. Perhaps it was these and similar developments that became the main military trophy of Russia. A trophy that allowed a dilapidated country to turn into a world superpower in a matter of years - with the best aviation and weapons in the world...

Arado Ar 234 "Blitz"

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Work on the project, designated E-370, was delayed due to the implementation of two other tasks issued by RLM - the development of the Ar-232 transport aircraft and the Ar-240 fighter aircraft. Therefore, it was only in September 1941 that a technical proposal crystallized - under the code E-370/IV. It was supposed to be a single-seat reconnaissance aircraft, equipped with two BMW P-3302 engines (in the series designated BMW 003), with a launch weight reaching 7000 kg. Three fuel tanks in the wings and three in the fuselage held a total of 4,000 liters of fuel. The reconnaissance equipment was to consist of two Rb 50/30 or Rb 75/30 cameras located at the rear of the fuselage. Defensive armament was limited to only one MG 131 13 mm machine gun in the tail, which was already a concession compared to the original proposal, which called for the aircraft to have no defensive armament at all. It was supposed to be so fast that it would not need defensive machine guns to protect itself from allied fighters.

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On November 26, 1943, Hitler was supposed to visit the airfield in Insterburg, where the latest aviation technology was exhibited. In addition to two Me-262 jets, a Me-163 rocket, a Fi-103 (V1) flying bomb, as well as a number of missile prototypes, it was decided to show him the Ar-234 as well. On November 21, the third prototype was disassembled and transported to the display site. Hitler, impressed by the designs demonstrated to him, decided that 200 Ar-234s should be built by the end of 1944. In a conversation on this topic, the Fuhrer used the word “blitz” (lightning), which in the future was transferred to the airplane. Just as in the case of the Me-262 "Schwalbe", it, however, remained not an official name. In official documents the name "Hecht" (Pike) was later used.

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On August 2, 1944, he performed the first combat reconnaissance flight of a jet aircraft in history; its pilot was Oblt. Erich Sommer. After this, the Ar-234 V-7 flew until November 19, 1944, when it was decommissioned.

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Bachem Va 349 "Nutter"

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The first of 15 prototypes of the aircraft was released in October 1944. It was used for unpowered controllability tests and was towed by a Heinkel He 111 aircraft. The first vertical take-off, also unmanned, with the launch of the launch and sustainer rocket engines, took place on February 23, 1945. A few days later, practically the only (at that time) manned vertical aircraft takeoff, the cockpit canopy was torn off in flight, and the plane crashed into the ground from a height of 1525 m, test pilot Lothar Siebert died.

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The Viper's combat tactics involved vertical takeoff on autopilot and allowed the pilot to switch to manual control to take up a position at a higher altitude than the one at which the bombers were flying. For firing from a shallow dive, the Viper was equipped with a shootable bow, under which was located a block with unguided missiles. After the missiles were launched, the empty plane left the combat zone, and the pilot could unfasten his seat belts. By moving the control stick forward, the pilot opened the safety latches, then released the mechanical locks, and the entire nose section was separated from the fuselage. The pilot left the plane without difficulty, because the tail section of the aircraft was slowed down by the release of the braking rescue parachute. The tail section had to be reused.

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The VA 349A was the initial production version. The Luftwaffe ordered 50 SS-150 aircraft and security units. Approximately 36 Vipers were produced, but not a single vehicle saw combat, despite the fact that 10 were prepared for launch in Kirchheim. But the Allied tanks came too close to the airfield, so the interceptors were destroyed right in the parking lots to avoid capture and use.

Fieseler Fi 103R "Reichenberg"

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg

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It was decided to launch some of them from He-111 bomber aircraft. These bombers were supposed to take up positions to launch projectile aircraft in directions covered by smaller air defense forces and thus ensure a breakthrough of the air defense system. In addition, the famous German pilot Hanna Reitsch proposed creating a manned projectile aircraft to combat large surface targets. Such a projectile aircraft was supposed to be delivered to the area of ​​enemy ships by a He-111 bomber, after which the projectile aircraft was launched. Its pilot had to take control, aim the projectile at the target and bail out.

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The command of the SS troops supported this idea, proposing to use a manned projectile also for bombing the industrial complexes of Kuibyshev, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, as well as areas located beyond the Urals. The famous sabotage specialist O. Skorzeny even gave the order to recruit and train 250 suicide pilots for these missile aircraft. As usual in the Third Reich, this “original” idea was supported at the highest level and received the code name “Reichenberg”, and the company Fieseler was tasked with developing a manned projectile aircraft. Thanks to the experience gained by the Fieseler company in designing such aircraft and the widespread use of V-1 components and assemblies, the task was completed within 14 days. At the same time, four modifications of the manned projectile aircraft were developed, designated Fi-103R (Reichenberg):

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In principle, the aircraft of all four modifications had the same design, which was largely borrowed from the V-1: a monoplane with a cantilever mid-wing, a cigar-shaped fuselage and a single fin tail. The fuselage was built almost entirely from mild steel, and the removable wings were of wooden construction , they were mounted on the main spars made of steel pipes directly in front of the suspension of the projectile aircraft under the wing of the He-111. The engine was an Argus pulse jet engine, which developed a thrust of about 226 kg at a flight speed of 640 km/h. This motor was a 3.48 m long mild steel tube with a maximum diameter of just over 546 mm. The diameter of the nozzle was 40 cm, the thickness of the steel used in its manufacture was 2.5 mm. The engine weight did not exceed 163 kg.

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At the front end of the pipe, a valve grille was installed for air intake, the valve petals of which, opening like flaps, were made of carbon steel. At the head of the pipe there were 9 fuel injection nozzles connected to the tank using fuel lines. The timing of the opening of the grille valves exactly corresponded to the timing of fuel injection, thus ensuring the engine's operating cycle. The fuel was supplied under pressure of about 6 atm, and the ratio of the components of the fuel-air mixture was approximately 1:15.

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At the beginning of 1946, on instructions from the Soviet administration, OKB-1, formed from German designers in Dessau, developed the EF-126 light attack aircraft based on the Fi-103R. Basically repeating the design solutions of its counterpart, this aircraft had a spaced twin-fin tail, and the pilot's cabin was located in the front of the fuselage. The attack aircraft's armament consisted of only two 20 mm cannons. For takeoff, a special catapult was developed, and landing had to be done on a landing ski.

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The EF-126's first flight took place on May 21, 1946. Although this flight ended in disaster in which the test pilot died, the modified samples flew quite well. Nevertheless, the government commission headed by A.S. Yakovlev gave a negative conclusion on the aircraft project: “weak armament, lack of armor and insufficient fuel supply make it difficult to use the Yu-126 aircraft as a mass attack aircraft.” Thus ended the story of one of several Luftwaffe jets for which very high expectations were placed.

Heinkel He 162 "Salamander"

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The fuel supply is 945 liters, of which 763 liters are in the fuselage tank installed behind the pilot’s seat, and 182 liters are in two wing tanks. The nose wheel and main landing gear are retracted into the fuselage. The armament, located in the forward part of the fuselage on the sides of the pilot's seat, consists of two 30 mm caliber guns with a reserve of 50 rounds of ammunition or two 20 mm caliber guns with a reserve of 120 rounds of ammunition. At the same time, the aircraft of the first production modification, the He-162A-1, which were produced in relatively small quantities, were armed with 30-mm MK-108 cannons. This is explained by the fact that the recoil force of the guns when firing was too great and required strengthening the nose of the aircraft.

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The second serial modification of the He-162A-2 was armed with 20-mm MG-151 cannons, and at the end of the war the He-162A-3 modification appeared, with a reinforced nose section, on which 30-mm MK-108 cannons were again installed. Flight tests carried out in December 1944 and January 1945 showed that the aircraft had good controllability and was capable of reaching ground speeds of up to 885-890 km/h, and at an altitude of 6000 m - up to 905 km/h. Considering that at a speed of more than 600 km/h the possibility for the pilot to leave the cockpit in the event of an accident is almost completely excluded, the cockpit is equipped with an ejection seat driven by powder gases from a squib. The production of the Non-162 aircraft, which was given the official name "Volkseger" - "People's Fighter" - received priority over all other weapons production programs; it was supposed to be produced in quantities of 1000-5000 units per month. For this purpose, Heinkel factories cooperated with more than 700 enterprises, which were supposed to supply them and each other with parts, components and individual main units, such as wings, tails, etc.

For example, in abandoned gypsum mines in Mödling, near Vienna, the Allies discovered an assembly plant, in the workshops of which there were more than 1000 He-162 fighters in various stages of readiness. Serial production of the He-162 fighters began in January 1945, when the first 6 production aircraft were produced. In total, approximately 120 aircraft were transferred to Luftwaffe units before the end of the war, and more than 200 manufactured aircraft underwent factory flight tests. There are no more or less reliable data on the combat use of the People's Fighters, but there are reports indicating numerous accidents and catastrophes of these aircraft due to design errors and manufacturing defects.

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For example, in just three weeks from April 13 to the end of the Second World War, the 1st squadron of the 1st squadron, armed with He-162 aircraft, lost 13 aircraft and 10 pilots, of which only 3 aircraft were destroyed by the enemy, and the remaining losses were the result of accidents and disasters. Thus, in this squadron there was an average of one accident every two days. However, these data should be considered in the context of the total collapse of industry and the armed forces of Germany as a result of the military defeat of Germany that has actually already occurred. If this high-speed fighter had appeared at least a year earlier (and such a possibility existed, since the BMW-003 engine was ready already in 1941, and the first industrial series of BMW-003A1 engines was ordered in October 1943), then the Allied aviation I would have to go through many difficult days.

Using the accumulated experience, Heinkel designers began to create a full-fledged jet combat vehicle. The first sketches of the new aircraft were made in early June 1939 by the company's technical director, Robert Lusser. The aircraft received the preliminary designation He 180 and was designed as a fighter with high speed, good maneuverability and powerful weapons. It was planned to install two jet engines. Detailed development of the project continued for about four months. Various pilot and engine positions were proposed. The models were thoroughly purged in the wind tunnel. The final appearance of the aircraft, which eventually received the designation He 280, was formed by the fall of 1939, and on September 26 its layout was approved.

The aircraft was a single-seat mid-wing with very clean aerodynamic contours, a straight wing, two engines located under it and a two-tail tail. The chassis was designed to be promising - tricycle with a nose wheel

Due to the fact that both engines of the power plant had to be located under the wing consoles, there was enough space in the forward part of the fuselage to install three MG 151 aircraft cannons with a caliber of 20 mm with the necessary supply of cartridges for them.

Of particular note is the presence of a pressurized pilot's cabin and an ejection seat, which ensures escape from the aircraft at high speeds and flight altitudes.

If there was a need to leave the plane, the pilot had to open the cockpit canopy, put his feet on the seat footrests and turn the pneumatic system levers. When the compressed air was released, the piston rod was set in motion, throwing the seat out of the aircraft cabin. In the air, the pilot had to unfasten his seat belts, free himself from the seat and open the parachute. Comparing this system with later developed systems operating from a squib, one notes its greater structural complexity and excess weight.

The He 280 pilot had to use an ejection seat on January 13, 1942, when the aircraft’s controllability was lost at an altitude of 2400 m. This was the first time in the history of world aviation that a pilot was rescued using a catapult.

Flight tests of the aircraft showed that the 600 kg of thrust developed by each engine is sufficient to achieve a maximum flight speed of 820 km/h, but the operational reliability of the engines turned out to be insufficient. Their development took too much time, and although the Heinkel company tried to save the He 280 by installing the BMW 003 and Jumo 004B engines, the German Aviation Ministry gave preference to the Messerschmitt Me 262 aircraft, which had been created by that time. In March 1943, work on the He 280 was stopped and this aircraft did not take part in the fighting of World War II.

Horten Ho XVIII-IX

Almost unknown today, the Go 229 twin-engine flying wing jet was perhaps the most striking and unusual combat aircraft produced during World War II. It arose from the belief of brothers Walter and Reimar Horten that the flying wing was the most efficient form of heavier-than-air aircraft. They decided to prove this by constructing a number of gliders, the first of which was the Horten I, built in 1931. In 1936, the brothers began serving as Luftwaffe officers, but continued their work and in 1942 developed a flying-wing jet fighter.

The first major step was the construction of a simulator for training Luftwaffe pilots, this was the Ho VII, which took off in 1943. It had dual controls and two engines with pusher propellers. The brothers kept their plans secret, and No VII (20 vehicles were ordered, but the order for 18 was cancelled) was listed as a vehicle for aerodynamic research and communications. Meanwhile, the 9th Brothers Test Brigade has already begun the creation of the Ho IX twin-engine jet fighter. Neither project received official approval from the German Aviation Ministry, but the brothers were well connected politically. As soon as Reichsmarschall Goering saw the drawings, he insisted that this machine of the future take to the air as soon as possible.

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Urgent work began on two prototypes using the maximum capabilities of a small group of creators. But the IX VI was intended to fly as a glider and was subsequently modified to accommodate two BMW 003A turbojet engines. Sometime in May 1944, testing of the airframe began in Oranienburg, and its handling turned out to be exceptionally good. But IX consisted of a central part and outer panels. The central part was capacious enough to accommodate the pilot, engines, guns, tricycle landing gear and almost all the necessary fuel.

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The aircraft was made from steel pipes connected by welding and plywood skin, with the exception of engine installation areas where the skin was aluminum or steel. The swept wing was made entirely of wood, and some units were made of a composite, which was a mixture of wood shavings and rubber glue, pressed under high pressure. The design withstood 7-fold overload and was superior in strength to almost any other aircraft.

Testing of the fully equipped VI airframe meant that production of the Ho IX would begin immediately, but the VI crashed in 1944. By May 1944, the aircraft's enormous potential delighted Air Ministry officials and control of its development was transferred to Gothaer Fagonfabrik, where it was redesignated Go 229.

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In addition to VI and V2, seven more prototypes and 20 production fighters were ordered. The latter were supposed to have a wing with a span of 16.75 m, two Jumo 004B engines and armament consisting of four 30 mm caliber guns (MK 103 or 108).

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A simple ejection seat was installed for the pilot. The Go 229 V-2 test program began in January 1945 in Oranienburg. Takeoff required less than 450 m of runway and handling was excellent. By early March, when the retractable landing gear was installed and the speed was increased to 800 km/h, the plane crashed on approach due to the sudden failure of one of the engines.

The program was suspended. The Gotha plant in Friedrichsrode had actually completed production of the V-3 prototype, with many Go 229s in varying states of assembly readiness.

The Junkers Ju-287V-1 aircraft was an interesting design. It was the first medium jet bomber to fly. In an effort to increase the critical Mach number and at the same time avoid stalling at the wing tips, which occurs on wings with forward sweep, the aircraft's wing was given a forward sweep. Work on the creation of the Ju-287 aircraft began in the summer of 1943. In order to reduce the construction time of the Ju-287V-1 prototype, the main parts of already tested aircraft were used in its design. In particular, the fuselage of the Heinkel He-177 aircraft, the tail of the Junkers Ju-188 aircraft and the landing gear of the hijacked Convair B-24 aircraft were used. Thus, the only thing new on the plane was the wing installed in the middle part of the fuselage, which had a span of 20 m, an area of ​​58.2 m2 and a forward sweep of 20°. The aircraft's power plant consisted of four Junkers-Yumo 004B turbojet engines with a thrust of 900 kg each.

During takeoff, four Walter 501 liquid-propellant jet engines were used as boosters, each of which developed a thrust of 1200 kg for 40 seconds. There was a choice between BMW 003 and Jumo 004, of which at least six were required. But in reality, the Ministry of Aviation has reserved both types of turbojet engines for fighter aircraft. There were two options for installing engines. The first - three engines in a common combination under the wing, the second - a pair of turbojet engines under the wings and in the nose of the fuselage, similar to the Ju 287V-1. For the second prototype aircraft, the first layout option was chosen.

All possibilities for placing turbojet engines were carefully tested on models in the wind tunnel. It is noteworthy that back in 1943 it was established that in order to reduce drag at speeds with a large number of “M”, the most successful was the longitudinal arrangement of the engines in a “ladder”, which corresponded to the “area rule”, which German aerodynamicists only guessed about. However, they were late with this, because -that the advantages of this arrangement became apparent when the Ju 287 project was in the design process.

Again, for an aircraft with engines located according to the “area rule,” the control system of these power plants became more complicated (the length and number of control rods increased), in addition, in the event of failure of the outer engines, difficulties with piloting could arise. However, fears that nearby turbojet engines would adversely affect each other were not confirmed during ground bench tests.

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Serious advantages of the Ju 287 with a swept wing include the placement of a 4.6 m long bomb bay in front of the center section, near the center of gravity and capable of holding up to 4 tons of bombs. The Ju 287V-1 flying laboratory accommodated only two crew members, while the Ju 287 V-2 and V-3 had three crew members each, and on the latter vehicle they were located in a pressurized cabin. The V3 variant featured a tail turret with two 13 mm MG-131 remote-controlled machine guns. The weapon was aimed using a periscope sight. All fuel was placed in the fuselage tanks.

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After the flights at Brandis, the V-1 aircraft was transported to the air base in Rechlin, where testing continued.

In preparation for serial production, various units and systems were tested at the Junkers plant stands, including the fuel system, simulating possible evolutions of the aircraft, including inverted flight. The hydraulic system was also carefully examined, taking into account expected damage, pressure surges and abnormal overloads. Design documentation was fully prepared and partially sent to the factories. Despite the bombings and constant movements of enterprises throughout Germany, the factories contained aircraft components and assemblies almost ready for installation. Throughout the provinces of Angala, Saxony, and Thuringia, dozens of small plants and factories were ready to begin serial production of the Ju 287.

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The Ju-287V-1 made its first flight on August 16, 1944 from Brandis airfield near Leipzig. During flight tests, the aircraft reached a speed of 645 km/h. The take-off weight of the aircraft was 20,000 kg, the weight of the empty aircraft was 12,500 kg. The second prototype Ju-287V-2 with a power plant of six BMW003A-1 turbojet engines and the first production model JU-287V-3 were under construction by the end of the war. The Ju-287V-3 aircraft was supposed to have a maximum speed of 860 km/h and a flight range of 6650 km with a bomb load of 3000 kg. The plane was supposed to have retractable landing gear. The aircraft's power plant was to consist of six turbojet engines, four of which were installed in pairs in nacelles under the wing, and two on the sides of the fuselage. The aircraft of the first series Ju 287A-1 were planned to be equipped with six BMW 003A-1s, for the V-1 series four Heinkel-Hirt 001-1A were planned, for the Ju 287V-2 - two BMW 018s with a thrust of 3400 kgf. However, the Germans did not manage to carry out any serious work on the latest options.

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The Germans created only one Ju 287V-2 at the Dessau plant. But the engines were soon removed from the car sent to Brandeis. To save it from bombing, the plane was brought to the outskirts of the forest, with its nose pointing away from the airfield. Therefore, the Americans, considering the results of aerial photography, came to the conclusion that the Germans built the aircraft according to the “duck” design.

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The Germans blew up a Ju 287 before the occupation of this part of Germany by the Americans, although the wing of this aircraft was almost undamaged. Later, everything that survived was returned to Dessau and partially used for further work. The Ju 287V-3 was more fortunate. By the time the Americans arrived, the plane, which had begun construction, ended up under the rubble of the production workshop, although it was almost undamaged.

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Messerschmitt Me 163 "Comet"

Me 163 is a unique aircraft that has left a bright mark in the history of aviation. It was the only tailless aircraft equipped with a liquid rocket engine that was put into service and participated in battles. In addition, it had other features, for example, a narrow specialization: a daytime interceptor to combat Allied bombers, capable of achieving a record speed and climb rate for that time.

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The first flight took place on September 1, 1941. Produced in a small series. By the end of 1944, 91 aircraft had been delivered. The first combat flight was carried out on May 14, 1944

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The Me-163 had a liquid-propellant rocket engine powered by 80 percent hydrogen peroxide and a liquid catalyst (potassium permanganate solution or a mixture of methanol, hydrazine hydrate, and water). In the combustion chamber, hydrogen peroxide decomposed to form a large volume of superheated vapor-gas mixture, creating powerful jet thrust. No ignition was required - after the two liquids merged, a chemical reaction immediately began.

After takeoff, the plane dropped its landing gear and landed on a retractable ski. Once, during takeoff, the pilot dropped the landing gear early, and it bounced off the ground, pierced the tank of the plane, after which it fell and exploded.

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There was also a training version of this aircraft with a cabin for 2 pilots.

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Three groups were armed with such aircraft, but due to a lack of fuel, only one group was able to take part in hostilities.

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In total, German historians attribute 16 kills to Komet pilots, but the Allies confirm only nine. US and British fighter pilots report six aerial victories over the Me 163, and bomber gunners report slightly more. But even more Komets died during testing and training flights. Thus, in I./JG 400, between May 22, 1944 and January 20, 1945, at least 17 Komets were lost from flight accidents.

The world's first experimental jet aircraft. 178 took off in Germany on August 27, 1939. Completely independently, the Gloucester company (Great Britain) created the E28/39 aircraft with a turbojet engine (TRD), which took to the skies in May 1941. The third aircraft with a gas turbine engine, patented F. Whittle, took off to the USA. This happened on October 2, 1942. The first combat aircraft with a turbojet engine was the Me.262, created under the leadership of V. Messerschmitt.

The idea of ​​​​creating a jet fighter aircraft in Germany was born almost simultaneously with the beginning of the development of the turbojet engine. Three years passed from the first sketches on the drawing boards to the launch of the prototype Me.262VI, albeit still with a piston engine, and another couple of years before the first flight of the machine with a turbojet engine.

The Me.262 with the YuMO-004 turbojet engine (variant V5) with a nose but non-retractable wheel, for the first time overcame gravity on June 6, 1943, becoming the prototype of the Me.262A production vehicle.

The first flights of the Me.262\/5 disappointed the designers due to the long takeoff run. Then launch rocket boosters were installed on the plane, which made it possible to almost halve the take-off distance.

At the beginning of November 1943, the Me.262V6, equipped with modified and lighter YuMO-004V-1 engines, placed in more streamlined nacelles, was rolled out to the airfield. For the first time, a retractable nose landing gear was installed on an airplane. It was supposed to be used as an air brake, but in this case, as it turned out, a strong diving moment arose, for which there was not enough elevator to compensate. And yet this machine was still far from perfect. In particular, there was no mechanism for releasing the main landing gear; they simply fell out of their niches under the influence of gravity after pressing the corresponding button.

Test flights on the Me.262V6 continued until March 8, 1944, when the aircraft piloted by K. Schmidt crashed.

Beginning in 1943, the military began to closely monitor the progress of work on the Me.262. In the same month, in Insterburg, the Me.262V6 was demonstrated to the German leadership. But the Fuhrer treated him coolly. While the leaders of the Third Reich were deciding what to do with the machine, they built the seventh prototype of the aircraft with a pressurized cabin. Following him, the Me.262 U8 took off, equipped for the first time with standard weapons - four MK-108 30 mm cannons.

A total of 12 prototypes of the prototypes were built, the last of which, the Me.262 V11 and Me.262 V12, were used for aerodynamic research. At the beginning of 1944, 30 pre-production fighters were built for trial operation under the designation Me-262A-0. Only after this did the production version of the Me.262A-1a “Schwalbe” (“Swallow”) appear, which became the basis for all subsequent modifications.

The pilots noted that the Me.262A-1 was much easier to control compared to the main Bf.109G fighter. True, the turning radius of a jet fighter was higher, but the high angular speed of turn partially compensated for this disadvantage, although it was dangerous for it to engage in battle on turns with a piston fighter. The Me.262 accelerated worse, and during a dive, due to the lack of air brakes, it could easily exceed the speed limit.

The Me.262A-1 flew quite well on one engine. At the same time, its speed reached 450 - 500 km/h, and the flight duration at an altitude of 7000 m was 2.25 hours. However, landing, as well as continuing takeoff, was dangerous in the event of one engine failure.

The fighter's armament consisted of four 30-mm MK 108A-3 cannons with 100 rounds of ammunition for the upper guns and 80 rounds for the lower ones. The choice of such guns indicated that the aircraft was intended to fight enemy bombers, and there was no talk of any maneuverable combat with fighters. Otherwise, it was advisable to use smaller caliber guns tested on the Bf. 109 and FW.190.

The fire of the fighter's 30-mm cannons was effective at a distance of up to 220 m, while the machine gunners of American bombers could hit enemy aircraft at a distance of up to 700 m. For this reason, the Germans suffered heavy losses in air battles with Anglo-American bombers. Therefore, other weapon options were also considered. Thus, on the Me.262A-1a/U1 they tested 20-mm MG.151 and 30-mm MK 103 cannons. The latter differed from the MK 108 in having longer barrels with muzzle brakes.

To combat bombers, it was proposed to equip the Me.262D version of the aircraft with SG-500 Jagdfaust rifled guns of 50 mm caliber in the forward fuselage. The guns were designed to fire projectiles forward and upward. Three Me.262A-1a were equipped with 50-mm MK-214A cannons.

On the Me.262A-1b, holders for 34 missiles were tested, it was planned to increase their number to 48. In the interceptor version, the R100/BS missile was tested on the aircraft. Aerodynamic tests of vertically launching RZ 73 rockets were also carried out.

The YuMO-004V engines caused a lot of difficulties for the pilots when mastering the aircraft. Their feature was a dual-fuel system. The engine was started using a two-stroke piston engine RBA/S10 “Riedel”, running on gasoline. This fuel was also used in turbojet engines, but only for its launch. Only after reaching 6000 rpm the engine automatically switched to diesel fuel, after which the speed increased to 8000. When spinning up the turbine, the engine control lever had to be moved very smoothly. Otherwise, there was a high risk of engine fire.

When the Anglo-American troops crossed the Rhine, the basis of German air defense aviation was the Bf.109 “G” and “K”. Calculations showed that the Me.262, compared to the Me.109K-4, provided a larger protection zone, and at altitudes up to 8000 m it was capable of overtaking enemy bombers much earlier. As for maneuverability, in the horizontal plane the advantage was entirely on the side of the piston fighter. In the verticals, the Messerschmitt jet was superior to its predecessor, gaining twice the altitude during a combat turn. His weapons were also stronger. It was with these qualities that the Me.262 entered the battle.

1 - gun; 2 - cockpit canopy; 3 - engine; 4 - aileron; 5 - flap; 6 - central body (cone) in the nozzle part of the turbojet engine; 7 - stabilizer; 8 - elevator; 9 - main landing gear; 10 - niche door for cleaning the front landing gear; 11 - recess door for cleaning the main landing gear; 12 - wing; 13 - air pressure receiver

Serial Me.262s were concentrated in the 262 test team, the 7th fighter squadron, Jagdverband 44, the 10th group of the 11th night fighter squadron, the 1st group of the 54th bomber squadron, two groups of the 51st bomber squadron and the 6th reconnaissance air group.

The pilots of Team 262 were the first to enter the battle. This happened in July 1944, when the English Mosquito was intercepted. The pilots first encountered heavy bombers on September 11th. They met with B-17 planes returning from the raid on Germany, escorted by Mustangs, and their only victory was the P-51 fighter. The result of the next day was somewhat better, when at least two “flying fortresses” were destroyed.

In the fall of 1944, the “262” team, soon transformed into an air group, was headed by one of the most famous pilots, Major Novotny. On October 7, 1944, the air group lost its first two aircraft, shot down in an air battle. And the next day the commander died.

Despite the large size of the group, from October 3 to October 12, the formation's pilots, making three or four sorties a day, reported the destruction of 22 (according to other sources, 26) enemy aircraft.

At the first stage, the use of Me.262 against Anglo-American aircraft was a complete success. The reason for this was the suddenness of their appearance, since the speed of jet aircraft was at least 200 km/h higher than that of piston fighters. Jet fighters initially carried out attacks in small groups of two to three aircraft on enemy bomber formations, and, as a rule, from the direction of the sun and at an altitude of 500 to 1000 m. Having shot down several bombers, they destroyed their formation and left the “battlefield” at high speed. There was simply not enough time for a second attack. However, such tactics did not bear fruit for long. The bomber crews found a way to protect their “fortresses” with concentrated machine-gun fire and the use of new tactics, which consisted of sharp maneuvering with loss of speed.

In general, “raw”, with poor cannon armament and insufficiently trained pilots, the Me.262 aircraft, which received the laurels of the first-born jet combat aircraft, did not have a significant impact on the course of the war.

Hitler played a negative role in the fate of the Me.262, demanding that the fighter be turned into a bomber. To realize the Fuhrer's wishes, it was necessary, first of all, to test various bomb racks for suspending bombs of caliber from 250 to 1000 kg, as well as select a sight for bombing and develop appropriate techniques. It should be noted that bombing was possible only in horizontal flight, since diving was excluded due to the lack of air brakes. There was no question of bombing from a pitched position.

At the same time, the option of towing 500- and 1000-kg bombs with rigid traction was also considered. For take-off, a trolley was attached to the bomb, which was separated after lifting off the ground using explosive bolts. The bomb was unhooked from the tug when the plane went into a shallow dive.

A sharp turn in the fate of the Me.262 occurred on March 2, 1944. On that day, the Ministry of Aviation ordered the start of mass production of 60 Me.262A-2a bombers. In addition to the bomb armament suspended under the fuselage, two 30-mm guns were left on the plane. In fact, it was a fighter-bomber capable of not only bombing, but also fighting enemy aircraft.

The deployment of serial production of the aircraft occurred with great difficulties. There were not enough qualified workers. Things were no better with the engine, which was considered very crude and required lengthy fine-tuning. In addition, in order to avoid large losses from British and American air raids, the Germans were forced to disperse production into small enterprises camouflaged in the mountains and forests.

You can find a lot of contradictory information in the foreign press about the number of Me.262 aircraft built, and especially those in combat units. The most realistic number is considered to be 1433. Of these, in the first four months of 1945, German factories produced 865 aircraft.

The prototype of the serial fighter-bomber Me.262A-2 was the prototype Me.262V-10 with two ventral suspension units for 250 kg bombs. To reduce the take-off run, the aircraft was equipped with two launch boosters with a thrust of 500 kgf each.

During mass production, the military obtained Hitler's permission to produce every 20th Me.262 in a fighter version, however, with the condition that, if necessary, it would be possible to hang at least one 250-kg bomb.

In addition to the described aircraft variants, the Me.262A-Za armored attack aircraft with four MK-108 guns was being developed. But it never got to the point of being built.

Hitler hoped that, given Anglo-American air supremacy in the air, Me.262 fighter-bombers would still be able to provide the necessary support to the ground forces that were to hold back the advancing Allies.

The pilots of the 51st Squadron entered the battle on July 27. On that day, pilots of ten Messerschmitts bombed Anglo-American soldiers sunbathing on the beaches. But the use of jet bomb carriers had no effect, since the planes, lacking bombardiers and special sights, dropped their deadly load by eye without causing serious damage to the enemy. This was the first use of jet fighter-bombers in World War II.

In subsequent battles, attempts to intercept the Messerschmitt jets ended in vain. Allied fighters and anti-aircraft guns could provide virtually no resistance to the jet bombers. Only on October 13, R. Cole, flying the Tempest, managed to score his first victory over the Me.262.

Me.262 pilots usually acted alone, approaching a target at an altitude of 8,000 m during the day, dropping bombs from a shallow dive and heading home at high speed.

On October 1 and 2, 1944, the Messerschmitts, without suffering losses, attacked the Grave airfield near Nimwegen, destroying about 12 Spitfires. There were heavy losses among pilots and ground personnel.

The most effective strike by jet bombers, together with piston aircraft of the 3rd Fighter Squadron, was carried out on New Year's Eve 1945 on the English airfield in Endhoven during Operation Bodenplatte (Baseplate). As a result, about 50 Spitfires and Typhoons were destroyed. Today, more than 60 years after the end of World War II, it is difficult to judge the role of jet bombers in destroying enemy aircraft on the ground, since combat experience shows that such successes were achieved thanks to the surprise factor. And who would have thought that the Germans would decide on such an action on New Year's Eve. So it’s worth taking a realistic look at the Me.262’s “finest hour” and not exaggerating their merits.

The main drawback of the fighter-bomber was the lack of a bombing sight. Since placing it in the single-seat cabin of the Me.262A-2a was excluded, we went the traditional route. A bombardier's cabin was installed in the new part of the aircraft, after removing the guns.

In the summer of 1943, development of a training version of the fighter-bomber began. The first prototype of the twin Me.262V-1a was converted from a pre-production vehicle that retained the standard weapons. What distinguished the Me.262V-1 from a regular aircraft was not only the second cockpit of the instructor pilot. The number of fuel tanks on the plane and their total volume were reduced, and to compensate for the reduced flight duration, two outboard 300-liter fuel tanks were installed.

Until the end of the war, only 15 training aircraft were produced, which, as a rule, did not have weapons, and to maintain alignment, a 150-kg load was located in the forward part of the fuselage. If necessary, guns were installed instead of the centering weight.

The first demonstration model of a single-seat interceptor was converted from a Me.262A-1a fighter, on which a Liechtenstein SN-2 (FuG 220) radar was installed with antennas located in the forward fuselage outside its body and nicknamed “deer antlers.” The possibility of using the Me.262 as a night interceptor was demonstrated during tests in October 1944.

An experimental group was subsequently formed from these aircraft. The planes were guided to the target by radio commands from the ground.

The history of the two-seat interceptor began in the summer of 1944. The training Me.262V-1 was converted into it, placing on board the FuG 218 Neptune radar and the FuG 350 ZC Naxos direction finder. At the same time, a radar operator's workplace was equipped in the second cabin. The first two two-seater Me.262В-la/U1 entered combat units in February - March 1945 and were used to cover Berlin. The debut of two-seat interceptors took place on the night of March 30-31, 1945, when four Mosquitoes were destroyed.

It should be noted that even in the conditions of the agony of Nazi Germany, the designers continued to improve their brainchild. In particular, a full-fledged Me.262V-2a night fighter was developed with an increased fuel reserve, which was expected to enter service from mid-1945. In addition to the four MK-108 guns located in the forward fuselage, two more guns and barrels were placed behind the cockpit which were directed at an upward angle (the so-called “oblique music”).

The first flight of the Me.262V-2a took place in March 1945. Initially, it had a radar with antennas protruding beyond the contours of the fuselage, which reduced the maximum speed by almost 60 km/h. This drawback was supposed to be eliminated by installing a FuG 240 “Berlin” centimeter-range radar, with an antenna under a radio-transparent radome in the forward part of the fuselage. But this work could not be completed due to the end of the war. A three-seat version of the interceptor with an increased flight duration was also developed.

The two-seat interceptor, compared to the single-seat fighter, became noticeably heavier, its speed, rate of climb and flight duration decreased. There was no hope for the creation of a turbojet engine with greater thrust in the near future. Therefore, the idea arose to install on the Me.262 an additional HWK 109-509 liquid-propellant rocket engine with a thrust of 1640 kgf from the Walter company, running on concentrated hydrogen peroxide and methyl alcohol.

The modification was carried out on a pre-production vehicle, placing the liquid rocket engine and fuel components for it in the rear fuselage. This aircraft, designated Me.262S-1 “Heimatshützer” (“Defender of the Motherland”), first took off on February 27, 1945.

The use of a liquid propellant engine made it possible to increase the vehicle's rate of climb by almost two times (43 m/s) compared to the Me.262A-1a. It climbed to an altitude of 11,700 m in 4.5 minutes; the plane remained a prototype.

Another modification of the fighter was the Me.262S-2v interceptor with two combined BMW 003R engines, which included, in addition to the BMW 003A turbojet engine with a thrust of 800 kgf, a BMW109-718 liquid propellant rocket engine with a thrust of 1500 kgf.

The first flight of the Me.262S-2v took place on March 28, 1945. The Germans managed to complete only two flights on this machine. At the same time, the vehicle’s rate of climb at the ground reached 70 m/s, and it gained an altitude of 12 km in 3.9 minutes. June 25, 1944 H. Herlitzius managed to accelerate the Me.262S-2 to a speed of 1004 km/h, which became the highest achievement of an aircraft of this type.

Already at the end of the war, a version of the Me.262 with HeS 011 engines was developed, which remained unrealized. The same fate befell the Me.262 project with a highly swept wing (50° along the leading edge) and engines located on the sides of the fuselage, with air supplied through intakes in the center section.

The first attempt to create a reconnaissance aircraft was the Me.262A-4a project. It was supposed to abandon weapons and install two Rb 50/30 aerial cameras. The plane was never built, citing its extreme vulnerability in air combat, giving priority to the fifth modification of the Me.262A-5a, equipped with two cameras located in the forward fuselage. The prototype vehicle retained the armament of two 30 mm guns. But the planes that entered service with the troops were not armed. At the same time, two fuel tanks were usually suspended on bomb racks preserved from the Sturmvogel. These vehicles were actively used for reconnaissance of Anglo-American troops that landed in France.

Me.262 on the eastern front

The pilots of the 176th Guards IAP were the first to meet jet fighters on the Soviet-German front on February 14, 1945. On that day

A.S. Kumanichkin paired with regiment commander P.F. Chupikov saw an unusual plane in the air. The guards tried to attack the enemy, but the “German” unexpectedly and very quickly broke away from his pursuers. After developing the film of the photo-cine machine gun, it became clear that it was the latest Me.262 jet fighter.

The first Soviet pilot to shoot down the Me.262 was I.N. Kozhedub on La-7.

Other pilots also had encounters with the Me.262: some managed to shoot down the “retribution” weapon, while others fell under its blows. The second victory over the jet Messerschmitt was won by Lieutenant L.I. Sivko on March 22, 1945. On that day, four Yak-9s from the 812th IAP, covering the ground forces, patrolled at an altitude of 2000 m at a speed of 550 km/h. Sivko was the first to see an unknown plane without propellers. When the German began to turn around, Sivko, with a burst from a distance of 100 m, damaged the right wing plane of the Me.262, after which the enemy plane turned over and fell 5 km from the city of Tsekhin.

The third Soviet pilot to defeat a Messerschmitt jet was the pilot of the 152nd Guards IAP G.A. Merkviladze. When the enemy fighter, having an advantage in speed, came into the tail of Merkviladze’s plane, he abruptly went to the side, letting the enemy go ahead. The Soviet pilot could only aim at the enemy and shoot him point-blank...

The first copy of the Me.262 fell into the hands of our specialists with minor damage in March 1945. Following this, a large number of such machines and their engines were discovered at the airfields of Oranienburg, Dalgov and Tempelhof.

The first samples of YuMO-004 engines, or rather their fragments, arrived at the Central Institute of Aircraft Engine Manufacturing (CIAM) in early March

1945 In the summer of the same year, the Air Force Research Institute tested the BMW-003 engine on a stand, which made it possible to determine its traction and consumption characteristics.

Later, a commission created by the Special Committee under the State Defense Committee to develop measures for the study and development of German jet technology proposed to instruct plant No. 26 (chief designer V.Ya Klimov) to copy this turbojet engine and master its mass production.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, four captured Me.262s were brought to the USSR. One of them entered the Air Force Research Institute. After a comprehensive study, the restored aircraft was sent for flight testing. The vehicle leaders were engineer I.G. Rabkin, technician

V.A. Fedotov and test pilot A.G. Kochetkov. Flight tests of the Me.262 began on August 15, 1945. In November, Kochetkov performed the last, 12th flight.

The main defects identified during the tests were large forces on the control stick, poor starting of gasoline starting engines, burnout of the turbine guide vane and the complexity of the engine starting process.

There was also instability of the nose wheel of the landing gear, which made itself felt at the beginning of the takeoff run. The car's tendency to turn had to be countered by using the brakes on the wheels of the main landing gear.

Flights on the Me.262 showed that at high landing speeds, the nose gear, at the moment of contact with the runway, experiences large alternating loads directed perpendicular to the shock absorber axis and causing significant stress in the structure of the forward fuselage. To eliminate this “effect,” the aircraft used preliminary spinning of the nose wheel by the incoming air flow using blades located on the wheel.

When throttling the engines, the aircraft slowed down very slowly, and due to the wide range of flight speeds, it was necessary to frequently change the angle of installation of the stabilizer. And another drawback of the aircraft is the difficult go-around. In this case, due to poor engine response, it was necessary to slowly move the engine control levers to maximum thrust mode, which required appropriate skills.

At the same time, the pilots noted that in terms of piloting technique, including takeoff and landing, the Me.262 was close to conventional aircraft with a nose-mounted landing gear.

Despite this, the military petitioned the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR for the construction of a series of Me.262 aircraft without any changes in single-seat and double-seat versions, in order to quickly train the flight personnel of the combat units of the Air Force and study the issues of aerodynamics associated with high flight speeds.

In October 1945, at the OKB V.M. Myasishchev, in accordance with the order of the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry, began to study the design of the aircraft, produce drawings and adaptations of the aircraft for domestic weapons and equipment, as well as restore another copy of the captured fighter. The work was completed by December 29, but the Messerschmitt never took off.

The government of the country made a different decision - to develop domestic MiG-9 and Yak-15.

At the end of the war, the Czechoslovak company Avia was entrusted with the manufacture of the front parts of the fuselage. Other Czech enterprises repaired YuMO-004 engines and manufactured parts for them. After the liberation of Czechoslovakia, all the technological equipment of these factories was transferred to the Avia company and they began building jet aircraft, including engines.

The first copy of the aircraft, designated S-92.1, took off on August 22, 1946. Four months later, the two-seat CS-92.3, an analogue of the Me.262V-1a, took off.

In 1948, the Czechoslovakian “Swallow” became interested in Yugoslavia, which ordered two aircraft and six engines, and representatives of the Yugoslav Air Force even made familiarization flights on the twin. It seemed that the road to third countries was opening for the Czechoslovak Messerschmitt, but this did not happen due to the cessation of serial production of the aircraft.

At the same time, work continued on both improving the M-04 engine and the M-03 - the Czechoslovak version of the BMW-003.

M-03 were considered more promising than M-04, since their thrust could be increased to 1000 kgf.

In February 1949, the M-03 was installed on the two-seat CS-92.7 and was flown by a crew consisting of Kraus and Stoeck. However, the first flight was also the last. The engine, which showed good results on the test bench, turned out to be more capricious in flight than the M-04. The result is a forced landing...

The first production S-92 was delivered to the Czech Air Force on June 12, 1948. In total (according to various sources), from ten to twelve S-92s were built, including three twin CS-92s. Of these, the 5th Fighter Squadron of the Czechoslovak Air Force received five single-seat and three double-seat aircraft based at the Kbeli airfield. Six aircraft from this military unit were planned to be shown at the parade on May 1, 1950. To do this, seven crews (including a reserve vehicle) flew to Ruzyne airport. However, due to security concerns, the decision to participate in the parade was canceled.

Note. 1 During testing - 6026 kg. 2. Without taking into account takeoff and acceleration, taking into account takeoff and acceleration - 5.7 minutes. 3. Full tanks. In tests - 1530 kg. 4. At a speed of 655 km/h and at an altitude of 5430 m, the flight duration is 1 hour 5 minutes. With a fuel reserve of 2520 liters, the flight range and duration are ±1000 km and 1.5 hours, respectively. 5. According to the results of tests at the Air Force Research Institute, with two guns. Turn time at an altitude of 800 m is 32 s. 6. With starting boosters - 600 m. 7. Take-off weight - 6114 kg. Speed ​​- 725 km/h. 8. No bomb weapons. 9 . Apparently, with an external fuel tank. 10. Based on the results of measurements at the Air Force Research Institute.

In the same year, Yak-23 fighters began to arrive in Czechoslovakia, deciding the fate of the Messerschmitts.

Abroad, the Me.262 can be found in museums in England, the Czech Republic, and the USA, and in Germany, one of the copies of this aircraft was restored to flying condition.

Brief description of the Me.262A-1a aircraft

The aircraft is a classic low-wing aircraft with engines located on the wing.

The single-spar wing, swept 15° along the focal line, is made up of symmetrical profiles with a relative thickness of 11.3% (along the axis of symmetry of the fuselage) and 8.6% at the ends. The maximum profile thickness is at a distance of 40% from the leading edge of the wing. The wing spar is an I-section with steel flanges. Sheathing made of aluminum alloy with a thickness of 1.5 to 2 mm.

The wing consists of two parts and is connected to the fuselage along the axis of symmetry.

The wing mechanization includes three-section automatic slats along the entire span and Fowler flaps (hydraulic) with deflection angles up to 20°.

Ailerons equipped with trimmers-flatners, split with metal casing. To reduce the load on the aircraft control stick, they have weight and aerodynamic compensation.

The fuselage was technologically divided into nose, middle and tail sections. The nose part is made of steel. The frame profiles are connected by spot electric welding.

In the forward part of the fuselage there are four MK-108A-3 cannons, under which there are ammunition boxes. The cartridges and links are thrown out. The entire upper part of the gun compartment skin consists of two panels that fold upward, supported by special racks in the raised position.

The fuel is located in five tanks with a capacity of about 2570 liters.

In the lower part of the fuselage between the main tanks there is a cutout for the wing, through which during installation the pilot’s pressurized cabin with a cylindrical duralumin shell 0.6 mm thick was installed. The thickness of the fuselage skin varies from 0.8 to 1.5 mm.

The life support system includes a personal oxygen device from Degger. Oxygen cylinders are located in the rear fuselage.

The cockpit canopy consists of a visor, a side-folding middle section and a fixed rear section. The canopy has a 90mm windshield with an electro-thermal de-icing device.

The aircraft cabin armor includes four armor plates 15 mm thick. In addition, the cannon ammunition is protected by armor.

At the rear of the fuselage, behind the fuel tanks, there is a radio equipment compartment. In particular, it included: VHF radio station FUG-16ZY, identification system (“friend or foe”) FUG-25a and radio compass FUG-125.

The vertical tail is single-finned with a rudder equipped with a trimmer-flatner. The design is mixed, using wood. The horizontal tail consists of two halves: lower and upper. Depending on the flight mode, the angle of deflection of the stabilizer can be changed using an electric drive from +3° to -7°. The elevators have trimmers to reduce the effort on the control stick. All executive controls have weight and aerodynamic compensation.

The aircraft control system in all channels is rigid, made of tubular rods with rockers. The aircraft control stick allows you to change the gear ratio on the elevator. For this purpose, there is a special lever on the handle. When flying at high speeds, the pilot lowered this lever, and at low speeds, he raised it.

The aircraft landing gear is tricycle with a nose wheel. The nose gear is equipped with a brake wheel measuring 660x160 mm, mounted on it without a stem, and a shimmy damper, but its effectiveness was insufficient. The stand with the wheel is retracted into a niche backwards in flight.

The main supports, equipped with single brake wheels measuring 840x300 mm, are retracted into the fuselage niches. The landing gear is retracted and released using a hydraulic system. Emergency release is carried out partly from the aircraft's pneumatic system (nose strut and main wheel doors) and partly under the influence of its own weight (main supports).

The main support doors, which hold the racks in the retracted position (there are no locks), are made of steel and are controlled by a separate hydraulic drive.

All supports are equipped with oil-pneumatic shock absorbers.

The power plant includes two YuMO-004V engines in engine nacelles made of steel or duralumin.

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As is known, during the Second World War in Germany, the Messerschmitt Me-262 and Heinkel He 162 jet fighters, the Me 163 missile interceptor, and the Arado Ar 234 jet bomber were created and put into mass production. Some combat vehicles were at the stage of flight testing. A lot has been written about their creation and combat use. But here's what's interesting...

Throughout the post-war decades until the present day, many researchers who consider themselves experts in the field of aviation history have been talking about how the situation during the war would have changed if the Germans had not delayed so long in making the decision to launch jet aircraft ( first of all, Me-262) into production. Recently, similar ideas have become widespread among the younger generation, who are “well acquainted” with German jet technology thanks to... computer games. I have had to deal with this more than once during regular meetings held with schoolchildren and students. Many seriously believe that if Hitler had appreciated the Me-262 from the very beginning, back in 1942, and ordered its urgent introduction into mass production, then the Luftwaffe would have received not a thousand such combat vehicles, but tens of thousands. And this might have changed the outcome of the war...

In fact, nothing would change. The Me 262 jet was not at all such a good aircraft as it is usually presented in popular literature by authors with little knowledge of aviation technology. All its superiority over other combat aircraft of that era was achieved solely through speed, which was ensured by jet engines that were fundamentally new for that time. The only problem was to bring the engines to an operational state, while organizing their mass production. And this was incredibly difficult and practically impossible until 1944. And here no orders from the Fuhrer, no orders from the leaders of the Ministry of Aviation or Luftwaffe generals would have helped the Germans do this. And without engines the plane will not fly. The benefits of several thousand “jet” fighters, even if they were “riveted” in 1943, are like scrap metal.

At the same time, we should not forget this: even if there were engines, if Hitler forced the German aviation industry to switch to mass production of jet aircraft, then the production of conventional piston fighters and bombers, so in demand on the Eastern Front, would immediately decrease sharply. And without these planes, Germany most likely would have lost the war even faster.

But that's not all...

Few of the visionary historians think about the fact that first-generation turbojet engines are extremely voracious units. So, if the main Luftwaffe fighter Messerschmitt Bf 109 managed with 400 liters of fuel, then the Me 262 had to be filled with one and a half tons! Moreover, jet engines needed not just aviation gasoline, but special high-quality kerosene. And where would the Germans get it in the required quantities? As is known, Germany had very little of its own oil.

Until August 1944, when the oil fields of Ploiesti were occupied by the Red Army, the Germans were rescued by Romania, from which about half of the oil products produced here were supplied to Germany. After that, only Hungary remained.

Yes, the Germans were then helped out by their own synthetic gasoline produced from coal. But gasoline was not suitable for jet engines. Aviation kerosene was produced only from oil. And unlike synthetic gasoline, its production in Germany grew very slowly. And soon dark times came for the German petrochemical industry. From May 12, 1944 (and until March 1945), Allied aircraft began to carry out massive raids on oil refineries and synthetic fuel production plants. Already in September of the same year, there were days when the German army did not receive a single ton of fuel from the chemical industry! What kind of kerosene is there in sufficient quantities for jet aircraft?

In this case, it is worth remembering the Arado Ar 234 aircraft. For its time, it was a really good bomber. Although it was less fast than the Me 262, it could carry large-caliber bombs (up to one and a half tons), and its speed of 740 km/h still exceeded the flight speed of the best enemy piston fighters. In addition, the bomb sight installed in the cockpit ensured fairly accurate destruction of ground targets. By the way, one of the reasons why Hitler allowed the Me 262 to be produced not in a bomber version, but in a fighter version, was precisely the appearance of the Ar 234, which was better suited for the role of a “weapon of retaliation.” In total, before the end of the war, the Germans managed to produce just over two hundred of these aircraft, including several aircraft equipped with four engines. But Ar 234s were used sporadically, because one of the main problems was providing them with fuel. After all, one such bomber required almost 4 tons of extremely scarce kerosene to refuel.

It is worth recalling a fairly well-known fact: when at the end of the war the Red Army and the Allied troops captured a large number of jet aircraft as trophies at German airfields, it turned out that there was not a drop of fuel in their tanks. From here the conclusion naturally suggests itself: if the Germans had been able to produce even ten thousand jet aircraft, most of them would never have even “sniffed” kerosene.

Who has thought about the problem of training a sufficient number of aviation technicians and mechanics capable of operating such complex equipment? There is nothing to say about the pilots. There would simply be no one to fly jet planes, if they were produced in the thousands.

There is an opinion that the light fighter He 162 “Salamander” could have saved the situation if it had appeared a little earlier. This very light fighter (its take-off weight was only 2.5 tons), unlike the seven-ton Me 262 interceptor, aimed at the end of the war exclusively at the destruction of “flying fortresses”, according to Hitler’s plans, was supposed to regain air supremacy, clearing the skies of Germany not only from enemy heavy bombers, but also from front-line aircraft.

It was assumed that the simple and cheap He 162 would become the most popular aircraft in the Luftwaffe. To produce this fighter, the Germans equipped several assembly plants hidden in former salt adits. These factories were capable of producing up to 2,000 aircraft per month. It is no coincidence that the He 162 received the second, much more popular name “Volksjager” - the people's fighter.

However, the Volkswagens did not have to fight. Their serial production began in the very last months of the war, and the Luftwaffe managed to receive no more than two hundred aircraft of this type. However, as we know, there was no longer any fuel for them. But that's not all...

A very unpleasant surprise for the Germans was that the “Salamanders,” due to the peculiarities of their aerodynamics and layout (very small wing and engine on the “back”), turned out to be so difficult to pilot that they were used to send newcomers into battle, as was practiced in in the case of Me 262, it was not possible. The reason for this is the hasty launch of the aircraft into mass production. It’s hard to believe, but the following happened: the Germans were so confident in their Volkswagen that they launched its mass production even before the first prototype flew. And when the first plane built took off, it turned out that it could not fly normally! German designers, it seems, did not expect that an engine mounted on the “back” of a light aircraft could have such a strong influence on its stability and controllability.

As it turned out, during takeoff, the jet thrust of the Heinkel overhead engine literally pressed the plane to the ground, preventing the pilot from raising the nose of the plane during the takeoff run. If during the flight the pilot lost thrust, or if the jet engine stalled (and at the early stage of development of jet technology this happened quite often), then the engine gave such strong resistance to the oncoming air flow that it began to “fall” the plane onto its back. At the same time, the He 162 lifted its nose, lost speed even more, and... went into a tailspin. The pilot could no longer cope with him. Then there was an uncontrollable “tumbling” all the way to the ground. And it is no coincidence that the He-162 (unlike the more complex Me 262) was equipped with an ejection seat. It was the pilot's last hope.

Digressing somewhat from the topic, it is worth remembering that the first Soviet jet fighter, the Yak-15, with a jet engine of a similar type, but installed in the lower part of the fuselage, flew perfectly. It is no coincidence that it became the main training fighter of the Soviet Army Air Force in the first post-war years.

In general, the Germans suffered a fair amount with the He 162. And when the first units that somehow mastered these fighters became more or less combat-ready, Germany capitulated. The war is over.

And finally, one more aspect, which again, for some reason, many people forget: if the Germans had jet aircraft going into battle at least a year or two earlier, they would soon be opposed by similar combat vehicles with turbojet engines, created in other countries.

Take the British, for example. As we know, during the Second World War they were also armed with the Me-teor jet fighter, which until 1945 was simply not allowed into German airspace. The British were afraid that top-secret equipment might fall into the hands of the enemy. Flights of jet “meteors” over enemy territory began only in 1945, when it became clear to everyone that the war was about to end and there was nothing to be afraid of. But in addition to the Meteor, since September 1943 in England, an analogue of the Salamander was tested - the light fighter Vampire, which was put into service shortly after the war and turned out to be an exceptionally successful aircraft.

The Americans did not lag behind the Germans. In the USA, since 1942, the P-59 Erkomet fighters flew, since 1944 - the P-80 Shooting Star, and in January 1945, even the Phantom carrier-based fighter took off (the first aircraft with this name) .

The Allies gradually, without haste, brought all these jet aircraft to fruition, and trained pilots and technicians for them. In general, for the time being they did not throw them into battle, rightly believing that they would win the war with the help of existing weapons.

What would have happened if the Germans had managed to get ahead of events? Would they change history? Would they have won the war?

Of course not. After all, according to the law of the genre, opponents of the Third Reich could then do the same. And if the Nazis had thrown a huge number of jet aircraft into battle in the middle of the war, then the response would have been adequate and clearly not in favor of the Germans. After all, the German Me 262 was clearly inferior to the American P-80. “Shooting Stars” “lived” in the future (including in the combat training version of the T-33) for several decades, but the Me 262, which became trophies of the victorious countries, was thoroughly studied and tested by the Soviet, British, American and French test pilots were considered not particularly successful aircraft. None of the countries decided to use this “miracle weapon” as part of their air force, even for a short time. Only a small number of two-seat trainers of this type flew for some time in Czechoslovakia.

There is only one conclusion from all this: if history had gone according to a different scenario, neither the Me 262 nor other Luftwaffe jets would have changed anything. And the Me 262 became famous only because it became the first combat aircraft with a turbojet engine to go into battle, thereby opening a new page in the history of air wars.

As for the huge number of jet aircraft projects that appeared at the end of the war, this does not at all indicate any exceptional genius of German designers. Such a sharp intensification of the “creative” activity of aviation specialists on the eve of the collapse of the Third Reich was due to nothing more than a banal attempt to “diverge” from the Eastern Front in conditions when total mobilization was announced, and when everyone was put under arms indiscriminately (here I I fully support the point of view of Gennady Serov, an aviation historian who relies in his works exclusively on archival documents). All sensible people in Germany already understood that defeat in the war was inevitable, that the end was near, and therefore they needed to somehow survive this time, saving their lives in any way. By issuing fantastic projects that “guaranteed” a change in the course of the war, aircraft designers thereby gave not only an illusory hope of salvation to the half-crazed Hitler and his immediate circle, but also actually provided the opportunity to “stay in business” for many engineers and workers, as well as those petty political bosses and representatives of other supervising organizations (for example, the SS) who were sitting on the ground (and with them a whole cohort of “specialists” from the support apparatus). And it is not surprising that such works, even despite their obvious inconsistency, found the most ardent support from everyone who was in one way or another associated with them.

I am increasingly amazed at the productivity of the Germans. What would have happened if the First World War and the Second World War had not happened? Would they have already built a base on the Moon?

Arado Ar 234 "Blitz"

Among the many interesting aircraft designs that appeared during the Second World War, the German aircraft with Ar-234 jet engines occupies a special place. Originally designed as a reconnaissance vehicle, it was used as a bomber, and was even planned for roles as a night fighter, attack aircraft and even a missile carrier. He had a significant influence on designs emerging from aircraft firms in the United States, Great Britain, France, and the former Soviet Union. With the exception of missile technology, jet aircraft developed in the Third Reich were the most desirable morsel for the Allies - the Ar-234 and Me-262 "Schwalbe" jets were the most wanted prize

The most important advantage that the new propulsion systems had was the ability to give the aircraft extraordinary speed, almost twice that of modern fighters with piston engines. Obviously, such a capability would be primarily useful for a fighter aircraft.

Work on the project, designated E-370, was delayed due to the implementation of two other tasks issued by RLM - the development of the Ar-232 transport aircraft and the Ar-240 fighter aircraft. Therefore, it was only in September 1941 that a technical proposal crystallized - under the code E-370/IV.

It was supposed to be a single-seat reconnaissance aircraft, equipped with two BMW P-3302 engines (in the series designated BMW 003), with a launch weight reaching 7000 kg. Three fuel tanks in the wings and three in the fuselage held a total of 4,000 liters of fuel. The reconnaissance equipment was to consist of two Rb 50/30 or Rb 75/30 cameras located at the rear of the fuselage. Defensive armament was limited to only one MG 131 13 mm machine gun in the tail, which was already a concession compared to the original proposal, which called for the aircraft to have no defensive armament at all. It was supposed to be so fast that it would not need defensive machine guns to protect itself from allied fighters.

On November 26, 1943, Hitler was supposed to visit the airfield in Insterburg, where the latest aviation technology was exhibited. In addition to two Me-262 jets, a Me-163 rocket, a Fi-103 (V1) flying bomb, as well as a number of missile prototypes, it was decided to show him the Ar-234 as well. On November 21, the third prototype was disassembled and transported to the display site. Hitler, impressed by the designs demonstrated to him, decided that 200 Ar-234s should be built by the end of 1944. In a conversation on this topic, the Fuhrer used the word “blitz” (lightning), which in the future was transferred to the airplane. Just as in the case of the Me-262 "Schwalbe", it, however, remained not an official name. In official documents the name "Hecht" (Pike) was later used.
On August 2, 1944, he performed the first combat reconnaissance flight of a jet aircraft in history; its pilot was Oblt. Erich Sommer. After this, the Ar-234 V-7 flew until November 19, 1944, when it was decommissioned.
Bachem Va 349 "Nutter"

The Ba 349, in accordance with the requirements of the German Air Ministry, intended for use as a fighter-interceptor countering Allied bomber raids, had a relatively primitive fuselage, since the main emphasis was on the ease of its manufacture by unskilled workers. Lateral control was provided by elevators. A Walter 109-509A-2 propulsion rocket engine was installed in the fuselage, capable of developing a thrust of 16.68 kN for 70 seconds, and for long flights using a low-thrust mode (1.47 kN). The aircraft had to be launched vertically using four solid fuel boosters mounted in pairs on each side of the fuselage with Schmidding 109-533 engines, each of which developed a thrust of 11.77 kN for 10 seconds, after which they separated.

The first of 15 prototypes of the aircraft was released in October 1944. It was used for unpowered controllability tests and was towed by a Heinkel He 111 aircraft. The first vertical take-off, also unmanned, with the launch of the launch and sustainer rocket engines, took place on February 23, 1945. A few days later, practically the only (at that time) manned vertical aircraft takeoff, the cockpit canopy was torn off in flight, and the plane crashed into the ground from a height of 1525 m, test pilot Lothar Siebert died.
The Viper's combat tactics involved vertical takeoff on autopilot and allowed the pilot to switch to manual control to take up a position at a higher altitude than the one at which the bombers were flying. For firing from a shallow dive, the Viper was equipped with a shootable bow, under which was located a block with unguided missiles. After the missiles were launched, the empty plane left the combat zone, and the pilot could unfasten his seat belts. By moving the control stick forward, the pilot opened the safety latches, then released the mechanical locks, and the entire nose section was separated from the fuselage. The pilot left the plane without difficulty, because the tail section of the aircraft was slowed down by the release of the braking rescue parachute. The tail section had to be reused.
The VA 349A was the initial production version. The Luftwaffe ordered 50 SS-150 aircraft and security units. Approximately 36 Vipers were produced, but not a single vehicle saw combat, despite the fact that 10 were prepared for launch in Kirchheim. But the Allied tanks came too close to the airfield, so the interceptors were destroyed right in the parking lots to avoid capture and use.
The Ba 349B was an improved modification, had an increased tail surface area and a more powerful Walter 109-509C rocket engine, which developed a maximum thrust of 19.62 kN and could be throttled to 1.96 kN. A total of three aircraft were produced.

Fieseler Fi 103R "Reichenberg"

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg

Fi 103R Created by the joint efforts of the Fieseler and Argus companies, the FZG-76 projectile aircraft, also known under the designations Fi-103 and V-1 (V-1), despite its low accuracy and poor reliability, turned out to be a terrible weapon. Its first use throughout the cities of England came as a great surprise and had a strong psychological impact on the British. However, the air defense system of the British Isles was soon refocused on combating these weapons and by the beginning of September 1944 had achieved good success in the fight against German projectile aircraft. Its triumph was the day of August 28, when out of 97 V-1s discovered, 87 of these vehicles were destroyed. In addition to the perfect organization of British air defense, this was facilitated by the relatively low flight speed of the projectile aircraft (about 640 km/h) and the fact that in flight it could only move along a straight trajectory without performing any maneuvers or making attempts to evade attacks from enemy fighters. Therefore, we It is surprising that after the adoption of the V-2 (V-2) ballistic missile into service, the question arose about the advisability of the further use of the V-1.

It was decided to launch some of them from He-111 bomber aircraft. These bombers were supposed to take up positions to launch projectile aircraft in directions covered by smaller air defense forces and thus ensure a breakthrough of the air defense system. In addition, the famous German pilot Hanna Reitsch proposed creating a manned projectile aircraft to combat large surface targets. Such a projectile aircraft was supposed to be delivered to the area of ​​enemy ships by a He-111 bomber, after which the projectile aircraft was launched. Its pilot had to take control, aim the projectile at the target and bail out.
The command of the SS troops supported this idea, proposing to use a manned projectile also for bombing the industrial complexes of Kuibyshev, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, as well as areas located beyond the Urals. The famous sabotage specialist O. Skorzeny even gave the order to recruit and train 250 suicide pilots for these missile aircraft. As usual in the Third Reich, this “original” idea was supported at the highest level and received the code name “Reichenberg”, and the company Fieseler was tasked with developing a manned projectile aircraft. Thanks to the experience gained by the Fieseler company in designing such aircraft and the widespread use of V-1 components and assemblies, the task was completed within 14 days. At the same time, four modifications of the manned projectile aircraft were developed, designated Fi-103R (Reichenberg):
In principle, the aircraft of all four modifications had the same design, which was largely borrowed from the V-1: a monoplane with a cantilever mid-wing, a cigar-shaped fuselage and a single fin tail. The fuselage was built almost entirely from mild steel, and the removable wings were of wooden construction , they were mounted on the main spars made of steel pipes directly in front of the suspension of the projectile aircraft under the wing of the He-111. The engine was an Argus pulse jet engine, which developed a thrust of about 226 kg at a flight speed of 640 km/h. This motor was a 3.48 m long mild steel tube with a maximum diameter of just over 546 mm. The diameter of the nozzle was 40 cm, the thickness of the steel used in its manufacture was 2.5 mm. The engine weight did not exceed 163 kg.

At the front end of the pipe, a valve grille was installed for air intake, the valve petals of which, opening like flaps, were made of carbon steel. At the head of the pipe there were 9 fuel injection nozzles connected to the tank using fuel lines. The timing of the opening of the grille valves exactly corresponded to the timing of fuel injection, thus ensuring the engine's operating cycle. The fuel was supplied under pressure of about 6 atm, and the ratio of the components of the fuel-air mixture was approximately 1:15.

At the beginning of 1946, on instructions from the Soviet administration, OKB-1, formed from German designers in Dessau, developed the EF-126 light attack aircraft based on the Fi-103R. Basically repeating the design solutions of its counterpart, this aircraft had a spaced twin-fin tail, and the pilot's cabin was located in the front of the fuselage. The attack aircraft's armament consisted of only two 20 mm cannons. For takeoff, a special catapult was developed, and landing had to be done on a landing ski.
The EF-126's first flight took place on May 21, 1946. Although this flight ended in disaster in which the test pilot died, the modified samples flew quite well. Nevertheless, the government commission headed by A.S. Yakovlev gave a negative conclusion on the aircraft project: “weak armament, lack of armor and insufficient fuel supply make it difficult to use the Yu-126 aircraft as a mass attack aircraft.” Thus ended the story of one of several Luftwaffe jets for which very high expectations were placed.
Heinkel He 162 "Salamander"

In the fall of 1944, the weakness of the fascist air defense system became obvious to the leadership of the Third Reich, the German Ministry of Aviation decided to organize a competition to create a jet fighter, which was planned to be produced in huge quantities - from 1000 to 5000 units per month.

Other requirements included ease of piloting, simplicity of equipment, and reduced cost of production. What’s interesting is that for this jet fighter it was decided to use wood for the wings.

The Heinkel company received the terms of the competition on September 8, and on September 24, a group of designers from this company located in Vienna had already begun design work on the He-162 aircraft, which received the factory name “Salamander”. By the beginning of November of the same year, working drawings were ready, and as the drawings were ready, the components and assemblies of the aircraft were manufactured. This made it possible to complete work on a prototype aircraft on December 6, 1944. The plane was lifted into the air that same day.

A special feature of this jet fighter was also the fact that the engine of this aircraft was located above the fuselage, the machine also had a low three-wheeled landing gear, a rectangular contour of a double vertical tail and a V-shaped horizontal tail. The wing is wooden with plywood sheathing 4-5 mm thick. To improve directional stability, the ends of the wing are bent down. Metal flaps are located between the ailerons and the fuselage. The fuselage is a duralumin monocoque with reinforcements in the cutouts. The nose fairing of the fuselage in front of the pilot's cockpit is wooden. The horizontal tail is metal and the vertical tail is wooden. The entire empennage, together with the tail section of the fuselage, can be rotated relative to the transverse horizontal axis at an angle of +3° to -2° to ensure longitudinal balancing of the aircraft. The aircraft is equipped with a BMW-003E1 turbojet engine.

The fuel supply is 945 liters, of which 763 liters are in the fuselage tank installed behind the pilot’s seat, and 182 liters are in two wing tanks. The nose wheel and main landing gear are retracted into the fuselage. The armament, located in the forward part of the fuselage on the sides of the pilot's seat, consists of two 30 mm caliber guns with a reserve of 50 rounds of ammunition or two 20 mm caliber guns with a reserve of 120 rounds of ammunition. At the same time, the aircraft of the first production modification, the He-162A-1, which were produced in relatively small quantities, were armed with 30-mm MK-108 cannons. This is explained by the fact that the recoil force of the guns when firing was too great and required strengthening the nose of the aircraft.
The second serial modification of the He-162A-2 was armed with 20-mm MG-151 cannons, and at the end of the war the He-162A-3 modification appeared, with a reinforced nose section, on which 30-mm MK-108 cannons were again installed. Flight tests carried out in December 1944 and January 1945 showed that the aircraft had good controllability and was capable of reaching ground speeds of up to 885-890 km/h, and at an altitude of 6000 m - up to 905 km/h. Considering that at a speed of more than 600 km/h the possibility for the pilot to leave the cockpit in the event of an accident is almost completely excluded, the cockpit is equipped with an ejection seat driven by powder gases from a squib. The production of the Non-162 aircraft, which was given the official name "Volkseger" - "People's Fighter" - received priority over all other weapons production programs; it was supposed to be produced in quantities of 1000-5000 units per month. For this purpose, Heinkel factories cooperated with more than 700 enterprises, which were supposed to supply them and each other with parts, components and individual main units, such as wings, tails, etc.

Each of the enterprises, having received strict assignments for production volume, sought to simplify the design of manufactured products and adapt them to the technology adopted at this enterprise. Thus, at the Gotha Waggon Factory plant, which was tasked with manufacturing the aircraft wing, it was found that the existing design of the He-162 aircraft wing (a wooden, single-spar wing of the usual design) turned out to be labor-intensive, and the production cycle was so long that it prevented implementation of the above release program as soon as possible. Therefore, a new monoblock wing was designed and manufactured at this plant. With established production, a team of 12 workers could produce a set of panels for this wing every 8 minutes. To ensure the production of Non-162 fighters and in the face of incessant enemy air raids, most enterprises were located underground.

For example, in abandoned gypsum mines in Mödling, near Vienna, the Allies discovered an assembly plant, in the workshops of which there were more than 1000 He-162 fighters in various stages of readiness. Serial production of the He-162 fighters began in January 1945, when the first 6 production aircraft were produced. In total, approximately 120 aircraft were transferred to Luftwaffe units before the end of the war, and more than 200 manufactured aircraft underwent factory flight tests. There are no more or less reliable data on the combat use of the People's Fighters, but there are reports indicating numerous accidents and catastrophes of these aircraft due to design errors and manufacturing defects.

In the 1940s, neither the Allies nor Germany had reliable jet engines until the end of the war.
The Heinkel He-178 took off on its own engine on August 27, 1939, becoming the first jet-powered aircraft to consume atmospheric air.

In 1941, Heinkel and Messerschmitt tested prototype jet aircraft at the same time as the British Gloucester E.28/39 took off. To test the airframe, the Messerschmitt took off with a traditional piston engine in the forward fuselage: its unreliable jet engines could fail, and the first flight would end in disaster.

cockpit of Messerschmitt Me 262 view from the cockpit

The Gloucester Meteor, the first jet aircraft to enter Allied (England) service in July 1944, was used to chase V-1 cruise missiles until the final months of the war. A unit of these aircraft was prohibited from crossing the front line, so as not to be at risk of capture.

Messerschmitt Me-262 first jet fighter of the Luftwaffe

Lieutenant General Adolf Galland, as a fighter aircraft inspector, conducted test flights on Messerschmitt Me-262 - jet fighter faster than any Allied aircraft, and capable of fighting even with the Mosquito aircraft, which had previously eluded attacks.

The Mosquito aircraft was a multi-role bomber and was also used as a night fighter. With its speed of 640-675 km/h at altitudes over ten kilometers, there was no need to fear attacks from Messerschmitt 109.

Me 262A fighter jets based along the Autobahn Munich Salzburg Germany 1945

But Messerschmitt Me-262 (Messerschmitt Me.262) a fighter armed with a 30 mm cannon could change the course of the war in the air. This is how this data is talked about everywhere, at least that’s what they say often.

The Me-262 could have won the war. It represented a quantum leap in aircraft design; even just a few aircraft transferred to front-line units challenged the Allied air command in Europe. Possessing stunning flight characteristics, the M-262 aircraft suffered from its unreliable turbojet engines. Losses due to engine failures, fires and breakdowns were heavy. The 30 mm gun was prone to jamming, and the landing gear often collapsed when the aircraft landed.

Me-262, one of the first jet fighters and the most famous of them

Several hundred Me-262s, inflicting significant losses, could stop the American daylight bombing.

What do you think? Is the answer still unclear?

Could such a revolutionary aircraft close the skies of Germany from air raids by allied aircraft? Let us recall that the attacking armadas reached almost 1000 aircraft at a time. And by mid-1944, control of the skies of Germany belonged to the Allies, and during the daytime too. The Me-262 was quickly introduced into production. Galland insisted that at least a quarter of the German fighter force be Me-262s. This was an impossible demand.

Germany was able to build aircraft in sufficient quantities until the Allies wiped out its factories, but that was not so bad. When the oil wells and coal mines of Selesia were bombed, almost everything stopped, from transport to industry.

Duxford runway ME 262 brake failure

The second question is: could the Luftwaffe be able to train enough pilots to fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighter?

fighter Messerschmitt Me 262

Bombed factories. The first question was answered earlier: on August 17, 1943, the US 8th Air Force bombed Regensburg, destroying an aircraft assembly line. This led to the Germans being forced to move production to a new location in Bavaria, but even before this there were production stoppages due to a lack of qualified personnel, strategic materials and the merciless damage to the railway network. Between the summer of 1943 and April 1945, Messerschmitt factories produced approximately 1,300 Me-262s, of which 1,000 were transferred to the Luftwaffe. At the same time, total production "only fighters" the allies exceeded 2,000 aircraft per month.

Main problem Messerschmitt Me-262 the first jet fighter of the Luftwaffe, its power plant.

Powerplant, Jumo 004 jet engine

Unreliable engines plagued the Me-262 throughout its short combat career. The Jumo 004 engine required a major overhaul after ten hours of operation, A engine life did not exceed 25 hours.

The nozzle sometimes fell out of the engine nacelle, which led to an engine fire and the plane went into a death spiral. The aircraft had a tendency to yaw, which made accurate shooting difficult due to the high closing speed and low muzzle velocity of its cannon projectiles.

Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter Salzburg Austria

Pilots are not the same anymore

A fighter unit composed of fighters Messerschmitt Me-262 in October 1944 they made their first combat flight. Usage statistics Messerschmitt Me-262 It’s not encouraging, about 150 enemy aircraft were shot down in air battles, but about 100 of our own were lost.

Me 262 A2a fighter-bomber found by the US Army in a forest near Frankfurt in the spring of 1945

But in capable hands, with a well-functioning engine, the Me-262 was a formidable adversary.

A fighter bomber is inspected by American soldiers

Its phenomenal speed advantage could be used to carry out devastating strikes against armadas of bombers, followed by a rapid exit from the attack before the escort could react.

Me-262A Americans check for booby traps Germany January 1945

A single hit from a 30mm cannon was often enough to destroy a four-engined bomber, or at least cripple it, forcing it to fall behind its group where piston-powered German fighters could finish it off. In the spring of 1945, the Me-262 was planned to be armed with several unguided R4M air-to-air missiles, which would allow it to launch rapid salvoes at bomber squadrons beyond the effective range of their machine guns.

German Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter at Wright Field, Ohio confiscated by the US Air Force, with automatic cannon

So the total contribution to the war Messerschmitt Me-262 first jet fighter of the Luftwaffe not as big as it seems.

His often raw developments in the further development of jet aircraft construction are great; just look at the first mass-produced Allied jet fighters, often without identification marks and you cannot distinguish one from the other.

Introduction

The first jet aircraft appeared before the start of World War II. In 1939, experimental aircraft He 176 (June 20) and He 178 (August 27), created in Germany at the Heinkel company, took off into the air. Then, with a slight difference in time, aircraft from other countries made their first flights - RP-318-1 (USSR) in the spring of 1940, SS.2 (Italy) in August 1940, E.28/39 (England) in May 1941 d. By the end of the war, jet aircraft were already in service with the air forces of four countries - Germany (Ar 234, He 162, Me 163, Me 262), England (G.41A Meteor), USA (P-59A Airacomet, P- 80A Shooting Star) and Japan (Oka projectile aircraft).

Such a rapid development of aviation technology is impressive - after all, in just a little more than three and a half decades that have passed since the flight of the world's first airplane by the Wright brothers (USA) in 1903, powerful jet engines have appeared, and the maximum speed of aircraft has increased from 80–90 up to almost 1000 km/h. However, upon careful examination, it turns out that there is nothing supernatural in this, since the preparatory stage of creating jet aviation began, in fact, long before the appearance of the first aircraft of the Wright brothers, A. Santos-Dumont, L. Bleriot, G. Voisin, A. Farman etc. Humanity came to the idea of ​​​​using jet propulsion to carry out the flight of an aircraft in the first half of the 19th century.

For example, the German F. Matthies in 1835 pointed out the possibility of using a powder engine to fly a kite, and also mentioned the possibility of creating a manned aircraft on this principle. Two years later, also in Germany, W. von Siemens published a design for a jet aircraft that used the reactive action of jets of water vapor or compressed carbon dioxide. However, both of these projects had a significant drawback - they were not suitable for practical purposes, since the engine operating time was very short, and the engines themselves did not exist at that time.

In the mid-60s. XIX century Frenchman C. de Louvrier proposed a design for an aircraft equipped with two jet engines - the predecessors of pulsating air-breathing engines. The Spaniard P. Maffiotti developed a design for a device with an engine, which was the prototype of a ramjet engine. In Russia N.M. Sokovnin worked on a project for a controlled balloon driven by a jet engine, and N.A. Teleshov is working on a project for an aircraft with an air-breathing engine, a prototype of a pulsating engine. In England, D. Butler and E. Edwards patented the design of a jet aircraft with a steam engine.

In the 80s XIX century The problem of using a jet engine for aircraft was dealt with by the Russian inventor S.S. Nezhdanovsky. Among his developments were devices with jet engines running on compressed gas, water vapor, a mixture of nitroglycerin with alcohol or glycerin and air. In 1881 N.I. Kibalchich developed a project for a manned gunpowder rocket aircraft, in 1886 A.V. Ewald conducted experiments with a model aircraft equipped with a powder rocket engine. In 1887, Kyiv engineer F.R. Geschwend published a brochure “The general basis for the design of an aeronautical steamship (passenger)”, in which he described an airplane with a steam jet plant. According to F.R. Geshvend, a “password” flight with one pilot and three passengers on board along the route Kyiv - St. Petersburg could be carried out in six hours with five to six stops for refueling (kerosene).

In 1903, the Russian scientist K.E. Tsiolkovsky published his work “Exploration of World Spaces with Jet Instruments,” in which, in particular, he proposed a manned rocket with a liquid fuel engine (oxygen-hydrocarbon and oxygen-hydrogen). Major General M.M. Pomortsev conducted in 1902–1907. experiments with cruise missiles of our own design. In addition to this, M.M. In 1905, Pomortsev proposed a project for a “pneumatic” rocket, using compressed air as an oxidizer in its engine, and gasoline or ether as fuel; this engine, in fact, became the prototype of a liquid rocket engine. In 1907 N.V. Gerasimov applied and in 1912 received a privilege (patent) for the design of a powder rocket with gyroscopic stabilization.

In 1908, the Frenchman Rene Laurens proposed using a prototype of a motor-compressor air-breathing engine, or, as it is often called, a VRDK, on ​​an aircraft as a power plant. The idea of ​​creating a VRDK was developed almost simultaneously and independently of each other by Rene Laurens, Henri Coanda and Alexander Gorokhov. During the First World War, R. Lauren, together with the French company Leblanc, developed a project for an aircraft-projectile with a VRDK.

Practical work on the creation of jet engines and jet aircraft began in the 1920s, mainly thanks to the efforts of enthusiasts. In 1921, the American R. Goddard tested the first experimental liquid rocket engine. On March 16, 1926, he carried out the first launch of an experimental rocket with an engine running on liquid oxygen and gasoline. In Germany, in 1928, experimental gliders with powder rockets as engines flew for the first time - Opel RK 22 in May, and Ente (Duck) in June. In 1929, G. Oberth began bench testing of his liquid-propellant rocket engines.

Italy became the first country in which jet aircraft began to be officially developed for military purposes. The Caproni-Campini CC.2 aircraft, which first took off in August 1940, was financed under a contract that the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Aviation) issued back in 1934. However, despite the “Program R” adopted at the state level in 1938 ", the goal of which was the quantitative and qualitative improvement of Italian aviation, the government did not have enough money to implement the "R Program", so until Italy left the war in September 1943, the SS.2 aircraft remained at the testing stage of two prototypes.

In Germany, immediately after the creation in 1934 of the Ministry of Aviation (Reichsluftfahrtministerium - RLM), headed by G. Goering, the development of military jet technology became one of the top priorities. Already in February 1935, Major W. von Richthofen, head of the research department of the technical department of the RLM, put forward the idea of ​​creating a missile interceptor fighter. In the fall of 1938, RLM representative H. Schelp visited various engine manufacturing companies in the country to hasten them to begin work on various types of jet engines, including turbojet engines. Firms willing to work in this area, such as BMW, Bramo and Junkers, were awarded the first research and development contracts during 1939. All information about jet engines was strictly classified; it was processed and distributed to aircraft companies by a special commission on jet engines, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Strahltriebwerke, created under the RLM in December 1942.

The first German company to begin work on jet aircraft was Heinkel, then Fieseler, Messerschmitt, and then Arado, Bachem, Blom and Voss, BMW, Dornier, Focke-Wulf, Gotha, Henschel, Junkers, Skoda, Sombold, Zeppelin, that is, almost all the leading aircraft manufacturing companies in Germany. From the second half of 1942, when the initiative gradually began to pass to the allies, the number of programs to create new types of German aircraft increased sharply, most of them related to the development of jet aircraft and cruise missiles. Within the framework of these programs, for example, such jet aircraft were developed as:

– heavy fighter;

– medium bomber;

– long-range bomber capable of reaching the Atlantic coast of the United States (Amerika-Bomber program);

– high-speed attack aircraft (program “1000–1000–1000”);

– light fighter (Volksjager program);

– “baby” fighter (Miniaturjager program);

– man-portable fighters and bombers;

– object fighter-interceptor;

– composite aircraft of the “Mistelle” scheme (Beethoven program);

- manned projectile aircraft, etc.

As a result, since 1944, the Luftwaffe has successively adopted the Me 163 missile interceptor, the Me 262 heavy fighter, the Ar 234 reconnaissance aircraft, and the latest to enter service was the He 162 light fighter.

In January 1930, the Englishman F. Whittle filed an application with the patent office for the design of the world's first turbojet engine with a centrifugal compressor. However, he was able to realize his invention only in 1937 at his own expense, and only after that he received a contract from the British Air Force for the production of his engine. In addition, the Ministry of Aviation brought in Rolls-Royce, Rover, De Haviland and others to help F. Whittle, as a result of which in May 1941 the Gloucester G experimental aircraft took off for the first time. 40 Pioneer, and the first batch of G.41 Meteor F.Mk I fighters entered service with the British Air Force in mid-1944, which were used in the country’s air defense system until the end of the war.

In France, work in the field of jet aviation began in the mid-1930s. with the creation of aircraft with a ramjet engine, but were interrupted in 1940 due to the occupation of France by German troops.

In the Soviet Union, work on the use of jet engines in aviation began in the late 1920s and early 30s. in GDL and GIRD, and after the merger GIRD and GDL continued in the RNII NKTP. In 1936, the famous Soviet aircraft designer K.A. Kalinin began designing the world's first tailless fighter, the K-15, with a rocket engine and a delta-shaped wing. However, soon K.A. Kalinin was repressed on false charges, and work on the fighter was stopped. In the summer of 1938, flight tests of the first Soviet rocket plane RP-318-1 S.P. were planned. Queen, but due to the wave of repressions that took place across the country, the plane could only be prepared and lifted into the air at the end of February 1940. By this time, the experimental aircraft He 176 had already become the world’s first rocket plane.

In the USSR since 1931 under the leadership of A.V. Kvasnikov conducted research in the field of complex power plants of various circuits. In particular, he studied the processes in VRDK prototypes, and also obtained a formula for determining the effective power on the shaft of the VRDK propeller depending on the parameters of the operating modes of each of its component units. In 1934, under the leadership of V.V. Uvarov, the first high-temperature gas turbine unit GTU-1 was created and successfully tested, which became the prototype of future turboprop and turbojet engines. In 1936, the world's first aircraft design with a turbojet engine designed by A.M. was developed. Cradles. Based on research conducted since 1937, A.M. Lyulka filed an application for the invention of a bypass turbojet engine in 1938, and he was issued an author's certificate for this invention on April 22, 1941.

However, in the pre-war period, the Soviet leadership was wary of jet aviation, considering it exotic. And there were serious reasons for this. The fact is that in the pre-war years the main brake on the development of our aircraft industry was the low quality of piston engines. In order to speed up the way out of this situation, a number of licensed engines were purchased abroad in 1935 for their production at newly built aircraft engine factories. In Rybinsk, plant No. 26, based on the French Hispano-Suiza engine, produced domestic analogs of the M-100, M-100A, and then M-103, M-104, M-105. In Perm, at plant No. 19, based on the American Wright engine, an analogue of the M-25 was produced, and later M-62, M-63, M-82. In Zaporozhye, at plant No. 29, production of the French Gnome-Ron engine was launched under the designation M-85, and then M-86, M-87, M-88A, M-88. In Moscow, plant No. 24 produced the M-34 (AM-34R, AM-34RN, AM-34FRN), AM-35, AM-35A engines.

Nevertheless, the measures taken could not fundamentally solve the issue of serial production of powerful and reliable power plants. Our aircraft designers, for the most part, developed their aircraft for engines that were either in the development stage or in pilot production, and at best these were pilot series engines, but not yet brought to the required level of reliability. Therefore, only with the advent of serial jet aircraft among the Germans in the last years of the war, the State Defense Committee decided to intensify work on the construction of jet engines and jet aircraft. Despite the fact that several jet aircraft projects were developed in the Soviet Union before the end of the war, such aircraft did not enter service with the Soviet Air Force.

The USA, later than England, the USSR and Germany, became involved in the process of creating jet aviation. Since the American industry did not produce jet engines at that time, this issue was resolved in a different way - in the spring of 1941, an agreement was reached between the United States and England to help the American side establish the production of the F. Whittle turbojet engine. And just four years later, in May 1945, the first P-59 and P-80 aircraft equipped with American engines entered service with the US Air Force, but they did not participate in combat operations.

Japan, like the United States, did not have its own jet engines either in the pre-war years or in the first half of the war. The progress of the war began to cause concern to the Japanese command in 1942–1943, when the Allied armed forces were getting closer and closer to the Japanese Islands. It was then that the question of the need to use jet aircraft in combat operations began to be discussed. The Japanese resolved this issue by turning to Germany, their political partner in the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis Pact, for technical assistance. By the end of the war, several jet aircraft projects were developed in Japan (Oka models 33, 43 and 53, Ki-162, J9Y, K-200, etc.), but only Oka projectile aircraft managed to take part in combat operations. , piloted by kamikaze pilots.

This book provides information about aircraft projects with various types of jet engines, developed both in the pre-war years and during the Second World War in England, Germany, Italy, the USSR, the USA, France and Japan. Some of these projects were brought to the stage of serial production or prototype, some were not completed due to the end of the war, some were stopped at the design stage due to the changed situation on the fronts, and some remained at the level of technical proposals.

Brief information is given on the history of the development of jet engines (solid propellant rocket engine, liquid propellant rocket engine, ramjet engine, ramjet engine, VRDK, turbojet engine, etc.), the characteristics of aircraft equipped with the corresponding engines are given, as well as information about the combat operations in which these aircraft participated. A large volume of illustrative materials will help the reader get a more complete understanding of the stage of the emergence of jet aviation. The book is intended for a wide range of readers.

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Despite the bloody trail left by Nazi Germany in history, today we use inventions and eat foods produced by corporations that owe their success to the Nazis.
However, there are several known Nazi military projects that could have changed history.

Super heavy tank weighing more than 1500 tons
- rocket weapons
- Dora cannon, barrel length was 30 meters, total weight more than 1300 tons. The shells weighed more than 7 tons.
- fantastic aviation: Horten Ho 229 prototype of stealth technology and other inventions
- UFO technologies and their operating principles
- MANPADS (Portable Anti-Aircraft Missile System)
- suborbital bomber
And much more

“The Germans cannot remember without pain what amazing achievements their researchers, engineers and specialists came to during the war and how these achievements turned out to be in vain, especially since their opponents could not counteract these new types of weapons with anything that could to some extent equal to them."
Retired Lieutenant General, engineer Erich Schneider-Hamburg, 1953

WunderWaffe - Super heavy tank

On June 23, 1942, the German Ministry of Armaments, which, among other things, was developing submarines, proposed designs for huge tanks, weighing 1000 and 1500 tons each, for Adolf Hitler's consideration. Hitler, who in every possible way encouraged all kinds of innovative ideas in the field of weapons, set the German engineering giant Krup the task of implementing these projects. The first monster tank was to be called the Landkreuzer P1000 Ratte.

The length of the P1000 tank was supposed to be 35 meters, width - 14 meters and height - 11 meters. The tracks on which this monster was supposed to move were 3.6 meters wide, and were made up of three sections, 1.2 meters wide. This width of the tracks provided the tank with a contact area with the surface sufficient to prevent the tank from falling underground under the influence of its own weight.

The P1000 tank and its guns were driven by a crew of 20 people and powered by two 24-cylinder MAN V12Z32/44 engines with 8,500 horsepower. These engines, used in submarines, provided the tank with a total power of 17,000 horsepower. But later, when carrying out engineering calculations, a proposal was made to replace the two aforementioned engines with eight 20-cylinder Daimler-Benz MB501 engines, each with a power of 2000 horsepower, which were installed on torpedo boats at that time.
German engineers worked on many designs for super-heavy tanks. The Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus was the heaviest model to be prototyped during the war. This tank weighed about 180 tons.

The Bear version, weighing 1,500 tons, carried 2,800 mm cannons, as well as 2,150 mm additional rotating turrets located at the rear. To propel this giant, 4 diesel engines from German submarines were required.

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Jet weapons

After German troops encountered Russian Katyusha mortars at the beginning of World War II, officers realized that something urgently needed to be done in response. And soon, almost every regiment was armed with such rocket launchers, nicknamed “Fiddlers” by Russian soldiers for the peculiar sound they made during artillery shelling.

The development of jet weapons began in Germany back in 1929, because According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was prohibited from developing and producing artillery systems, but as with any law, there is always a loophole - there was not a word in the treaty about missile launchers. First, 105-mm 10 cm Nebelwerfer 35-40 mortars were developed and put into service, they were replaced by more effective six-barreled 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41. Officially, they were to be used for setting up smoke screens, even the name “Nebelwerfer” itself is translated like a "smoke thrower". Even special forces were created called Nebeltruppen (smoke troops). But it's official.

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Their real purpose was to fire chemical shells containing toxic substances. But the mortars were not used for their intended purpose either, because The German leadership was unofficially warned by the leadership of the Allies and the Soviet Union that the use of chemical weapons would entail retaliatory measures, and little Germany would be flooded with chemical muck. Given the population density of central Europe, the consequences are easily predictable. But the Germans were not at a loss and developed high-explosive fragmentation mines, which are a rocket with a solid fuel engine located in the front part with 26 inclined nozzle holes. The combat charge was placed at the rear of the rocket. The main damaging factor was the shock wave; the fragmentation effect was small, since the rocket body was thin-walled and as a result of the explosion did not produce a sufficient number of lethal fragments
(weighing at least 5 grams). Later, in 1942, a five-barreled 210mm mortar was developed and adopted, in which the mass of the warhead was increased.

Among German soldiers, the 15 cm Nb.W 41 was called "Stuka zu Fuß" - "land "Stuka" Sturzkampfflugzeug (dive bomber) abbreviated as "Stuka" (read "thing") - Junkers Ju-87 - was one of the most effective weapons of the Luftwaffe due to its ability to dive-bomb. However, the nickname Nb.W 41 owes not to the similarity in combat characteristics with this aircraft, but to the specific howl emitted both when diving the Junkers and when firing from a rocket launcher. By the same analogy in the “Nebelwerfer 41” troops. also received the name “Heulende Kuh” - “howling cow”. Russian soldiers called this mortar “Vanyusha” (by analogy with “Katyusha”) or most often “Ishak” - for the same piercing squeal when launched.

The six-barreled mortar was mounted on the carriage of a Pak-37 anti-tank gun. When firing, the wheels were hung out, and the carriage rested on the openers of the sliding frames and the front folding stop.
The first units armed with the 150 mm Nebelwerfer 41 were formed in 1940. Two years later, three regiments (Nebelwerferregiment) - the 51st, 52nd and 53rd, as well as nine separate divisions (Nebelwerfeabteilung) - from the 1st to the 9th - were deployed in the armed forces. All these units were armed with 150 mm mortars. Each division included 18 launchers, the regiment consisted of three divisions (54 Nebelwerfers).
The first use on the Eastern Front was during the storming of the Brest Fortress. Fire support for the assault troops was provided by 9 batteries of heavy mortars of the 4th Special Purpose Mortar Regiment. Note that the first use of the BM-13 (popularly “Katyusha”) was almost a month later, near Orsha.

The launch of 6 rocket mines was carried out alternately using an electric fuse, driven by an electric battery or a manual dynamo, for 7-10 seconds. After the launch, it was necessary to urgently change positions, since the smoke trail greatly unmasked them and was an excellent reference point for enemy artillery.
The low mobility of the installations had a negative impact here, because of which they could become easy prey for artillery. The instructions for using rocket mortars even included a clause stating that sighting shooting was prohibited.
In total, from 1940 to 1945, 5769 installations of 15 cm Nb.W 41 and more than 5 million mines were produced for them. By the end of the war, the troops (including SS units) had 2,295 installations and 650 thousand ammunition left for them.

Performance characteristics:

Caliber - 158.5 mm
Initial projectile speed - 340 m/sec
Weight in firing position - 770 kg
Number of guides - 6 pieces
Calculation - 5 people
Rate of fire - 6 shots in 10 seconds
Firing range - 6900 m
Weight of high-explosive fragmentation mine - 34.15 kg

Goliath and Engineering Vehicles

British soldiers with captured German Goliaths

Here he is - the progenitor of modern drones and controlled ground robots! The Goliath was used by the German army throughout World War II. The device was an uncrewed wedge that was controlled by an operator via a wired connection and carried 75-100 kilograms of explosives. The vehicle's range was up to 1.5 km. The main target of the Goliath was enemy tanks, dense infantry formations and buildings.
It is worth noting that this weapon was mainly used on the western front. Due to its high cost and poor performance, the Goliath was considered an insufficiently effective weapon.

Teletanket-torpedo, developed in 1941 on the basis of a captured French model from Kegresse.
Purpose.
The main purpose of these wedges was considered to be to undermine fortifications, reconnaissance of anti-tank fire systems, clearing minefields and fighting tanks.

Nazi anti-aircraft towers

These were large ground-based concrete bunkers, armed with air defense artillery, used by the Luftwaffe during World War II to concentrate groups of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns in order to protect strategically important cities from aerial bombing of the anti-Hitler coalition. They were also used to coordinate air defense and served as bomb shelters.

Concrete giant
1) Entrance 2) Armored shutters 3) Ammunition storage 4) Main combat platform 5) Command post and rangefinder 6) Gun turrets 7) 128mm twin anti-aircraft gun 8) Light 20mm anti-aircraft gun

Tower "G"
The most impressive of all anti-aircraft towers - the first generation "G" towers - stood in Berlin and Hamburg. The only surviving structure from this series. The building is located in the Heiligengeistfeld district (Hamburg) and is used as a residential building.

Of course, these powerful and solid fortresses amazed the imagination, inspired respect for the National Socialist state and instilled in the Germans confidence that the genius of Hitler, the fighters and anti-aircraft guns of Goering, the builders of Todt and Speer would provide them with safety and invulnerability.

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WunderWaffe 4 - "Walking Tank", land minesweeper

MinenRaumers - developed by Krupp in 1944 for the destruction of minefields. 130 tons, steel wheels with a diameter of 2.7 m. Two-section, each section has a Maybach HL90 engine. Captured by the Allies, in particular the United States.

ALKETT VsKfz 617 MINENRÄUMER in Kubinka. It was found by Soviet troops in 1945 at the Kumersdorf training ground and in 1947 delivered to Kubinka

Amphibious Landwasserschlepper

Performance characteristics of the Landwasserschlepper amphibian
Combat weight 16 tons
Crew 3 people + 20 landing personnel
Dimensions
Length 8600 mm.
Width 3160 mm.
Height 3130 mm.
Maximum speed
on land 35 km. per hour
on the water 12.5 km. per hour
Power reserve
280 km (according to I. Moshchansky)
630 km (along M. Baryatinsky)

It would seem an invincible army, but we turned out to be stronger

Cannon "Dora"

This type of weapon was first used in the 19th century, but the Nazi railway artillery systems are worth mentioning separately due to their size and firepower. At the end of the 30s of the 20th century, Adolf Hitler demanded that Krupp engineers create a super-powerful weapon capable of destroying the French Maginot Line, as well as the fortified defensive forts of the Belgian army.
In 1941, the first gun was manufactured - "Dora", which received its name in honor of the wife of the chief designer, and later the second - "Fat Gustav", named after the director of the company Gustav Krupp.

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The guns were truly colossal in size. The Dora's barrel length was about 30 meters, and its total weight reached more than 1,300 tons. The shells weighed more than 7 tons. The crew of the gun was 250 people, and additional personnel exceeded 2,500 thousand people. The firing range was 35-45 km.
Interesting fact: In 1942, the Dora cannon took part in the siege of Sevastopol, but it was of little use. Heavy shells only once successfully hit an underground ammunition depot. When many other shells hit, all the energy of the explosion went underground, forming gigantic (up to 32 meters deep!) underground cavities - camouflets.

Considering the huge amount of money spent on the production of guns of this type, the idea of ​​ultra-long-range guns practically failed.

Fantastic aviation of the Third Reich

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The Horten Ho-229 super-fast stealth bomber could very well change the course of World War II. The first prototypes flew on May 26, 1942:

Horten_Go-9_reconstruction

German Horten-Vc wing aircraft in flight over Göttingen. And he is on earth:

A further development was the Horten Go.229 shown above, equipped with two Junkers Jumo-004B-1 turbojet engines:

This aircraft was to be equipped with four MK-103 or MK-108 cannons next to the engines. Two 1000 kg bombs or two 1250 liter tanks could be hung under the center section.
While mass production was unfolding, in Göttingen in January 1945. Go.229-V2 was completed and transported to Oranienberg for flight testing. Handling justified the most optimistic assumptions. A speed of 795 km/h was reached, but during landing the right engine stalled. The pilot, Lieutenant Ziller, ejected (yes, the cockpit was equipped with a catapult), the plane turned over, fell to the ground and burned out. In total, the experimental aircraft flew for two hours.
The assembly of the next prototype aircraft in Friedrichsrode was already ending. Go.229-VЗ was supposed to be the first prototype of the serial Go.229a on March 12, 1945. At a meeting with Goering, Go.229 was included in the “urgent fighter program,” but two months later the Americans captured the plant in Friedrichsrode:

Aerodynamic design - flying wing. Designed by the Horten brothers since 1931. The world's first jet-powered flying wing aircraft.

Flight characteristics of Horten Ho 229:
Wingspan: 16.75 m
Length: 7.45 m
Height: 2.80 m
Wing area: 50.80 m2
Empty weight: 4600 kg
Normal take-off weight: 7515 kg
Maximum take-off weight: 9000 kg
Engine type: 2 TRD Junkers Jumo-004В-1, 2, 3
Thrust: 2 x 890 kgf
Maximum speed: 970 km/h
Cruising speed: 685 km/h
Practical range without PTB: 1880 km
Practical range with PTB: 3150 km
Maximum rate of climb: 1320 m/min
Service ceiling: 16000 m
Crew: 1 person
Armament: four 30-mm cannons MK-103, MK-108; 2x1000 kg bombs

The Horten Ho 229 is the first turbojet aircraft built using the Flying Wing ("Unsichtbar") aerodynamic design. It was the culmination of more than ten years of design work by brothers Reimar and Walter Horten, whose main goal was to create an aircraft with minimal drag. As a result, the Horten Ho 229 did not have a fuselage as such. The thickness of the center section was sufficient to accommodate the pilot and engine. There was no vertical tail. Course control was carried out by spoilers mounted on the wing. By March 1945, the aircraft, with some modifications, was ready for mass production.
Until now, experts doubted that the innovation proposed by the Hortons would help hide the plane from radar. However, now the defense company Northrop-Grumman (which participated in the development of the B-2 stealth aircraft) has managed to create a full-size copy of the Ho 229 using the drawings and the only surviving prototype and test it experimentally. Construction of the model cost 250 thousand dollars and 2.5 thousand man hours. It turned out that the plane was not completely invisible to radars that existed during the Second World War. However, it was stealthy and fast, so that, for example, it could fly to London before British fighters were alerted.

"If the Germans had had time to create this aircraft, it could well have been a blow," says Briton Peter Marton, an aviation specialist at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. It could reach very high speeds and had an extraordinary range.

WunderWaffe 7 - the first jet aircraft

Messerschmitt Me 163
The first turbojet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 262, was first used in 1944. Approximately 100 of these fighters shot down 500 allied aircraft of various types. But they could no longer influence the outcome of the war.

Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet fighter

The Germans were the first to overcome the 1000 km/h mark in a jet plane.

In April 1941, jet aircraft tests were in full swing in Germany. At the test site in Peenemünde, the German test pilot Dietmann reached a speed of 1000 (!!!) km/h in the Messerschmitt 163 Me 163 jet aircraft. This was an important milestone in the development of world aviation.

The Focke-Wulf Ta-183, which never made it into production, served as its airframe as a prototype for the Soviet MIG-15.

Fantastic projects

Lippisch DM-1 delta-wing glider captured by American troops

Focke-Wulf Fw 42 was one of the most unique aircraft of its time. The machine was developed in 1929. as part of a competition announced by the headquarters of the Reichswehr Air Force. Despite its well-calculated characteristics, the Fw 42 never found supporters in the Reichswehr.

Diagram of the Nazi invasion of the United States of America

arado-ar-e.555

In the fall of 1944, the design bureaus of all aviation concerns were tasked with creating an aircraft to carry out strategic strikes on America and the Soviet Union. This is how the completely secret Arado E.555 project was born. In total, under the designation E.555, a whole project series was built, consisting of 15 different developments.

Helicopters of the Third Reich

Fletner's helicopter

On April 10, 1940, General Franz Halder returned from testing new technology. Fletner's helicopter made a good impression on Halder. Halder even proposed equipping all of his ground units with such helicopters to support attack aircraft.
The tests took place at sea and demonstrated the capabilities of the helicopter. Pilots dropped bombs from helicopters onto submarines and ground targets. In general, many generals liked Fletner's invention.

Focke-Wulf Fw-190TL

UFO technology

UFO-Schauberg Engine

This device is considered the world's first vertical take-off aircraft. The first prototype - a “wheel with a wing” was tested near Prague back in February 1941. It had piston engines and a Walter liquid rocket engine.
The design resembled a bicycle wheel. A wide ring rotated around the cabin, the role of spokes of which was played by adjustable blades. They could be installed in the required positions for both horizontal and vertical flight. The pilot was positioned as in a regular plane, then his position was changed to almost recumbent. The main disadvantage of the device was significant vibration caused by rotor imbalance. An attempt to make the outer rim heavier did not bring the desired results and this concept was abandoned in favor of the “vertical aircraft” or V-7 (V-7), being developed as part of the “Weapons of Vengeance” program, VergeltungsWaffen.

This model used a steering mechanism similar to an airplane (vertical tail) for stabilization and increased engine power. The model, tested in May 1944 near Prague, had a diameter of 21 m; rate of climb is 288 km/h (for example, the Me-163, the fastest aircraft of World War II, has 360 km/h); horizontal flight speed 200 km/h;
This concept was further developed in a disc plane assembled in 1945 at the Cesko Morava plant. It was similar to previous models and had a diameter of 42 m. The rotor was driven into rotation using nozzles located at the ends of the blades. The engine used was a Walter jet, powered by the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.
A wide flat ring rotated around the domed cockpit, powered by controlled nozzles. On February 14, 1945, the vehicle climbed to an altitude of 12,400 m, and the horizontal flight speed was about 200 km/h. According to other sources, this vehicle (or one of them) was tested in the Spitsbergen area at the end of 1944, where it was lost. The most interesting thing is that in 1952 a disk-shaped apparatus was actually found there.
The post-war fate of the designers is not exactly known. Otto Habermohl, as his German colleague designer Andreas Epp later claimed, ended up in the USSR. Schriever, who died in a car accident in 1953, managed to escape Soviet captivity and was seen in the United States.

"Flying Pancake" by Zimmerman.

Tested in 1942-43 at the Peenemünde training ground. It had Jumo-004B gas turbine engines. It developed a horizontal speed of about 700 km/h and had a landing speed of 60 km/h.
The device looked like a basin turned upside down, with a diameter of 5-6 m. It was round around the perimeter and had a teardrop-shaped transparent cabin in the center. On the ground he rested on small rubber wheels. For takeoff and horizontal flight, it most likely used controlled nozzles.
Due to the impossibility of accurately regulating the thrust of gas turbine engines or for some other reasons, it was extremely unstable in flight.

After the defeat of Germany, the drawings and copies stored in Keitel's safes were not found. Several photographs of the strange disk with a cabin have been preserved. If it weren’t for the swastika painted on board, the device hanging a meter from the ground next to a group of fascist officers could easily pass for a UFO. This is the official version. According to other sources, part of the documentation, or even almost all the descriptions and drawings, were found by Soviet officers, which, by the way, is confirmed by the famous academician V.P. Mishin, who at that time himself took part in the search. It is also known from him that documents about German flying saucers were studied very carefully by our designers.

Disc "Omega" by Andreas Epp

Disc-shaped helicopter with 8 star-shaped piston and 2 ramjet engines. It was developed in 1945, captured by the Americans and tested in the USA in 1946. The developer A. Epp himself, suspended from work back in 1942, was captured by the Soviets.
The device was a combination of "fan-in-a-ring" technology with a free-rotating rotor driven by Focke-Wulf "Triebflugel" pulsating jet engines and increased lift due to the "flotation effect".

The aircraft consisted of: a circular cabin with a diameter of 4 m, surrounded by a disc-fuselage with a diameter of 19 m. The fuselage contained eight four-blade fans in ring fairings connected to eight Argus Ar 8A radial engines with an axial thrust of 80 hp. The latter were installed inside eight conical pipes with a diameter of 3 m.
The main rotor was fixed to the axis of the disk. The rotor had two blades with a Pabst-designed ramjet at the ends and a rotation diameter of 22 m.
When the pitch of the blades in the auxiliary engines changed, the rotor accelerated, throwing out a strong stream of air. Jet engines started at 220 rpm. and the pilot changed the pitch of the auxiliary engines and main rotor by 3 degrees. This was enough to get us up.
The main propeller was of the autorotating type and did not create any torque. Unlike helicopters, it was not hinged, but was mounted rigidly, like a conventional airplane propeller.
The additional acceleration of the auxiliary engines tilted the car in the desired direction. This deflected the lift of the main rotor and consequently changed the direction of flight.
If one of the auxiliary engines eventually stopped working, the machine retained sufficient control to complete the mission. If one of the ramjet engines stopped, the fuel supply to the other was automatically cut off and the pilot initiated autorotation to attempt a landing.
Flying at a low altitude, the machine received, thanks to the "influence of the ground", additional lifting force (screen), a principle currently used by high-speed vessels (egranoplanes).
Several Omega discs were created after the war. They were 1:10 scale models mounted for aerodynamic testing. Four prototypes were also made.
The propulsion system was patented in Germany on April 22, 1956 and was offered to the US Air Force for production. The latest model of the disk was designed for a crew of 10 people.

[b]Focke-Wulf.500 "Ball Lightning" by Kurt Tank

The disc-shaped helicopter designed by Kurt Tank, one of the last models of a new type of aircraft developed in the Third Reich, was never tested. The high, armored cockpit housed the rotating blades of a large turboprop engine. The flying wing type body contained two air intakes, at the top and bottom forward parts of the fuselage. The disc plane could fly like a regular airplane or, like a helicopter, move in any direction and hover in the air.
It was planned to use six MAIAEG MS-213 cannons (20 mm, rate of fire 1200 rounds per minute) and four 8-inch K100V8 air-to-air fragmentation incendiary missiles as weapons on the "Fireball".

Schematic representation of the submarine "Forel" with a Schauberger vortex engine

A unique document from the category “For official use” describing the design and operation of the YuMO-004B jet engine of the last and most advanced military aircraft of Nazi Germany at that time in the world, the Messerschmitt-262. In the last months of the war, it was with this aircraft that Hitler and Goering’s hopes for a turning point in the “air war” were tied, during which the Reich suffered one defeat after another. However, testing and serial production of the Me-262 began too late due to the shortsightedness of the Luftwaffe leadership, led by Ernst Udett and Goering's deputy Erhard Milch. The document was developed by a team of the so-called “Bureau of New Technology” of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry in 1946. Each copy of this document had its own registration number - in our case No. 233. A similar document issued by the same bureau was devoted to the fuselage and aerodynamic qualities of the aircraft (not in our collection). Original, condition consistent with age. The full version of the document is in .

The German Me-262 fighter is considered by many experts to be one of the best military aircraft that took part in the Second World War. If the leaders of the Third Reich had timely assessed its capabilities and combat potential, victory in Europe would have gone to the Allies at a much higher price. However, Hitler’s short-sightedness, the lack of professionalism of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering, and bureaucratic delays turned this first jet fighter in the history of air warfare into a kind of “pariah” in the squadron of combat aircraft. But no matter how unsuccessful and short the fate of the Me-262 turned out to be, so surprising was the post-war history of the ideas of jet aviation embedded in it.

THE FURER'S LAST HOPE

This plane had its own mission from the very beginning. Along with the “weapon of retaliation” (atomic bomb) being hastily developed by German scientists, the Messerschmitt-262 was considered as a “weapon of salvation” of the Third Reich from total defeat by the Allies. Under the influence of the Imperial Minister of Propaganda J. Goebbels, whose opinion was shared by many generals of the German High Command, Germany owed its defeats on the fronts primarily to the unprofessionalism of the commander of the air force, Hermann Goering, who was unable to protect the skies and cities of the Reich from the destructive raids of allied aviation. Many believed that if the German Luftwaffe had managed to become master of the situation in the air, a decisive turning point could have occurred in the course of the war. And the main hope in this matter rested on the new jet Messerschmitt.

In the notes of Joseph Goebbels, which he kept punctually throughout the war, the theme of the Me-262 jet comes up constantly, and in the last weeks of the war it sounds like a spell: “In accordance with the availability of gasoline, all but five types of aircraft will be withdrawn from our weapons program. The main attention, according to the Fuhrer’s decision, will be given to the production of ME-262.”<…>“Direct hits from the ME-262 simply tear apart the Mosquito.” It takes four hits to shoot down such a bomber. In a month of such battles, the Anglo-American enemy must suffer such significant losses that he will have to limit his activity in the air.”<…>“Now the Fuhrer has great hopes for jet fighters. He even calls them “machines of German destiny.” He believes that thanks to jet aircraft it will be possible - at least through defensive actions - to undermine the enemy's superiority in the air."<…>“The Fuehrer now places his greatest hopes in new jet aircraft. This month 500 of them will be produced, and next month - 1000. Airfields for them can be built with great difficulty.”<…>“The Fuehrer pins all his hopes on the use of these new jets. The enemy will not be able to oppose anything significant to them in the air.”

All these are records dated March and April 1945, when the outcome of the Second World War was no longer in doubt. Already in the last days of the war, when Soviet troops stood at the walls of Berlin, six commissioners were appointed at Hitler's headquarters to implement the program for accelerated production of the Me-262. Management of the program was entrusted to two trusted combat generals - Joseph Kammhuber, who was responsible for the production of night fighters, and Dietrich Peltz, who was responsible for the production of day fighters. The Third Reich was dying, but an order was sent to flight schools to recruit 20 thousand cadets who were to take to the air on the planes of the “German hope.”

The German jet fighter "Messerschmitt-262" also had another name - Schwalbe, which translated means "Swallow". Its flight advantages were demonstrated already in the first battle - on July 25, 1944, in the skies over Munich, the new Messerschmitt was almost torn to pieces by the English high-speed Mosquito bomber. However, the Third Reich did not have enough time to produce a sufficient number of “miracle aircraft”. And although from 1944 to 1945, 1,433 Me-262 jet fighters were assembled at German aircraft factories and transferred to the front, which also became the most popular jet aircraft of the Second World War, it failed to fulfill its original mission. Perhaps due to the fact that the new plane’s path to the sky turned out to be surprisingly difficult.

LONG ROAD TO SKY

The idea of ​​​​creating a jet fighter aircraft in Germany was born almost simultaneously with the beginning of the development of a turbojet engine (TRE). It should be noted that in the 1930s, the labor intensity of creating a turbojet engine, as one of the most knowledge-intensive finished aircraft products, was considered the greatest. In addition, the very idea of ​​​​transonic aircraft was perceived with some skepticism, since the wind tunnels that existed at that time did not make it possible to determine the characteristics of such high-speed aircraft. The development of a pursuit aircraft under the designation P-1065 first began in October 1938. It was planned to install two P3302 jet engines with a thrust of 600 kgf each. It was expected that a fighter with these turbojet engines would be able to reach speeds of up to 900 km/h. The appearance of the aircraft did not take shape immediately, and its evolution is in many ways similar to the development of flora and fauna: from simple to complex. In addition, the new aircraft could fly “in the slop,” as aircraft designers joked—that is, it did not require special highly purified aviation gasoline. At the end of the war, when Germany lost access to oil, this turned out to be an important argument in his favor.
Based on the dimensions of the turbojet engine, which was manufactured at the BMW plant, German aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt approved the first version of the future Me-262. The unusual combination of fuselage contours and load-bearing surface (the Me-262 was equipped with a so-called “swept” wing) was a step towards an integral aircraft layout, which, as is known, became widespread during the creation of fourth-generation combat aircraft. The design of the aircraft was developed in such a way that each part was easy to manufacture and could be manufactured at various enterprises. A large shortage of aluminum alloys forced designers, to the detriment of the weight of the airframe, to widely use steel and wood in the airframe construction.

Fritz Wendel (right) and aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt after a test flight. 1935

The first flight of a jet fighter, piloted by one of Germany's best pilots, Wendel, took place on March 25, 1942 and almost ended in disaster. The plane slowly gained an altitude of 50 meters, and when the pilot began to retract the landing gear, the left turbojet engine failed, and a little later the right one. The pilot managed to turn the car around and successfully land it at the airfield. This was a result of the low reliability of early turbojet engines. However, in the meantime, the Heinkel plant completed testing of the Junkers Jumo 004 A engine, which developed a thrust of 840 kgf. These engines were installed on the Me-262 and tests continued.

A total of three prototypes were produced, and its testing did not go very smoothly. On April 18, 1942, an experienced Me-262 crashed, killing the pilot. All this threatened that the idea of ​​​​a jet fighter could be abandoned altogether, but the situation was saved by one of the best test pilots in Germany, Adolf Galland. He thoroughly tested the aircraft in the air and on the ground and a few days later reported to Reichsmarschall Goering that “this machine is a real smile of Fortune! It gives us an advantage while our opponents use piston engine aircraft. This aircraft opens a new page in combat use.” Galland proposed some technical improvements to the design of the fighter, in particular, from now on all Me-262s were equipped - for the first time in the history of fighter aviation - with ejection seats for emergency evacuation of pilots in case of damage to the vehicle. By the way, until the end of the war, this saved the lives of 70 Luftwaffe pilots whose high-speed fighters were shot down or damaged.

Goering himself became infected with the enthusiasm of the pilots. The Luftwaffe was rapidly losing air supremacy, and the appearance of a new “indestructible” aircraft was supposed to correct the reputation of Goering himself. However, he did not immediately manage to convince Hitler that the Me-262 should become that “miracle weapon”. Hitler even then treated Goering and the entire Luftwaffe with such great distrust that he personally wanted to verify the effectiveness of the new technology. He demanded from engineers, designers and specialists obligations and guarantees that they could not give. When the designer Messerschmitt himself arrived at headquarters with a report on the new aircraft, Hitler attacked him with reproaches, not allowing him to say a word. He ordered to continue testing on a few prototypes, and because of this whim of the Fuhrer, preparations for mass production of one of the best aircraft of the Second World War were delayed for almost a year!

Not only the choleric temperament of the German Fuhrer played a role, but also his attitude to issues of strategy. Defense in Hitler's eyes was a secondary matter. Where the Luftwaffe was concerned, he listened only to what related to offensive actions; he was deaf to the needs of air defense. When, at the end of August 1944, Speer and Galland personally brought to his attention the vital need to concentrate German fighter power in defense of the Reich, Hitler simply threw them out the door shouting that they must obey his orders. In turn, Goering never objected to Hitler, but only passed down the destructive orders of the Fuhrer. In relation to honored pilots, he sometimes behaved completely insultingly. At one of the meetings, Goering began to argue that German fighter pilots had received too many awards that they did not deserve. Galland, who was present at the meeting, upon hearing this, turned pale, tore off the Knight's Cross and noisily threw it on the Reich Minister's table. An icy silence reigned, but Goering left it without consequences. At the very end of the war, Galland, who was, in fact, one of the creators of combat jet fighter aircraft, was sent to Italy with tacit instructions not to return to Germany until the end of the war. He survived, and in 1953 he wrote memoirs in which he spoke in detail, among other things, about the history of the creation of the Me-262.

BATTLE OF THE DOOMED

Meanwhile, the situation at the fronts was rapidly deteriorating, and already in November 1943, Nazi leaders again remembered the “miracle plane.” Its construction was hastily included in the weapons program and given emergency powers to organize rapid production. Goering personally visited the Messerschmitt factories to get acquainted with the progress of work on the Me-262. However, now another hitch arose: Hitler proposed converting the Me-262 into a jet bomber, which would require a complete change in design, attaching bomber sights and suspensions for aerial bombs. This could have slowed down the production of the aircraft for a long time, since the jet fighter, due to its flight characteristics and visibility from the cockpit, was not at all suitable for targeted bombing.

And a few weeks later, a large-scale disaster overtook the German aviation industry: in February 1944, Allied aircraft carried out targeted mass raids on German aircraft factories (the so-called Operation Big Week). As a result, more than 100 Me-262 aircraft were destroyed at the factories in Augsburg and Regensburg, and many technicians and workers were killed. The production of jet aircraft was urgently moved deep into Germany, to Leipheim, but even there, on April 24, the final assembly shops were destroyed by a powerful daytime raid by American bombers...

Jet Messers began to enter service with the troops only in the fall of 1944. The first squadron of jet fighters was assigned to form one of the best German aces, Walter Nowotny, who had 250 downed aircraft and was one of the most successful fighter pilots in the Reich. The creation of the first jet fighter unit, called the 7th Fighter Squadron (JG-7), began in the air town of Achmer near Osnabrück. Novotny personally selected the pilots for his squadron and equipped it with the best fighter aces that the Luftwaffe had at that time. The “bomber hunters” had to take their “baptism of fire” on the Western Front, which especially suffered from Allied air raids. The pilots noted that the Me-262 was much easier to control than the main Luftwaffe fighter Messerschmitt-109 (Gustav). True, the Me-262 accelerated worse, but in a dive it could easily exceed the speed limits. In addition, the jet fighter flew quite well on one engine, and its speed reached 450-500 km/h. The duration of its flight at an altitude of 7000 meters reached 2.25 hours. The fighter's armament consisted of four 30-mm MK 108A-3 cannons with 100 rounds of ammunition for the upper guns and 80 for the lower ones. The choice of such guns indicated that the aircraft was intended to fight enemy bombers, and there was no talk of any maneuverable combat with fighters. According to the German historian K. Becker, “with these weapons, the pilots of the JG-7 squadron destroyed 45 four-engine bombers and 15 accompanying fighters in the last week of February 1945.” For example, on March 17, several Me-262s from Group III took off to intercept B-17s bombing Ruland, Bohlen and Cottbus. In that battle, non-commissioned officer Koster shot down two Flying Fortresses, and Oberleutnant Wegmann and Oberfeldwebel Gobel - one each.

Mostly the Me-262 fought in the West, but there were also clashes with Soviet pilots. The first battles between Soviet aircraft and the Me-262 showed the vulnerability of Soviet aircraft to German jets. At the end of February 1945, Soviet pilots even received a special order - to open fire on the Me-262 without waiting for approach, from a distance of 600 meters. However, some Soviet aces - for example, the famous Ivan Kozhedub and Yevgeny Savitsky - managed to shoot down a Messerschmitt-262. Alexander Pokryshkin also encountered the Me-262, but was unable to shoot it down. It also happened that a Soviet pilot managed to shoot down an Me-262, but the command did not believe him. This happened to fighter pilot Major Okolelov, who shot down a Messerschmitt-262 in the last days of April 1945 in the area of ​​the Breslau-Berlin highway. The downed plane fell in a hard-to-reach area, and the command simply did not believe the Soviet pilot. Only many years later did he manage to prove that he was right - and only thanks to the memoirs of an English pilot who witnessed this battle and wrote about it in his memoirs. The Soviet command believed the Englishman.

Soviet pilot, commander of the 518th Fighter Aviation Regiment Yakov Okolelov waited for confirmation of his victory over the Me-262 for many years after the war.

The enormous advantage that jet fighters had over piston-engined machines was best demonstrated on April 7, 1945. On this day, the Luftwaffe, acting according to the "Wehrwolf" (werewolf) plan, aimed its attacks not as usual against the bombers, but against the escort of fighters accompanying them. Without suffering any significant losses, JG-7 reported twenty-eight enemy fighters shot down. On the other hand, on the same day, American P-51 Mustang fighters staged a deadly hunt for the German Messerschmitt-109 and Focke Wulf-190. The war diary of the US I Air Corps records the loss of at least 133 German aircraft and the death of seventy-seven pilots.

This was the last great air battle in the skies over Europe. A few days later, the Me-262 pilots had to relocate to an airfield in Prague, which was very far away for active participation in hostilities. And the courage and perseverance of individual pilots could no longer prevent the military defeat of Nazi Germany. Thus ended the combat history of the Me-262. Developed before the war, ignored for years and almost even banned by Germany's top military leaders, the German fighter jet remains a shining symbol of German ingenuity even in times of crisis, although its influence on the outcome of the war was negligible. A significant part of the Me-262s built were lost during Anglo-American air raids, many of them never managed to take to the skies.

FALCONS VS SWALLOWS

Of course, the Kremlin knew that the Germans had a jet fighter, and were waiting for an opportunity to get at least one copy of this miracle of German engineering. In general, the USSR was just as jealous of the German achievements in military aircraft construction as Germany was of the characteristics of Soviet tanks. The rivalry between Russian and German pilots began during the First World War (see note) and continued during the Spanish confrontation (see note). Perhaps it was in Spain that the most sensitive blow was dealt to the pride of the Soviet military aircraft industry. Despite the incredible efforts of the USSR, German aviation reigned supreme in the Spanish skies, completely wiping out the Spanish city of Guernica as a demonstration of its power. And this despite the fact that the USSR did not skimp on expenses, trying to bring its aviation closer to the battle sites in Spain. These days, few people know that the Canelobre caves, which have become a tourist attraction in the city of Alicante, were used in 1936 as a hangar for the assembly and shelter of Soviet Polikarpov aircraft - the U-2 multi-purpose biplanes (known in the West as Po-2). The work on equipping this natural cave, pouring concrete, making a giant tunnel (which still serves as the entrance to the cave), as well as laying almost three kilometers of mountain road took Soviet military specialists less than a year.

Today, only specialists know about this episode of the war in Spain. On the Canelobre cave itself there is not a single indicator of what happened here during the Civil War. And in the USSR itself, they tried not to remember the war in Spain once again. Only occasionally - and even then due to oversight - did the Soviet press publish materials on this topic, such as the one shown in the illustration below - which depicts Polikarpov’s planes in the skies of Spain.

However, the Soviet pilots also had one more tooth against the German aces. The fact is that many of them, in the 20s and 30s, bypassing the terms of the Versailles Treaty, studied in the USSR and were even graduates of higher military educational institutions: the future Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Field Marshal Walter Model, Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch, General Manstein, Kruse, Horn, Feige, Hitler's adjutant from the Air Force, Colonel Nicholas von Below and many others. And the future developer of Luftwaffe military aviation, aircraft designer Hugo Junkers, also lived in Moscow in the late 20s, where he trained at the design bureau of Andrei Tupolev. And although many of them did not share the idea of ​​war with the USSR in their hearts, they all used their experience gained during their studies in the USSR in the war. Thus, in the memoirs of Nicholas von Below there is an interesting dialogue that took place between him and Hitler back in 1939, when the Fuhrer asked his adjutant what experience he had learned from his training in the USSR. In response, von Below said that one day, when German pilots were conducting training bombing in the Lipetsk area (where they studied at the local secret aviation school), one of the bombs exploded in a field where local boys were grazing horses. Both children and horses died, but the Soviet authorities billed the German command only for the horses. Not a word was said about the dead children. From this incident, von Below drew a conclusion, which he shared with Hitler: “In war, the Russians will not count people...”

German cadets are future aces of World War II at a flight school near Lipetsk. Photo by D. Sobolev

Of course, such treachery did not add to the love of the German pilots among the Soviet military. It is known that in many units German pilots were not even captured alive. The technical superiority of German aircraft, which had developed at the beginning of the war, was leveled off by the middle of it. New Soviet fighters, as well as Soviet tanks, were not inferior to, and in many respects even superior to, the enemy. And then, out of nowhere, the Me-262, practically inaccessible to Soviet aircraft. It was urgent to study a new machine - but for this it was necessary to get it somewhere. Such an opportunity presented itself only in April 1945. Then Chief Sergeant Major Helmut Lennartz from the same 7th Fighter Squadron was forced to make an emergency landing on territory occupied by Soviet troops. At the same time, the engines of his plane received additional damage from the earth that fell into them. After that, the car ended up in the hands of the Soviet troops, it was taken to the Air Force Research Institute and, under the leadership of the chief engineer, I. G. Rabkin, it was repaired. It was then repainted in Soviet military aviation colors, the swastika on the tail was replaced with a red star, and the vehicle was handed over for flight testing.

Captured Me-262, which became a Soviet fighter

A little later, units of the 16th Air Army captured more than 20 Me-262 jet fighters at airfields in Oranienburg, Dalgov, and later in Tempelhof in Berlin. General Savitsky came to test the captured jet machine. He took off in a two-seat fighter and was assisted in the flight by a German captured pilot. The aircraft were transported to the Air Force Research Institute, where Soviet specialists became familiar with their design. Our pilots knew that jet Messers were repeatedly pulled into a dive at high speed and German pilots crashed along with their vehicles, so the candidate for testing was selected especially carefully. The first Soviet pilot to fly the Me-262 was Andrei Kochetkov. On September 15, 1945, he took off on a repaired Schwalbe for a test flight. Until November 1945, he completed 17 more flights, for which he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During the tests, the same unpleasant features were revealed when flying at high speeds that German specialists had previously encountered. While trying to reach a maximum speed of 870 km/h, the plane entered an uncontrolled dive. Luckily for the pilot, this happened at an altitude of 11,000 m and Kochetkov, with great difficulty, managed to save the car. Until the end of the summer of 1945, the Air Force Research Institute was able to test the gas turbine Jumo 004 using domestic low-octane gasoline, and another turbojet engine, the BMW 003, using tractor kerosene. For the first time, it was possible to determine the thrust, fuel consumption, and optimal speed of the most advanced German engines.

Meanwhile, in the occupied regions of Germany, Soviet and American specialists were on a real hunt for military-technical documentation and all kinds of “know-how” of German industry. In April 1945, army counterintelligence officers arrested the chief technical adviser on jet aircraft, engineer E. Purucker, in Berlin. Within a few days, the head of the GRU, General F. Kuznetsov, informed the USSR Minister of Aviation Industry A. Shakhurin: “The prisoner E. Puruker is of great interest to you, as he is widely aware of the production of jet engines for aircraft in Germany. The prisoner is in Moscow and can be presented for special interrogation by your representative.” It was from Purucker that it became known where exactly the technical documentation for the Me-262 and other experimental Luftwaffe aircraft was kept. Special teams were sent to retrieve the drawings and thoroughly searched the design offices in Ceske Budejovice, Wiener Neustadt and Bergkristall east of Linz. A high-ranking engineer also reported about a secret airfield in the vicinity of Prague, where about 60 aircraft were based. Purucker turned out to be a very valuable informant, because it was he who spoke about the technical difficulties that the Germans encountered in the process of “bringing to mind” their jet Swallows. He also clarified that the German aircraft industry reached its largest production of Me-262s in March 1945, having received 237 aircraft from assembly lines.

Numerous reports from German pilots, engineers, and high-ranking aviation officials increased interest in the Messerschmitt jet in the Soviet Union. The captured aircraft were sent to aircraft factories in Syzran and to the experimental sites of the Air Force Research Institute, where specialists carefully studied each component. At the conclusion of the act based on the results of flight tests, it was noted, in particular, that the Me-262 is a mature jet aircraft and has a great advantage in maximum horizontal speed over modern domestic and foreign fighters with piston engines. Deputy People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry P.V. Dementyev, having received the first results of flight tests of a captured fighter, sent a letter to Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars G.M. Malenkov with a proposal to immediately begin serial production of Soviet jet aircraft based on the Me-262. Production of the aircraft was planned to be organized at factories No. 381 in Moscow and No. 292 in Saratov. The study of the design of the aircraft, the production of drawings and adaptations of the aircraft for Soviet equipment and weapons were entrusted to the chief designer of the department, Myasishchev, and the development of engines was entrusted to the designer Klimov. Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev, having carefully studied the design of the Me-262, also noted in his report: “I should note that this aircraft, according to the review of the Air Force Scientific Research Institute, has a number of operationally proven designs, such as a three-wheeled landing gear, cabin pressurization, etc., and has good controllability characteristics , allows for the possibility of installing very powerful weapons and using them as an attack aircraft, has a proven two-seat training version and the ability to further increase the maximum flight speed (up to 900-960 km/h) and range (up to 1200 km). At the same time, equipping the Air Force with jet aircraft (in single-seat and two-seat training versions) can begin in mid-1946.”

However, the famous aircraft designer Alexander Yakovlev turned out to be a fierce opponent of this idea. In his book “The Purpose of Life” he wrote: “At one of Stalin’s meetings, when discussing issues of the aviation industry, the proposal of People’s Commissar Alexei Shakhurin was considered for the serial production of the captured Messerschmitt-262 jet fighter captured by our troops. During the discussion, Stalin asked if I was familiar with this plane and what was my opinion. I replied that I know the Me-262 aircraft, but I object to its launch in our series because it is a bad aircraft, difficult to control and unstable in flight, which suffered a number of accidents in Germany. If it enters our service, it will scare our pilots away from jet aviation. They will quickly see from their own experience that this plane is dangerous and also has poor takeoff and landing properties. I also noticed that if we copy the Messerschmitt, then all attention and resources will be mobilized on this machine, and we will cause great damage to the work on domestic jet aircraft...” After subsequent discussion, the proposal to copy the Me-262 was rejected. Although the Soviet history of the German jet Messerschmitt did not end there. In preparation for the November 1946 parade over Red Square, the Air Force proposed using the Me-262 to train pilots selected to fly the first MiG-9 and Yak-15 jets at a rate of 5-6 flights each. To train pilots, it was planned to transport 20 Me-262 aircraft to the airfield of the 16th Air Army in Chkalovskaya. However, this proposal did not pass: the first Soviet jet fighters, the famous MIG-9, were designed for one pilot, and our pilots would have to retrain from the German “sparks”.

Life itself put the final stop on the issue of copying German jet aircraft. On September 17, 1946, during a test flight at the Chkalovsky airfield near the village of Kishkino in the Moscow region, one of the German Messerschmitt-262 crashed, burying test pilot F.F. Demid under its rubble. From that moment on, the final decision was made - not to copy the “Germans”, but to develop our own. Nevertheless, the Me-262 left a deep mark on Soviet aviation. It's just not acceptable to talk about it.

TROPHY AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

In fact, this is one of the carefully hushed up topics of post-war Soviet history - how exactly Soviet science, the military-industrial complex and industry disposed of the engineering “legacy of the enemy” that we inherited as a result of the war. During the fighting on German territory, the zone of Soviet occupation included areas in which many aviation enterprises were concentrated - mainly large aircraft manufacturing concerns such as Junkers, Arado, Heinkel, Focke-Wulf, Dornier. Most of the factories were heavily damaged by aerial bombardment, many turned into ruins. Aircraft designers and developers of new military equipment - Prandtl, Betz, Busemann, Georgi, Heinkel, Lippisch and others - went to the West (it is believed, not without the help of Western intelligence services). However, what the winners got could be enough for many years with thoughtful and serious study. Therefore, almost simultaneously with the beginning of the fighting on the territory of the Third Reich, a special scientific and technical council (NTS) was created in Moscow, which immediately after the war was transformed into the Bureau of New Technology - it was it that issued the document presented in our collection. Professors, academicians, and leading scientists were mobilized to work in the STS, whose task was to “determine scientific and technical policy for the further development of the army and navy,” or, simply put, to make the most of the captured military-technical and scientific potential of Germany for needs of Soviet industry. Thousands of pages of drawings and texts, product samples, descriptions of experiments, and scientific literature were delivered to Moscow in a continuous stream. Hundreds of German translators were recalled from the front and retrained as specialists in scientific and technical translation. At the same time, in Germany itself, everything that was of even the slightest value was being dismantled. By mid-1946, 123 thousand machine tools and other industrial equipment were exported from Germany to the USSR. This made it possible to create nine new aircraft factories in the Soviet Union, including two aircraft and three engine factories.

Naturally, special attention was paid to the latest types of weapons - jet aircraft, rocket technology, nuclear projects... Although Stalin, Voroshilov, Budyonny before the war did not believe in the power of new developments in the field of weapons and spoke contemptuously about missiles, the experience of the war taught them a lot. In March 1945, when the war was still raging, but Germany’s fate had already been decided, the State Defense Committee issued a decree on the removal of radar documentation and equipment from German factories for their production in the USSR. Soon the State Defense Committee issued a decision “On sending a commission to remove equipment and study the work of the German Rocket Institute in Peenemünde.” We are talking about the enterprise where the German “miracle weapons” - V-1 and V-2 - were created. Academician Georgy Byushgens wrote: “After the end of the war in 1945, TsAGI scientists and other aviation specialists had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with captured aviation research materials from the German DVL Institute in the city of Adlershof. These materials contained, in addition to the results of tests in the wind tunnels of the institute, models of specific aircraft, and general data.”
Captured materials from TsAGI scientists - Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after N.E. Zhukovsky was not immediately appreciated. However, many specialists at the institute quickly realized the promise of this area. Further theoretical and experimental research was entrusted to a team of the most authoritative scientists of the institute. In addition to technical documentation, Soviet specialists discovered unfinished samples of Me-162 single-engine jet fighters and three damaged He-280 twin-engine jet fighters. Soviet doctrines studied enemy developments. Here is a quote from one of the reports: “The development of jet technology in Germany has taken on a large scale in recent years. Captured samples of German jet technology available in the USSR - jet aircraft (fighters, attack aircraft, bombers), aviation jet gas turbine engines, liquid jet engines, radio-controlled and unguided missiles (long-range and for combating anti-aircraft targets), projectile aircraft and jet glide bombs controlled by radio from aircraft show that the introduction of jet technology in aviation, navy and artillery was carried out in Germany on a large scale, and the Germans had serious success in this area.”

To study enemy achievements and the possibility of using them in the USSR, by government decision in the summer of 1945, an interdepartmental Commission on Jet Technology was created under the State Defense Committee. In August 1945, bench tests of German jet engines were carried out. At pilot plant No. 51, production of “10X” projectile aircraft began, similar to the German V-1 cruise missile. Also in 1945, the idea arose to use German specialists to develop jet aviation in the USSR. People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry Shakhurin addressed the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks with a secret letter. It said, in particular: “A large number of German specialists and scientists in the field of aviation are now in our hands. These scientists and specialists have enormous reserves of knowledge accumulated during their work in research and experimental organizations in Germany... From our point of view, it would be advisable to have a special type of organization with a special regime on the territory of the USSR or in the zone of Germany occupied by us (under the supervision of the NKVD ), where German scientists could conduct research work - according to our instructions...".
This was immediately reported to Stalin, and the green light was given to use the “enemy’s legacy” for the development of the domestic military industry. The search for and attraction of German specialists to cooperation occurred in various ways. Some, for example, the former head of pilot production at Junkers, Dr. B. Baade, voluntarily expressed a desire to cooperate in order to continue working in aviation. The leading aerodynamics specialist at Heinkel, Z. Gunther, also contacted the Soviet authorities. Many were motivated by mercantile considerations - money and food rations. Some scientists, having heard about the cruelties of the NKVD, were simply afraid to refuse.
In total, over a thousand German scientists were involved in the work. They were collected in Berlin, Dessau, Leipzig, Halle, Strasfurt and Rostock. Everyone wrote a report on the past activities of the scientific institution and spoke about their work. Having become acquainted with these materials, Soviet specialists gave their resumes and set new tasks for the “trophy” scientists. The completed work was sent to the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry, to research institutes and enterprises for more complete study for application in their future work.
At the end of August 1946, the most valuable and promising German specialists were transported to the USSR. There were about seven thousand of them. Aircraft builders were assembled at pilot plant No. 1 in the village of Podberezye, Kimry district, on the shores of the Moscow Sea. Specialists in turbojet engines and instruments were sent to pilot plant No. 2, located near Kuibyshev. Scientists working on engines took their jobs at enterprises near Moscow - plant No. 500 in Tushino and No. 456 in Khimki. It is still unknown exactly what contribution German teaching made to the development of Soviet aircraft construction and how many ideas they suggested to their colleagues from the USSR. However, one can guess that the contribution of 7 thousand of the best minds of the German aviation industry to the development of Soviet military-technical thought turned out to be very significant. Perhaps it was these and similar developments that became the main military trophy of Russia. A trophy that allowed a dilapidated country to turn into a world superpower in a matter of years - with the best aviation and weapons in the world...