Heinkel He 162
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| Heinkel He 162A-2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Image:He162 color010.jpg | ||
| Description | ||
| Role | Fighter | |
| Crew | One, pilot | |
| First Flight | 6 December 1944 | |
| Manufacturer | Heinkel | |
| Dimensions | ||
| Length | 9.05 m | 29 ft 8 in |
| Wingspan | 7.2 m | 23 ft 7 in |
| Height | 2.6 m | 8 ft 6 in |
| Wing area | 14.5 m² | 156 ft² |
| Weights | ||
| Empty | 1,660 kg | 3,660 lb |
| Loaded | ||
| Maximum takeoff | 2,800 kg | 6,180 lb |
| Powerplant | ||
| Engines | 1x BMW 003E-1 or E-2 turbojet | |
| Power | 800 kg | 1,764 lb |
| Performance | ||
| Maximum speed | 900 km/h | 562 mph |
| Maximum range | 975 km | 606 miles |
| Service ceiling | 12,000 m | 39,370 ft |
| Rate of climb | 1405 m/min | 4615 ft/min |
| Armament | ||
| Guns | 2x 20mm MG 151, 120 rounds each | |
The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger (People's Fighter) was the second jet engined fighter aircraft to be fielded by the Luftwaffe in WWII. It was a rival to the Messerschmitt Me 262 and was the fastest of the first generation of Axis and Allied jets. Volksjäger was the official Reichsluftfahrtministerium name given to the He 162. Other names given to the plane include Salamander, which was the codename of its construction program, and Spatz, (sparrow) which was the name given to the plane by Heinkel.
Contents |
Development
When the US 8th Air Force re-opened the bombing campaign on Germany in early 1944, the bombers returned to the skies along with the P-51 Mustang in escort. This changed the nature of the air war entirely; formerly German fighter units could form up for attack on the bombers unmolested, but with escort they were soon spending more time avoiding the US patrols than attacking the bombers. Changes made over the previous year to improve the fighter's bomber-killing abilities with extremely heavy guns also had the side effect of turning them into deathtraps when the much lighter Mustangs were able to easily outperform them.
The US now had both superior numbers and technology, and by the end of April the backbone of the Luftwaffe fighter groups had been broken. With few planes coming up to fight, the US fighters were let loose on the German airbases, railways and truck traffic. Logistics soon became a serious problem, maintaining aircraft in fighting condition almost impossible.
What to do about this was a considerable problem for the Luftwaffe. Two camps quickly developed, both demanding the immediate introduction of large numbers of jet aircraft.
One group, led by General der Jäger Adolf Galland, reasoned that superior numbers had to be countered with superior technology, and demanded that all possible effort be put into increasing the production of the Messerschmitt Me 262, even if that meant reducing production of other aircraft in the meantime. Another camp pointed out that this would likely do little to address the problem; the Me 262 was notoriously unreliable, and the existing logistics problems would mean there would simply be more of them sitting on the ground waiting for parts that would never arrive.
Instead they suggested that a new design be built, one so inexpensive that if it did break it could simply be thrown away. The concept was derided by most fighter pilots, but gained significant political backing. Though Galland opposed the project, which he felt was diverting resources away from the Me 262, a contract tender for a single-engined jet fighter that was suited for cheap and rapid mass production was established under the name Volksjäger ("People's Fighter").
Heinkel had designed a neat, sporty-looking little aircraft, with a sleek, streamlined fuselage, a BMW 003 engine carried in a nacelle on the back of the aircraft, twin tailfins allowing the vertical tailplanes to clear the jet exhaust, a high-mounted straight wing with a shallow dihedral, an ejection seat for the pilot and tricycle landing gear that retracted into the fuselage. The plane was in the air within an astoundingly short period of time: the design was chosen on 25 September and first flew on December 6th, less than 90 days later.
The He 162 suffered a setback when one of the planes crashed when one its wooden wings failed during a demonstration flight. Though the He 162 was improved subsequently, it was still troubled by lateral control problems in low-speed flight
Operations
In January 1945, the Luftwaffe formed a special "Erprobungskommando 162" He 162 test pilot evaluation group to which the first 46 aircraft were delivered. The group was based at the Luftwaffe test center at Rechlin under the command of Heinz Bär. Bär, an experienced combat pilot credited with 200 kills, familiarized himself and his group with the new airplanes.
February saw deliveries of the He 162 to its first operational unit, I/JG-1, the 1st Group of Jagdgeschwader 1 (fighter squadron), which had previously flown the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. I/JG-1 was transferred to Parchim, near the Heinkel factory at Marienehe, where the pilots could pick up their new jets and start intensive training beginning in March, all while the transportation network and fuel supply of the Third Reich was collapsing under the pressure of Allied air attacks. On April 7, the USAAF bombed the field at Parchim with 134 B-17 Flying Fortresses, inflicting serious losses and damage to the infrastructure. Two days later, I/JG-1 transferred to a airfield at nearby Ludwigslust and, less than a week later, moved again to an airfield at Leck, near the Danish border. In the meantime, on April 8 the 2nd Group of JG-1 (II/JG-1) moved to the Heinkel airfield at Marienehe and started converting from Fw 190s to He 162s. The 3rd Group of JG-1 (III/JG-1) was also scheduled to convert to the He 162, but the Group was disbanded on April 24 and its personnel used to fill in the vacancies in other units.
The He-162 finally saw combat in mid-April. On April 19, a captured Royal Air Force fighter pilot informed his Germans interrogators that he had been shot down by a jet fighter matching the description of a He 162. The Heinkel and its pilot were lost as well, shot down by a RAF Hawker Tempest while on approach. Though still in training, I/JG-1 had scored a number of kills beginning in mid-April, but had also lost thirteen He 162s and ten pilots. Ten of the aircraft losses were the result of various technical malfunctions, such as engine flameouts and sporadic structural failures: just two were shot down. The He 162's 30-minute fuel capacity also caused problems, as at least two of JG-1's pilots were killed attempting emergency landings after exhausting their fuel.
In the last days of April, as the Soviet troops approached, II/JG-1 evacuated from Marienhe and on May 2 joined the I/JG-1 at Leck. On May 3, all of JG-1's surviving He 162s were restructured into two groups, I. Einsatz (Combat) and II. Sammel (Replacement). All the JG-1's aircraft where grounded May 5 when General Admiral von Friedeburg signed the surrender of all German armed forces in Holland, Northwest Germany and Denmark. On May 6 when the British reached their airfields, JG-1 turned their He 162s over to the Allies, and examples of the fighter were then shipped to the US, Britain, France, and the USSR for further evaluation. Erprobungskommando 162 fighters, which had been passed on to JV 44, an elite jet unit under Adolf Galland a few weeks earlier, were all destroyed by their crews to keep the jets from falling into Allied hands. By the time of the German unconditional surrender May 8 1945, 120 He 162s had been delivered; a further 200 aircraft had been completed and were awaiting collection or flight-testing; about 600 more were in various stages of production.
The difficulties experienced by the He 162 were caused mainly by its rush into production, not by any inherent design flaws. One experienced Luftwaffe pilot who flew it called it a "first-class combat aircraft." Though a RAF pilot was killed in November 1945 when one of the tailfins broke off during the Farnborough air show, a British pilot who evaluated the He 162 praised it.
Variants
- A-0 - designation of the first ten pre-production aircraft.
- A-1 - armed with 2 × 30 mm MK 108 cannons, 50 rounds each.
- A-2 - armed with 2 × 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons, 120 rounds each.
- A-3 - proposed upgrade with reinforced nose mounting twin 30 mm MK 108 cannons.
- A-8 - proposed upgrade with the more powerful Jumo 004D-4 engine.
- B-1 - a proposed follow on planned for 1946, was to include more powerful Heinkel-Hirth 011A turbojet, a stretched fuselage to provide more fuel and endurance as well as increased wingspan, with proper dihedral and discarding the turned-down wingtip extensions. The He 162B-1 was to be armed with twin 30 mm MK 108 cannon.
- He 162B airframe was also used as the basis for possible designs powered by one or two Argus As-044 pulsejet engines.
- C - proposed upgrade featuring the B-series fuselage, Heinkel-Hirth 011A engine, swept wing, a new V shaped tail assembly, and twin MK 108 cannon featuring a Schräge Musik weapons assembly.
- D - proposed upgrade with a configuration similar to C-series but a forward-swept wing.
- E - He 162A fitted with the BMW 003R mixed power plant, a BMW 003A turbojet with an integrated BMW 718 liquid-fuel rocket engine for boost power. At least one prototype was built and flight-tested for a short time.
- S - two-seat training glider.
See also
List of World War II jet aircraft
External links
- Air Vectors - The Heinkel He 162 Volksjaeger
- Heinkel He 162 "Volksjäger"(in German)
- Heinkel 162 Ejection Seat
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