sagallacci
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Belated answer. further up the page of traffic was a diagram of the various noses, the "F-1" nose is the one in question.
Fieseler Fi-103 (V 1) development, variants and derivatives
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sagallacci
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I'm back and have new better data as well as accuracy tips for anyone wanting to model the versions.
This was a serious enough threat to be in the newspapers of the time:
The New York Times
Jan 9, 1945
Page 1
Robot Bomb Attacks Here Held 'Probable' by Admiral
Special to The New York Times
AN EAST COAST PORT, Jan. 8—A strategically futile attack on New York or Washington by robot bombs within thirty to sixty days was described today as not only "possible but probable" by Admiral Jonas H. Ingram, new Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, whose command stretches from the Arctic to the Falkland Islands.
"We're ready for them," Admiral Ingram said, in the wardroom of his flagship, in this port to complete preparations. "The next alert you get is likely to be the McCoy. Of course if there's a practice alert before the real one, you'll have plenty of notice of it.
"The thing to do is not to get excited about it. It might knock out a high building or two. It might create a fire hazard. It would certainly cause casualties in the limited area where it might hit. But it could not seriously affect the progress of the war."
"But think," he added, "what it would mean to Dr. Goebbels at this stage of the war to announce that 'today we have destroyed New York'? It would be good politics for him. And we know very definitely that there are three ways in which he might get robot bombs within range of either city. He might sneak a half dozen submarines off the coast. He might launch robots from the long-range planes we know he has. Or he might sneak a surface ship, disguised as a neutral, within range."
The Navy tonight said there was no increased danger from robot attacks on the East Coast area. The Navy's statement followed by a few hours publication of the warning by Admiral Ingram against "possible and probable" attacks by robot bombs.
"There is no more reason now to believe Germany will attack us with robot bombs than there was Nov. 7, 1944," the Navy said. On that date a joint Army-Navy statement was issued to the effect that robot attacks were "entirely possible."
Admiral Ingram made it plain that his warning was real. No special advices have been received through Intelligence, he admits. But, he added:
"I know the enemy."
So seriously does he regard the possibility and probability of such an attack that soon after assuming command of the Atlantic Fleet he held extensive conferences on the subject in Washington and with Vice Admiral Edward P. Leary, commander of the Eastern Sea Frontier. As a result Admiral Leary has made arrangements with the Army in this area that have tremendously strengthened land as well as sea measures against attack.
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Type 9 wings remind us of the modern Schumann planform. That might have reduced drag a little for a small increase in range.
But I suspect that these drawings were purely speculative as a major goal of the V-1 program was to produce e and launch hundreds - perhaps thousands - for as low a cost as possible. Shortages of raw materials (e.g. plywood) and slave labourers limited production V-1s to the simplest possible rectangular wings.
But I suspect that these drawings were purely speculative as a major goal of the V-1 program was to produce e and launch hundreds - perhaps thousands - for as low a cost as possible. Shortages of raw materials (e.g. plywood) and slave labourers limited production V-1s to the simplest possible rectangular wings.
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A real projects of course my dear Just,
in reply # 69;
in reply # 69;
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This drawing was sent to me 35 years ago by the son of Eugen Sänger and Irene Bredt.
klem
I really should change my personal text
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The aerodynamic drag of the V-1 airframe was higher than anticipated, due to low standards of manufacturing, decreasing from projected 900 km/h to the real 640 km/h.
Fortunately for the Allies this made the new missile susceptible to be intercepted by conventional fighters.
Some flying bombs were also made with high speed airframe. The Type 7 had a new unknown guidance system and tapered wings with the main spar moved forward 40 centimeters to compensate for the weight of the warhead, possibly the nosecone of a Messerschmitt 328 containing an SC 1000 bomb.
A Type 7 was photographed by the Allies during the attack on Antwerp.
Speculative dimensions.
Wingspan: 7.48 m. Length: 8.36 m.
In mid-1945 the magazine Aeroplane Spotter published the schematics of several missiles of the high speed series: the Type 5 was fitted with Lippisch style elliptical wings with about 5.8 m. span and the Type 9 with anti-vortex wingtips and about 6.73 m wingspan.
Drawings of another design in this series, called 'Fi 103 short-nose type', have been published in the specialized literature, with Type 7 airframe, tapered wings with 5.27 m span and 8.28 overall length.
It was intended to equip the missile with a more powerful As 109-044 pulsejet in order to increase its speed. The new version, designed in February 1945 with wooden wings with 5.74 m span or metal wings with 5.39 m span, would have flown at 765 or 800 km/h with a range of 370 to 500 km.
In 1943 it was proposed to build a television-guided version to compete with the Henschel Hs 293D missile, but in 1945 the Allies electronic technology was so advanced that they could interfere any German radio-control system.
Fortunately for the Allies this made the new missile susceptible to be intercepted by conventional fighters.
Some flying bombs were also made with high speed airframe. The Type 7 had a new unknown guidance system and tapered wings with the main spar moved forward 40 centimeters to compensate for the weight of the warhead, possibly the nosecone of a Messerschmitt 328 containing an SC 1000 bomb.
A Type 7 was photographed by the Allies during the attack on Antwerp.
Speculative dimensions.
Wingspan: 7.48 m. Length: 8.36 m.
In mid-1945 the magazine Aeroplane Spotter published the schematics of several missiles of the high speed series: the Type 5 was fitted with Lippisch style elliptical wings with about 5.8 m. span and the Type 9 with anti-vortex wingtips and about 6.73 m wingspan.
Drawings of another design in this series, called 'Fi 103 short-nose type', have been published in the specialized literature, with Type 7 airframe, tapered wings with 5.27 m span and 8.28 overall length.
It was intended to equip the missile with a more powerful As 109-044 pulsejet in order to increase its speed. The new version, designed in February 1945 with wooden wings with 5.74 m span or metal wings with 5.39 m span, would have flown at 765 or 800 km/h with a range of 370 to 500 km.
In 1943 it was proposed to build a television-guided version to compete with the Henschel Hs 293D missile, but in 1945 the Allies electronic technology was so advanced that they could interfere any German radio-control system.
Attachments
After the scale of the V-Weapons program became known the rest of the aeronautical firms of the Reich proposed their own projects based on the V-1.
Arado designed the Deichselschlepp, Startwagen and Huckepack systems for the transport and launch of the V-1 by the Ar 234 C bombers.
The DFS institute used a V-1 airframe to build the SG 5041 fuel tank that could be towed by the Ar 234.
Blohm und Voss proposed a transport and launch system to be used from the Type XXI U-boats able to reach New York.
Gotha worked in an antiship version with a float gleitboot.
Porsche designed the ‘Typ 300’ detachable turbojet with a superior performance than the Argus 109-014.
Messerschmitt designed a Startwagen device that allowed the transport and launch of the V-1 by the Bf 109 G-6. They also designed the P.1103 and P.1104 rocket interceptors using some manufactured parts of the V-1.
The Zeppelin firm designed a rammer using the wings and tail surfaces of the V-1. Henschel was specialized in the construction of Reichenberg prototypes.
Heinkel modified some He 111 H-16/H-22 to transport and launch both the conventional V-1 and the manned missiles of the Reichenberg series.
From the strategic point of view, the low frequency of launches was useless and the Heinkels were easy prey for the all-weather interceptors Mosquito and Black Widow that searched them over the sea led by the radars of the Chain Home. The Luftwaffe needed a faster launch plane and in October 1944 the DFS Institute began experiencing different systems of high-velocity towing so that the V-1s could be dropped from the new Arado Ar 234C jet bombers. The system was named Deicheslschlepp and consisted of a rigid tow bar with joints at both ends that hold together the two planes.
With the Huckepack configuration the missile was transported on the back of the bomber. During launch, a system of bars held the aircraft together without the risk of collision by turbulence, whilst the ignition of pulsejet of V-1 was made. Startwagen consisted of a three wheeled cart on which the launch bomber was positioned, with folded undercarriage, and the missile within an aerodynamic pod that was suspended under the fuselage. The production of the Ar 234 was slow because of the shortage of turbojets and only some prototypes of the C Series were finally manufactured in 1945.
In March of that year, Prof. A. Rudolph, of the DFS Institut, designed a variant of the Startwagen system called Projektzeichnung 59 F Brummer. The launcher plane was a Focke-Wulf 190 F-8, with a V-1 suspended under the belly. Take off was performed using only the engine of the fighter and ignition of the pulsejet happened just before launch. To prevent the V-1 colliding with the propeller of the carrier plane, in eventual turbulences, a special cradle with +6/-4 degrees similar to that of the Ju 87 was used.
This V-1 was to be used in Pulkzerstörer (formation destroyer) against enemy bomber streams steered by a new DFS radio-command from the Fw 190 pilot. The missile separation device had still not been satisfactorily solved at the end of the war in Europe.
Arado designed the Deichselschlepp, Startwagen and Huckepack systems for the transport and launch of the V-1 by the Ar 234 C bombers.
The DFS institute used a V-1 airframe to build the SG 5041 fuel tank that could be towed by the Ar 234.
Blohm und Voss proposed a transport and launch system to be used from the Type XXI U-boats able to reach New York.
Gotha worked in an antiship version with a float gleitboot.
Porsche designed the ‘Typ 300’ detachable turbojet with a superior performance than the Argus 109-014.
Messerschmitt designed a Startwagen device that allowed the transport and launch of the V-1 by the Bf 109 G-6. They also designed the P.1103 and P.1104 rocket interceptors using some manufactured parts of the V-1.
The Zeppelin firm designed a rammer using the wings and tail surfaces of the V-1. Henschel was specialized in the construction of Reichenberg prototypes.
Heinkel modified some He 111 H-16/H-22 to transport and launch both the conventional V-1 and the manned missiles of the Reichenberg series.
From the strategic point of view, the low frequency of launches was useless and the Heinkels were easy prey for the all-weather interceptors Mosquito and Black Widow that searched them over the sea led by the radars of the Chain Home. The Luftwaffe needed a faster launch plane and in October 1944 the DFS Institute began experiencing different systems of high-velocity towing so that the V-1s could be dropped from the new Arado Ar 234C jet bombers. The system was named Deicheslschlepp and consisted of a rigid tow bar with joints at both ends that hold together the two planes.
With the Huckepack configuration the missile was transported on the back of the bomber. During launch, a system of bars held the aircraft together without the risk of collision by turbulence, whilst the ignition of pulsejet of V-1 was made. Startwagen consisted of a three wheeled cart on which the launch bomber was positioned, with folded undercarriage, and the missile within an aerodynamic pod that was suspended under the fuselage. The production of the Ar 234 was slow because of the shortage of turbojets and only some prototypes of the C Series were finally manufactured in 1945.
In March of that year, Prof. A. Rudolph, of the DFS Institut, designed a variant of the Startwagen system called Projektzeichnung 59 F Brummer. The launcher plane was a Focke-Wulf 190 F-8, with a V-1 suspended under the belly. Take off was performed using only the engine of the fighter and ignition of the pulsejet happened just before launch. To prevent the V-1 colliding with the propeller of the carrier plane, in eventual turbulences, a special cradle with +6/-4 degrees similar to that of the Ju 87 was used.
This V-1 was to be used in Pulkzerstörer (formation destroyer) against enemy bomber streams steered by a new DFS radio-command from the Fw 190 pilot. The missile separation device had still not been satisfactorily solved at the end of the war in Europe.
Attachments
In 1943 it was proposed to build a television-guided version of the V-1 missile to compete with the Henschel Hs 293D missile, but in 1945 the Allies electronic technology was so advanced that they could interfere any German radio-control system.
Only those who could be fitted with primitive wire-guidance devices, like the flying bomb Henschel Hs 293 A, the air-to-air missile Rhursthal Kramer X4 or the X7 antitank rocket of the same firm, survived. But the results achieved in combat using these systems were not too good; sometimes the cable broke or lacked the necessary length to avoid the effects of the naval AA, with the dangerous disadvantage that the launcher plane was forced to fly on a straight line while guiding the missile.
After the failure of the Messerschmitt Me 328 schnellbomber, the Germans realized they lacked the means to stop the Allied invasion that they expected would take place in the sector of Calais by mid-1944. In May of that year the first Mistel composite-bombers entered service, but they could only be used against static targets because during their final dive they were controlled by an automatic pilot only.
The Axis only possibility was using suicide pilots.
By mid-1943, Hanna Reitsch, who had participated in the testing program of the Messerschmitt Me 328, piloting one of the prototypes and was greatly affected by the bombing of German cities, met with Otto Skorzeny and Erich Lange to support his idea of using a piloted version of the V-1 as a last ditch weapon.
In August 1942, a group of former glider pilots of the Sturm Abteilung Koch meeting in a Berlin Flying Club had come to the conclusion that the Ballistikfrei piloted glider-bombs were the only weapons that could guarantee the German victory. Known unofficially as Reichenberg Commitee, this group of radical ideas that was represented before the Führer by Hanna Reitsch was gaining influence with each defeat of the Wehrmacht in Russia and Africa, with each U-Boat sunk in the Atlantic and with the devastation of Hamburg by Allied bombers.
In November 1943 the S.O. concept was discussed by technicians, scientists and Luftwaffe officers during a secret conference at the Akademie der Luftahrtforschung, under the leadership of Adolf Baeumker.
In 2014 the web www.deutscheluftwaffe.de published a very crude sketch, dated October 1943, which represents a Menschengesteuerte Bombe (manned flying bomb) devised by the Reichenberg Commitee. Appears to be a scaled up version of the glider bomb DFS D-II (Pe) Seehund built with a standard SC 1800 to which had been added a Lippisch type delta wings and 5 m wingspan, a cockpit and flight controls. The attached drawing scale is based on such information.
The failure of the Luftwaffe during the D-Day, the success achieved by Japanese suicide pilots in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the cancellation of many projected missiles, led the OKL to seriously consider the Selbstopfermanner (S.O.) units of self-sacrifice pilots in early 1945.
The successes achieved by the kamikazes in the Far East strengthened the position of those in favour of creating S.O. units and the OKL finally authorized the conversion of several V-1 missiles into piloted bombers under the codename Reichenberg.
The work was undertaken by DFS-Ainring with the installation of a cockpit, instruments and flying controls in the space formerly occupied by the two spherical air bottles. Ailerons also were fitted in the wing trailing edges and the surface of the rudder doubled to improve maneuverability. In the prototype, the fuel tank and the warhead were replaced by sand bags of equivalent weight.
The first aircraft was transformed in just fourteen days, initiating flight tests Lärz, slung under the port wing of a Heinkel He 111 H-22. After launch, the pilot lost control and the Reichenberg turned was destroyed. The same happened with the second prototype when attempting a landing without flaps at more than 220 km/h. The system of sand ballast was replaced by a water tank that could be emptied in flight to lighten the plane before landing, although sometimes the discharge valve froze, as it happened to Hanna Reitsch with the third prototype during a launch from 18,000 ft. After making a successful flight test on the pulsejet in the Karlshagen Erprobungsstelle, it was decided that the Reichenberg would enter mass production.
With a max diving speed of 800 km/h and a cockpit design that prevented the installation of an ejector seat, no one doubted that it was a suicide project. But the OKL insisted that S.O. pilots were trained in landing maneuvers, for the sake of formality.
DFS build three versions of training: a two seat unpowered glider based on the airframe of a Fi 103 A-1 called Reichenberg I, a pulsejet powered two seat called Reichenberg II and a pulsejet powered single seat called Reichenberg III for advanced training. All these variants were equipped with ailerons, sprung skid, landing flaps and were reusable. The Reichenberg I was flown at Rechlin on September 1, 1944.
The S.O. version, named Reichenberg IV, was a single-seat suicide bomber used the fuselage, engine and tailfins of the Fieseler Fi 103 B-1, with 5.37 m wingspan wooden wings and Amatol 39A warhead, powered by an Argus As 109-014 pulsejet with 366 kg thrust at sea level and 254 kg at 3,000 m, 640 km/h maximum speed and 330 km range.
In this version, the two spheres containing the compressed air were replaced by a smaller one located behind the cockpit.
The instrument panel housed clock, airspeed indicator, altimeter, turn and bank indicator, warhead arming switch and gyro-compass. Energy was provided by a 24-volt battery and 3-phase inverter. There was no radio, only the intercom connection with the carrier aircraft. Three dive angle reference lines (white-red-white) were painted on the canopy side window.
The launch system was dangerous and ineffective. The Heinkel He 111 H-22 should take off with a large asymmetric load of 2,250 kg which would mean the loss of both aircraft in the event of failure of the port engine.
The S.O. pilot remained aboard the Reichenberg since before docking under the Heinkel and the cockpit could not be opened until after launch because of the relative position of both planes.
In their quest for more efficient delivery systems, the Luftwaffe ruled out the Brummer for being unsafe and for the short range of the mother plane. Deichselschlepp could only be used by experienced pilots and Startwagen required the use of airstrips in good condition, very rare at this time because of Allied bombing.
Huckepack seemed the best option, but could not be used due to the small number of available Arado Ar 234.
The accuracy of the Reichenberg allowed the Luftwaffe to destroy, for the first time in the war, with security and economy of means all kinds of high valuable targets like warships, aircraft manufacturers, military HQ, munitions depots, bridges and power stations.
It was suggested that one Reichenberg IV would be carried under one Heinkel He 177 to attack the industrial Soviet centres of Kuibyschew, Tscheljabinski and Magnitogorks.
It was also considered its use for political purposes, based on the idea that an attack carried out against the Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament or the White House could create the right situation for some kind of peace agreement.
For the attack on Washington, proposed on July 24, 1943, it would have been necessary to modify a number of U-boats Type XXI with a Reichenberg IV housed in a watertight container located on the rear deck behind the conning tower.
The problem with Type XXI is that they were not big enough to use the same system of steam catapults installed on Japanese submarines of the Sen-Toku series. Nor was it possible to use the catapult Madelung KL 12, designed for launching unmanned missiles, because its length was 42 meters and its terminal speed of 105 m/s would make the pilot lose consciousness.
The solution proposed by the Dipl. Ing. Willy Fiedler consisted of a folding ramp, only 10 m. length, which was originally designed to launch the Natter. With the use of two RATO rockets of the Schmidding 109-533 type, a softer thrust would be obtained until reaching the starting speed of the pulsejet. The article entitled 'Robot bombs attacks here held probable' published on January 9, 1945 in the New York Times showed that the Allied intelligence services considered such attacks feasible.
After the war, the mastermind of the plan worked designing several U.S. Navy submarine launch systems for the Loon and Regulus missiles.
The 5./KG200 was the Luftwaffe unit responsible for the formation of a first batch of 70 S.O. pilots. The training program included a number of flights in elemental gliders of the Grunau Baby type, then started to use the Stummel Habicht (a single seat version of the aerobatic glider DFS Habicht) with reinforced airframe and wingspan reduced from 13.6 to 6 m. The Stummel of short wings could fly at 300 km/h in diving, but it was dangerous at landing because of its stalling speed of 80 km/h. At the next level of training, the pilots got familiar with the flight controls of the Reichenberg I, performing various take-off towed aloft by a Henschel Hs 126. The ignition of the pulsejet was practiced with the Reichenberg II two seat trainer, making a shallow dive to reach the ignition speed of 400 km/h.
In the final stage, the pilots performed a flight in the single seat version of the Reichenberg III which included the simulation of a terminal dive to become familiar with the tightening of the flight controls at high speeds.
It was hoped that the suicide version of the Reichenberg IV could use various types of interchangeable warhead to attack different kinds of targets as effectively as possible. For antiship usage, DFS technicians had planned to use two types of warhead: A SHL 800 hollow-charge of 785 mm in diameter (a 40% scaled-down version of the SHL 3500 used by Mistel bombers) was used for attacks on heavy armored capital ships; another option was a torpedo-bomb BT 1400, devoid of the rear section, with plywood aerodynamic fairing that consisted of two halves that separated after impacting water and released the warhead.
According to some authors the BT 1400 could have been replaced by the warhead of the glider torpedo L.11 Schneewittchen or by the warheads of the Wasserlaufkörper-Zuckerhütte type with 640 kg of Amatol 39 A that had been developed for the anti-ship Henschel missiles of second generation. The Hs 293 C had a 'No. 2' warhead of 3.58 m in length and 0.58 m in diameter and the Hs 294 had a 'No. 4' warhead of 4.4 m and length and 0.67 m diameter.
In November 1944 there was no point in trying to destroy the allied invasion fleets and the naval versions of the Reichenberg IV were left aside to enhance the strategic bombing versions.
On February 24, 1945, only 34 S.O. pilots that had been selected between 15,000 volunteers, had completed training due to fuel shortages.
The Reichenberg IV program was cancelled on March 15 without being used operationally because the Luftwaffe preferred to use the Mistel for their last bombing missions. At the end of the war in Europe, the Allies discovered about 500 airframes of Reichenberg IV in different stages of construction in the Pulverhoff VI assembly plant of Dannenberg. At least 175 of them were ready for combat.
The Reichenberg V was the project of a single seat trainer, based on the Reichenberg III to be used by the pilots of the new generation of fighters and fighter-bombers powered by pulsejets (Heinkel He 162 A-10 and A-11, Heinkel P.1077 Romeo and Junkers EF 126) with which the OKL hoped to continue the fight in 1945.
DFS/Fi 103 A-1/Re I Reichenberg I technical data
Two seat training glider with steel structure and coating, wings with tubular single spar and ailerons, airframe from a Fi 103 A-1 with sand ballast and landing skid.
Wingspan: 5.75 m, Length: 7.32 m, Height: 1.2 m.
Henschel/Fi 103 A-1/Re II Reichenberg II technical data
Two seat training airplane with sand ballast and landing skid, powered by an Argus As 109-014 pulsejet with 366 kp thrust at sea level and 254 kp at 3,000 m.
Wingspan: 5.75 m, Length: 8.35 m, Height 1.8 m.
Henschel/Fi 103 A-1/SR.III Reichenberg III technical data
Single seat training airplane with 849 kg of water ballast and landing skid, powered by an Argus As 109-014 pulsejet with 366 kp thrust at sea level and 254 kp at 3,000 m.
Wingspan: 5.75 m, Length: 8.5 m, Height 1.8 m. Max speed: 644 km/h. Launch plane: Heinkel He 111 H-22.
Fieseler Fi 103 B-1 / Re IV Reichenberg IV technical data
Single seat suicide bomber with wooden wings, without landing skid, powered by an Argus As 109-014 pulsejet with 366 kp thrust at sea level and 254 kp at 3,000 m.
Wingspan: 5.75 m, Length: 8.28 m, Height 1.8 m. Max speed: 800 km/h at 2,440 m.
Range: 330 km. Launch weight: 2,250 kg. Launch plane: Heinkel He 111 H-22.
Anticipating the emergence of a second generation of faster missiles, propelled by the new Argus 109-044 pulsejet with 660 hp thrust, the British designed a version of the Hawker Tempest with the monstrous 3,200 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle engine and the Americans built the XP-47J Superbolt, an advanced version of the Thunderbolt capable of flying to 813 km/h, the highest speed recorded in level flight by any propeller aircraft during the Second World War.
Only those who could be fitted with primitive wire-guidance devices, like the flying bomb Henschel Hs 293 A, the air-to-air missile Rhursthal Kramer X4 or the X7 antitank rocket of the same firm, survived. But the results achieved in combat using these systems were not too good; sometimes the cable broke or lacked the necessary length to avoid the effects of the naval AA, with the dangerous disadvantage that the launcher plane was forced to fly on a straight line while guiding the missile.
After the failure of the Messerschmitt Me 328 schnellbomber, the Germans realized they lacked the means to stop the Allied invasion that they expected would take place in the sector of Calais by mid-1944. In May of that year the first Mistel composite-bombers entered service, but they could only be used against static targets because during their final dive they were controlled by an automatic pilot only.
The Axis only possibility was using suicide pilots.
By mid-1943, Hanna Reitsch, who had participated in the testing program of the Messerschmitt Me 328, piloting one of the prototypes and was greatly affected by the bombing of German cities, met with Otto Skorzeny and Erich Lange to support his idea of using a piloted version of the V-1 as a last ditch weapon.
In August 1942, a group of former glider pilots of the Sturm Abteilung Koch meeting in a Berlin Flying Club had come to the conclusion that the Ballistikfrei piloted glider-bombs were the only weapons that could guarantee the German victory. Known unofficially as Reichenberg Commitee, this group of radical ideas that was represented before the Führer by Hanna Reitsch was gaining influence with each defeat of the Wehrmacht in Russia and Africa, with each U-Boat sunk in the Atlantic and with the devastation of Hamburg by Allied bombers.
In November 1943 the S.O. concept was discussed by technicians, scientists and Luftwaffe officers during a secret conference at the Akademie der Luftahrtforschung, under the leadership of Adolf Baeumker.
In 2014 the web www.deutscheluftwaffe.de published a very crude sketch, dated October 1943, which represents a Menschengesteuerte Bombe (manned flying bomb) devised by the Reichenberg Commitee. Appears to be a scaled up version of the glider bomb DFS D-II (Pe) Seehund built with a standard SC 1800 to which had been added a Lippisch type delta wings and 5 m wingspan, a cockpit and flight controls. The attached drawing scale is based on such information.
The failure of the Luftwaffe during the D-Day, the success achieved by Japanese suicide pilots in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the cancellation of many projected missiles, led the OKL to seriously consider the Selbstopfermanner (S.O.) units of self-sacrifice pilots in early 1945.
The successes achieved by the kamikazes in the Far East strengthened the position of those in favour of creating S.O. units and the OKL finally authorized the conversion of several V-1 missiles into piloted bombers under the codename Reichenberg.
The work was undertaken by DFS-Ainring with the installation of a cockpit, instruments and flying controls in the space formerly occupied by the two spherical air bottles. Ailerons also were fitted in the wing trailing edges and the surface of the rudder doubled to improve maneuverability. In the prototype, the fuel tank and the warhead were replaced by sand bags of equivalent weight.
The first aircraft was transformed in just fourteen days, initiating flight tests Lärz, slung under the port wing of a Heinkel He 111 H-22. After launch, the pilot lost control and the Reichenberg turned was destroyed. The same happened with the second prototype when attempting a landing without flaps at more than 220 km/h. The system of sand ballast was replaced by a water tank that could be emptied in flight to lighten the plane before landing, although sometimes the discharge valve froze, as it happened to Hanna Reitsch with the third prototype during a launch from 18,000 ft. After making a successful flight test on the pulsejet in the Karlshagen Erprobungsstelle, it was decided that the Reichenberg would enter mass production.
With a max diving speed of 800 km/h and a cockpit design that prevented the installation of an ejector seat, no one doubted that it was a suicide project. But the OKL insisted that S.O. pilots were trained in landing maneuvers, for the sake of formality.
DFS build three versions of training: a two seat unpowered glider based on the airframe of a Fi 103 A-1 called Reichenberg I, a pulsejet powered two seat called Reichenberg II and a pulsejet powered single seat called Reichenberg III for advanced training. All these variants were equipped with ailerons, sprung skid, landing flaps and were reusable. The Reichenberg I was flown at Rechlin on September 1, 1944.
The S.O. version, named Reichenberg IV, was a single-seat suicide bomber used the fuselage, engine and tailfins of the Fieseler Fi 103 B-1, with 5.37 m wingspan wooden wings and Amatol 39A warhead, powered by an Argus As 109-014 pulsejet with 366 kg thrust at sea level and 254 kg at 3,000 m, 640 km/h maximum speed and 330 km range.
In this version, the two spheres containing the compressed air were replaced by a smaller one located behind the cockpit.
The instrument panel housed clock, airspeed indicator, altimeter, turn and bank indicator, warhead arming switch and gyro-compass. Energy was provided by a 24-volt battery and 3-phase inverter. There was no radio, only the intercom connection with the carrier aircraft. Three dive angle reference lines (white-red-white) were painted on the canopy side window.
The launch system was dangerous and ineffective. The Heinkel He 111 H-22 should take off with a large asymmetric load of 2,250 kg which would mean the loss of both aircraft in the event of failure of the port engine.
The S.O. pilot remained aboard the Reichenberg since before docking under the Heinkel and the cockpit could not be opened until after launch because of the relative position of both planes.
In their quest for more efficient delivery systems, the Luftwaffe ruled out the Brummer for being unsafe and for the short range of the mother plane. Deichselschlepp could only be used by experienced pilots and Startwagen required the use of airstrips in good condition, very rare at this time because of Allied bombing.
Huckepack seemed the best option, but could not be used due to the small number of available Arado Ar 234.
The accuracy of the Reichenberg allowed the Luftwaffe to destroy, for the first time in the war, with security and economy of means all kinds of high valuable targets like warships, aircraft manufacturers, military HQ, munitions depots, bridges and power stations.
It was suggested that one Reichenberg IV would be carried under one Heinkel He 177 to attack the industrial Soviet centres of Kuibyschew, Tscheljabinski and Magnitogorks.
It was also considered its use for political purposes, based on the idea that an attack carried out against the Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament or the White House could create the right situation for some kind of peace agreement.
For the attack on Washington, proposed on July 24, 1943, it would have been necessary to modify a number of U-boats Type XXI with a Reichenberg IV housed in a watertight container located on the rear deck behind the conning tower.
The problem with Type XXI is that they were not big enough to use the same system of steam catapults installed on Japanese submarines of the Sen-Toku series. Nor was it possible to use the catapult Madelung KL 12, designed for launching unmanned missiles, because its length was 42 meters and its terminal speed of 105 m/s would make the pilot lose consciousness.
The solution proposed by the Dipl. Ing. Willy Fiedler consisted of a folding ramp, only 10 m. length, which was originally designed to launch the Natter. With the use of two RATO rockets of the Schmidding 109-533 type, a softer thrust would be obtained until reaching the starting speed of the pulsejet. The article entitled 'Robot bombs attacks here held probable' published on January 9, 1945 in the New York Times showed that the Allied intelligence services considered such attacks feasible.
After the war, the mastermind of the plan worked designing several U.S. Navy submarine launch systems for the Loon and Regulus missiles.
The 5./KG200 was the Luftwaffe unit responsible for the formation of a first batch of 70 S.O. pilots. The training program included a number of flights in elemental gliders of the Grunau Baby type, then started to use the Stummel Habicht (a single seat version of the aerobatic glider DFS Habicht) with reinforced airframe and wingspan reduced from 13.6 to 6 m. The Stummel of short wings could fly at 300 km/h in diving, but it was dangerous at landing because of its stalling speed of 80 km/h. At the next level of training, the pilots got familiar with the flight controls of the Reichenberg I, performing various take-off towed aloft by a Henschel Hs 126. The ignition of the pulsejet was practiced with the Reichenberg II two seat trainer, making a shallow dive to reach the ignition speed of 400 km/h.
In the final stage, the pilots performed a flight in the single seat version of the Reichenberg III which included the simulation of a terminal dive to become familiar with the tightening of the flight controls at high speeds.
It was hoped that the suicide version of the Reichenberg IV could use various types of interchangeable warhead to attack different kinds of targets as effectively as possible. For antiship usage, DFS technicians had planned to use two types of warhead: A SHL 800 hollow-charge of 785 mm in diameter (a 40% scaled-down version of the SHL 3500 used by Mistel bombers) was used for attacks on heavy armored capital ships; another option was a torpedo-bomb BT 1400, devoid of the rear section, with plywood aerodynamic fairing that consisted of two halves that separated after impacting water and released the warhead.
According to some authors the BT 1400 could have been replaced by the warhead of the glider torpedo L.11 Schneewittchen or by the warheads of the Wasserlaufkörper-Zuckerhütte type with 640 kg of Amatol 39 A that had been developed for the anti-ship Henschel missiles of second generation. The Hs 293 C had a 'No. 2' warhead of 3.58 m in length and 0.58 m in diameter and the Hs 294 had a 'No. 4' warhead of 4.4 m and length and 0.67 m diameter.
In November 1944 there was no point in trying to destroy the allied invasion fleets and the naval versions of the Reichenberg IV were left aside to enhance the strategic bombing versions.
On February 24, 1945, only 34 S.O. pilots that had been selected between 15,000 volunteers, had completed training due to fuel shortages.
The Reichenberg IV program was cancelled on March 15 without being used operationally because the Luftwaffe preferred to use the Mistel for their last bombing missions. At the end of the war in Europe, the Allies discovered about 500 airframes of Reichenberg IV in different stages of construction in the Pulverhoff VI assembly plant of Dannenberg. At least 175 of them were ready for combat.
The Reichenberg V was the project of a single seat trainer, based on the Reichenberg III to be used by the pilots of the new generation of fighters and fighter-bombers powered by pulsejets (Heinkel He 162 A-10 and A-11, Heinkel P.1077 Romeo and Junkers EF 126) with which the OKL hoped to continue the fight in 1945.
DFS/Fi 103 A-1/Re I Reichenberg I technical data
Two seat training glider with steel structure and coating, wings with tubular single spar and ailerons, airframe from a Fi 103 A-1 with sand ballast and landing skid.
Wingspan: 5.75 m, Length: 7.32 m, Height: 1.2 m.
Henschel/Fi 103 A-1/Re II Reichenberg II technical data
Two seat training airplane with sand ballast and landing skid, powered by an Argus As 109-014 pulsejet with 366 kp thrust at sea level and 254 kp at 3,000 m.
Wingspan: 5.75 m, Length: 8.35 m, Height 1.8 m.
Henschel/Fi 103 A-1/SR.III Reichenberg III technical data
Single seat training airplane with 849 kg of water ballast and landing skid, powered by an Argus As 109-014 pulsejet with 366 kp thrust at sea level and 254 kp at 3,000 m.
Wingspan: 5.75 m, Length: 8.5 m, Height 1.8 m. Max speed: 644 km/h. Launch plane: Heinkel He 111 H-22.
Fieseler Fi 103 B-1 / Re IV Reichenberg IV technical data
Single seat suicide bomber with wooden wings, without landing skid, powered by an Argus As 109-014 pulsejet with 366 kp thrust at sea level and 254 kp at 3,000 m.
Wingspan: 5.75 m, Length: 8.28 m, Height 1.8 m. Max speed: 800 km/h at 2,440 m.
Range: 330 km. Launch weight: 2,250 kg. Launch plane: Heinkel He 111 H-22.
Anticipating the emergence of a second generation of faster missiles, propelled by the new Argus 109-044 pulsejet with 660 hp thrust, the British designed a version of the Hawker Tempest with the monstrous 3,200 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle engine and the Americans built the XP-47J Superbolt, an advanced version of the Thunderbolt capable of flying to 813 km/h, the highest speed recorded in level flight by any propeller aircraft during the Second World War.
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Dilandu
I'm dissatisfied, which means, I exist.
Erm... you realize that your second image of missile-carrying Type VII submarine is nothing more than my own art made to illustrate how it theoretically could be arranged? It's not real; its an illustration for my article, where I discussed the possibility of German missile attacks against New York in WW2.
I'm sorry for the mistake, your drawing was in the same file as mine and I inserted them together, I've already removed it. My apologies.
Dilandu
I'm dissatisfied, which means, I exist.
No problem; I was only worried that someone else may mistook my drawning for the actual design and create confusion. There are enough cases when imaginary designs and "what if?" works were mistook for real projects, so I tend to be cautious about such.
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