World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
20 Feb 2009 03:13:24 PM

Info on above photo: He 162 V1 (Werk Nu. 200 001) was rolled out at Schwechat and flown on 6 Dec. 1944 achieving 522 mph in level flight at 19,685 ft. With Flugkapitan Peter at the controls. Four days later during tests, the starboard wing leading edge ripped away during an unscheduled low-level high-speed run across the airfield. The prototype immediately started to roll, the starboard aileron and wingtip broke away and the aircraft crashed, Peter losing his life.

2.  Bill says:
6 Jan 2011 08:04:02 PM

Another interesting Mistel concept was the
Heinkel He 162/E-377a flying bomb.
The E-377a was a shoulder mounted wing guided bomb, powered by two jet engines this project never flew. Both aircraft were to be mounted on a trolley, after takeoff the trolley seperated and over the target, the
E-377a was launched from the He 162 the jets gave the E-377a enough speed to impact the target.

3.  Bill says:
17 Feb 2012 10:23:43 PM

The first He162s delivered were 42 prototype aircraft. During operational testing many of the fighters were lost due to engine failure pilot error takeoff and landing accidents.
At wars end many were captured by American and British forces, He162s were captured by Soviet forces and shipped back to the USSR for testing.

About 116 He162s were built before wars end
other sources list 238 aircraft, with 800 in different stages of construction.
1./JG1 was one of the first units to operate the 162 and were losing an average of one fighter every two days, due to accidents, pilot error, mechanical and structural failure. The BMW 003E jet engines were tempermental, had short engine life and were unreliable shortage of fuel and parts kept many grounded.
Ground crews did their best to keep them operational its a miraclous feat of wartime
engineering and maintenance to design, build and maintain these aircraft.

The US shipped three He162s back for testing and evaluation one was flown once at Muroc
Army Air Field, known today as Edwards AFB,
located in California USA.
Another was tested at Freeman Field, Indiana this aircraft is now on display at the National Air & Space Museum, Washington, DC
the last one was scrapped in the late 1940s

THE AIR MUSEUMS HE162:

After testing and evaluation the He162 was declared surplus, this aircraft was once assigned to 2./JG1 captured at Leck, Germany on May 8, 1945.
It was acquired by Ed Maloney founder of the Air Museum as it was known in the late 1950s early 1960s, and now known as the Planes of Fame Museum located in Chino, Ca. USA.
The aircraft was restored and is on display at the museum today. Built in 1945 at the
Heinkel Rostock-Maricenehe plant s/nr 120077
was assigned to 2./JG1 and was flown by
Lt. Gerhard Hanf who started conversion training on the He162 after flying Bf109 and Fw190s in combat.
The training was rushed it was at best basic and rudimentary by Heinkel factory test pilots. Training flights were short fifteen minutes! how were experienced pilots going to train through familiarization of aircraft controls, instruments, just flying the He162 was demanding even for experienced Luftwaffe pilots, followed by a solo flight with less
than a few hours training and take it into combat.

WAR PRIZES:

The USAAF tested and evaluated the He162 after the war. Aircraft were scrapped or stored for later museum use.

The British tested the He162 at Farnborough in 1945 logging about 50 minutes flying time one crashed the other is on display at the Imperial War Museum, London, England

The French tested and evaluated the aircraft
between 1947-1948 flights were short between 20-30 minutes, this was done to give french pilots experience in jet aircraft. One He162 is on display today at the Musee de L'Air, Paris, France

The Russians tested and evaluated the He162 after the war with test flights starting in 1946 The Russians captured the factories building the He162 and salvaged many of the airframes, parts, blueprints, engines and production jigs and tools along with the technicians and engineers shipped them back to Mother Russia for post-war testingd some He162s were operational by the Red Air Force to give its pilots hands on experience with jet aircraft.
German jet engine & jet aircraft technology helped developed many of the early post-war jet projects, leading to the design of the
Mig 15

note*

File photograph is prototype He162 aircraft with standard stright wings. Later prototypes
M3 and M4, were fitted with drooping wing tips to help improve lateral stability.
This modification was later designed into production aircraft.

Another project was the Heinkel He162 and the
Arado E.377 Mistel Combination.
The Arado E.377 was a twin-jet engine flying bomb carried by a He162. Both aircraft were launched using a 20 ton trolly for takeoff,
However this was only a paper project...but its another "What if..." Wunderwaffen

Suggested Reading:

WAR PRIZES
By Phil Butler
Published by Midland Ltd. (1994)
ISBN 10 1857802446

4.  Bill says:
3 Dec 2015 05:18:25 PM

PROTOTYPE FIGHTER:

Photograph of one of four prototype He 162s built
along with another 31 He 162A-0 pre-production machines. Photo could be V-1/M-1/200001.

FIRST FLIGHTS:

First flight was on December 6,1944, Second flight was on December 10, 1944 aircraft crashed killing test pilot Peter. Note * no Anhedral wing tips (sloping downward)

FILE PHOTOGRAPH: PRODUCTION-LINE

Another source lists photo taken at the infamous
Mittelwerk Facility, at Nordhausen