Thanks Adrian, about the Ta 152H Höhenjäger, another case of too little too late...A good thing for Bomber Command and the Eighth Air Force.
In early August 1944, Leutnant Hartmut Ryll claimed the Me163s first kill, a B-17 downed during a midday sortie. About a fortnight later Feldwebel Siegfried Schubert got the second by blowing the entire tail unit off another B-17 with just three rounds from his 30mm MK 108 cannon! On another Jet. The Heinkel He 162 progressed from conception, through design and construction, to first flight, all in the space of 90 days!:twocents:
You say just 3. Take a look at the size and velocity of the bleedin' things: http://home.att.net/~jv44/mk108.htm. Strewth.
You say just 3. Take a look at the size and velocity of the bleedin' things: http://home.att.net/~jv44/mk108.htm. Strewth. Many moons ago I used to work at a factory making ammuntion. We made 30mm rounds among other things and they are big!!!! A low rate of fire is matched by a seriously big punch. Good page Von Meister.
Would that be the old Astra works at Springfield Road in Grantham by any chance? No, the sister company on the old airfield at Faldingworth.
The ME 163 had a remarkable performance in terms of its' climbing rate.However its endurance was limited and Allied fighter pilots soon got the measure of it by attacking it at the end of its flight when it was returning to base.Similar tactics paid off with the ME 262.The aircraft also had a design fault with its landing skid which tended to cause back injuries to its' pilots. The other main point was that the aircraft was a danger to ground crews preparing it for action.The fuel mixture was highly unstable and the fuelling procedure called for this mixing to be done as the aircraft was being refuelled leading to many mishaps.All in all, 90 had been produced by December 1944 of which 45 went into operational service when a decision was made to cease production and switch to the HE 162 from January 1945. The ME 163 (Komet) was deployed only on daylight defence with the first unit (JG 400) receiving it in June 1945.Overall its assessment was unsatisfactory coupled with the fact that it required a high level of skills to man it at a time when the Luftwaffe was running short of such airmen. Surprisingly enough when the ME 163 appeared in the skies of West Germany,the Allies were not aware of it and could not believe the first reports from B17 crews that these particular rocket driven aircraft of tremendous speed were being used as intercepters.
Yeah they have those in Battlefield 1942: Secrets Weapons of WW2, i guess they were successful in depicting the plane's extreme speed which leads to unwanted collisions with random objects. Never actually landed one in the game.....just to add to the fact that these last weapons were made more to boost the morale of the army by showing how technological their army was, and that it could be used to win the war. but obviously not
Possibly one of the first? Headlines: Raktenjäger ME 163 A-V4 Specially information: Rocket fighter Messerschmitt ME 163 A-V4 " Komet" (Identification KE+SW) on airfield taken in 1941
You say just 3. Take a look at the size and velocity of the bleedin' things: Mk108 Cannon. Strewth. Unbeleivable, overkill for fighters, to big and slow firing, but the correct weopen for interceptors trying to down bombers. If your into modern stuff, Hostile Skys by David Morgan about air combat in the falklands has a few scenes of Sea Harriers with the twin 30mm Aden cannon engaging Skyhawks and Daggers. Recomended Min safe firing distance is at least 400 yrds! They would just disintergrate. Kev
It is a beast of a gun , one or two hits would probably do for a bomber but how do you target at high speeds - it is without doubt a huge gun for the times.
