https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_162
project of the Emergency Fighter Program design competition, was a German
single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft fielded by the Luftwaffe in World
War II. Designed and built quickly, and made primarily of wood as metals were in
very short supply and prioritised for other aircraft, the He 162 was
nevertheless the fastest of the first generation of Axis and Allied jets.
program competition won by the He 162 design. 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.
Heinkel had designed a relatively small, 'sporty'-looking aircraft, with a
sleek, streamlined fuselage. Overall, the look of the plane was extremely
modernistic for its time, appearing quite contemporary in terms of layout and
angular arrangement even to today's eyes. The BMW 003 axial-flow turbojet was
mounted in a pod nacelle uniquely situated atop the fuselage, just aft of the
cockpit and centered directly over the wing's center section. Twin roughly
rectangular vertical tailfins were perpendicularly mounted at the ends of highly
clear the jet exhaust, a high-mounted straight wing (attached to the fuselage
with just four bolts) with a forward-swept trailing edge and a noticeably marked
Heinkel firm had pioneered in a front-line combat aircraft, with the earlier He
219 night fighter in 1942. The He 162 airframe design featured an uncomplicated
tricycle landing gear, the first such landing gear system to be present from the
very start in any operational Axis Powers single-engined fighter design, that
retracted into the fuselage, performed simply with extension springs, mechanical
locks, cables and counterweights, and a minimum of any hydraulics employed in
its design. Partly due to the late-war period it was designed within, some of
the He 162's landing gear components were "recycled" existing landing gear
components from a contemporary German military aircraft to save development
time: the main landing gear's oleo struts and wheel/brake units came from the
Messerschmitt Bf 109K, as well as the double-acting hydraulic cylinders, one per
side, used to raise and lower each maingear leg. The Heinkel firm's previous
experience with designing flightworthy, retractable tricycle
undercarriage-equipped airframes extended as far back as late 1939 with the
Heinkel He 280 jet fighter prototype, and further strengthened with the
unexpectedly successful Heinkel He 219A night fighter, which also used a
tricycle undercarriage.
Role
Fighter
Manufacturer
Heinkel
Designer
Heinkel
First flight
6 December 1944
Introduction
1945
Retired
1945
Status
Retired
Primary user
Luftwaffe
Number built
ca 320
February saw deliveries of the He 162 to its first operational unit, I./JG 1
flown the Focke-Wulf Fw 190A. I./JG 1 was transferred to Parchim, which, at the
time, was also a base for the Me 262-equipped Jagdgeschwader 7, some 80 km
south-southwest of the Heinkel factory's coastal airfield at "Marienehe" (today
known as Rostock-Schmarl, northwest of the Rostock city centre), where the
pilots could pick up their new jets and start intensive training beginning in
March, all while the transportation network, aircraft production facilities and
petroleum, oil, and lubrication (POL) product-making installations of the Third
Reich had been collapsing under the pressure of continued Allied air attacks,
which had begun to also target the Luftwaffe's jet and rocket fighter bases. On
7 April, the USAAF bombed the field at Parchim (an airfield used by JG 7) with
134 B-17 Flying Fortresses, inflicting serious losses and damage to the
infrastructure. Two days later, I./JG 1 moved to an airfield at nearby
Ludwigslust and, less than a week later, moved again to an airfield at Leck,
near the Danish border. On 8 April, II./JG 1 moved to Marienehe and started
converting from Fw 190As to He 162s. III./JG 1 was also scheduled to convert to
the He 162, but the Gruppe disbanded on 24 April and its personnel were used to
fill in the vacancies in other units.
Kirchner shot down a Royal Air Force fighter, and although the victory was
credited to a flak unit, the British pilot confirmed he'd been downed by a He
162 during interrogation. The Heinkel and its pilot were lost as well, shot down
by an RAF Hawker Tempest while on approach to land, a point at which Allied
pilots targeted German jets. Though still in training, I./JG 1 had begun scored
kills in mid-April, but had also lost 13 He 162s and 10 pilots. Ten of the
aircraft were operational losses, caused by flameouts and sporadic structural
failures. Only two of the 13 aircraft were actually 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 deadstick landings after exhausting their fuel.
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." Eric "Winkle" Brown of
the Fleet Air Arm, who flew a record 486 different types of aircraft, said the
He 162 had "the lightest and most effective aerodynamically balanced controls"
he had experienced. Brown had been warned to treat the rudder with suspicion due
to a number of in-flight failures. This warning was passed on by Brown to RAF
pilot Flt Lt R A Marks, but was apparently not heeded. On 9 November 1945 during
a demonstration flight from RAE Farnborough one of the fin and rudder assemblies
broke off at the start of a low-level roll causing the aircraft to crash into
Oudenarde Barracks, Aldershot killing Marks and a soldier on the ground.
Specifications (He 162A)
General characteristics
Crew: 1, pilot with ejection seat
Length: 9.05 m (29 ft 8 in)
Wingspan: 7.2 m (23 ft 7 in)
Height: 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in)
Empty weight: 1,660 kg (3,660 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 2,800 kg (6,180 lb)
flow turbojet, 7.85 kN (1,760 lbf)
Fuel capacity of 695 litres (183 US gallons), allowing maximum 30 minute mission
profile
Performance
Maximum speed: 790 km/h (491 mph) at normal thrust at sea level; 840 km/h (522
mph) at 6000 m (19,680 ft); using short burst extra thrust 890 km/h (553 mph) at
sea level and 905 km/h (562 mph) at 6000 m (19,680 ft).
Range: 975 km (606 mi)
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,400 ft)
Rate of climb: 1,405 m/min (4,615 ft/min)
Armament
108 cannons with 50 rpg (He 162 A-0, A-1)
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