Aircraft 1944. German jet aircraft in battles against Stalin's falcons

Recently, interest in jet aircraft of the Third Reich has been especially great. After all, it can be considered the progenitor of modern aircraft.

The Soviet pilots, as well as the pilots of their allies, were very lucky that the leadership of Nazi Germany, hoping for a blitzkrieg, realized a little late the logical conclusion from the "battle for England" - the war dragged on, and the Luftwaffe needed aircraft with higher flight data to achieve in quality what number could not achieve. When this fact was finally realized, the German aircraft industry had already taken an impressive step in the field of research and development of fundamentally new aircraft, but these efforts were nullified by the lack of coordination of work and the hesitation of senior leadership and could no longer affect the outcome of the war.

This was most clearly manifested in the creation of turbojet fighters - a sad story marked by political struggle, petty envy and shying from side to side. Until his suicide, Colonel General Ernst Udet stubbornly held the view that jet fighters did not fit the requirements of the Luftwaffe. These views were shared by General - Field Marshall Erhard Milch, who raised the question of stopping work in general. As a result, although the first non-280 jet fighter successfully flew on April 2, 1941 and demonstrated its complete advantage over conventional fighters in a number of aspects, the complete apathy of senior officials and the personal dislike of Ernst Heinkel by some of the officials of the Technical Department of the RLM nullified the success of creating the most advanced combat aircraft of the time. Real support for jet aircraft was provided only in 1944.

Ernst Heinkel showed his interest in a gas turbine suitable for installation on an aircraft back in the spring of 1936, when Hans-Joachim Pabst von Ohain, a former assistant professor at the University of Göttingen, started to create gas turbines of his own design. His first HeS-2A engine was successfully demonstrated in September 1937. His thrust was 80 kg. It was followed by the "HeS-2B" with a thrust of 130 kg and work began on the "HeS-3A". At the same time, a suitable aircraft was selected for its testing. "HeS-ZA" developed a thrust of 450 kg and was tested in the spring of 1939 in flight under the fuselage of the He-118 V2. The second engine "HeS-3B" developed a thrust of 500 kg. It was installed on an experienced Non-178 V1. The first flight of the car took place on August 24, 1939, and the flight in a circle took place on August 27 in Marien under the control of Erich Warzitz. This was the first flight of an aircraft with a turbojet engine.

When designing the Non-178, the designers "squeezed" the car as much as possible. Its length is 7.48 meters, the wingspan is 7.2 meters, its area is 9.1 square meters. meters, while the specific load on the wing was 219 kg / sq. meter. Empty weight - 1620 kg, takeoff - 1998 kg. During the tests, a maximum speed of 700 km / h was reached.

By this time, work was already underway on the turbojet "HeS-8A" with a centrifugal compressor, which had a smaller diameter and greater thrust, and the technical director of "Heinkel" Robert Lusser in the spring of 1939 conducted a study of a twin-engine, single-seat fighter for this engine. All work was then carried out on an initiative basis. The technical department was not even informed. The Non-178 V1 was demonstrated to Udet and Milch on November 1, 1939 at Marien, but both were very skeptical about the use of a turbojet engine as the main propulsion system of the aircraft.

Later, work on jet and rocket aircraft will be carried out on a larger scale. Each design bureau will present its developments to the experts. The results achieved by the Germans during this period, as will become clear after processing all the captured documents and samples, will allow us to conclude that Germany in the second half of the 1930s and early 1940s was the undoubted leader in this area.

But the leadership of the Third Reich was in no hurry to actively finance the jet project. Germany, which had the most combat-ready army in 1939, developed the theory of "Blitzkrieg", in which there was no place for jet aircraft.

Despite the lack of understanding in the Milch department, work progressed on both the fighter and the engine. In March 1940, Messerschmitt received a contract for 3 experimental aircraft under Project 1065, which was developed independently of Heinkel. In the end, the Ernst Heinkel Flygzeugwerke received official support for its fighter, called the Non-280.

By September 1940, the airframe of the first He-280 V1 (DL+AS) aircraft was ready. Work was underway on two more aircraft. In addition to the turbojet engines of Pabst von Ohain, the Non-280 had a number of non-standard, if not revolutionary ideas. The cockpit was equipped with an ejection seat using compressed air - the first development of its kind in the world.

The cabin itself had to be airtight. The fighter had a retractable nose wheel, which allowed the aircraft to steer horizontally on the ground, thus avoiding the problems encountered on the first Me-262s, which had their engines pointing straight into the ground. The design was all-metal with a working skin, with an oval-section monocoque fuselage and two-keel plumage. The engines were attached under the main wing spar, just behind the landing gear hinge, which was hydraulically retracted to the line of symmetry. There were flaps on either side of the engine nacelle.

To evaluate the aerodynamic qualities of the Non-280 V1 before the first motor flight, fairings with ballast were installed instead of engine nacelles to simulate the weight of the engine and fuel. On September 11, 1940, the aircraft was lifted into the air in tow behind a Non-111H. Glider tests were conducted by a pilot from Rechlin Bader. In total, 41 glider flights were made until March 17, 1941, after which the He-280 V1 was returned to the hangar to install two HeS-8A turbojet engines with a thrust of 585 kg each.

Up to 1000 liters of fuel could be filled into the fuselage tank, but on the first flight on April 2, 1941, the tank was only half filled - enough for takeoff and one pass over the airfield at moderate speed. The non-280 V1 aircraft was lifted into the air by Fritz Schafer. Turning around over the mouth of Varnov, he made a circle at the airfield and went to land when the fuel was almost running out. During the first flight, the engines were without cowlings, as runs on the ground showed that fuel accumulated at the bottom of the engine nacelles, threatening a fire. The landing gear was not removed, and the flight altitude did not exceed 300 meters.

Three days later, on April 5, with the engines already hooded, the plane lifted Bader into the air - the Non-280 V1 was demonstrated in front of Udet, the head of the Luftwaffe engineering department Lucht and the head of the L.C.3 (propulsion department) Eissenlohr. They showed some interest in the aircraft, though not for long. Udet doubted the need for such an unusual fighter until the end of his tenure, and this opinion was shared by Milch, who replaced him.

With a total weight of 4285 kg, the He-280 V1 reached a speed of 775 km / h at an altitude of 6000 meters, however, it was expected that the HeS-8A engines would produce up to 720 kg of thrust and the speed would be up to 925 km / h - very optimistic estimates. The second experimental Non-280 V2 (GJ+CA) was ready in May 1941. In July finished He-280 V3 (GJ+CB). 6 more cars were ordered.

Meanwhile, serious difficulties were encountered in fine-tuning the HeS-8A engine, also known as the Heinkel-Hirth 001 (the Heinkel company acquired the former Hirta plant in Zuffenhausen on April 9, 1941). The engines mounted on the Non-280 V1 produced 600 kg of thrust, which made it possible to reach a speed of 800 km / h, but in one of the first flights of this aircraft, under the control of Fritz Schafer, one of the turbine blades came off. The engine shook, flames shot out of it. Schafer quite successfully landed the plane on the "belly", the damage was minor and the plane flew after repairs after 3 days.

In January 1942, the He-280 V1 was transferred to the test center in Rechlin, where the HeS-8A were replaced by 4 Argus As 014 impulse engines - they were tested under the Fi-103 program. With these engines, the Non-280 V1 could not even get off the ground.

Despite the problems with the HeS-8A, by the spring of 1942, Ernst Heinkel already believed that the He-280 was ready for service, at a time when its rival Me-262 had not yet even flown on jet propulsion. But the Ministry of Aviation ignored his proposal. To speed up the decision, Heinkel organized a training battle between the FW-190A, which took off from the Arado airfield near Warnemünden, and the Non-280. The jet fighter won the fight against his opponent without any problems.

After several major defeats, in 1942 Germany finally stepped up its jet program. As a result, the RLM agreed to release 13 pre-production He-280A-0s.

At the beginning of the summer of 1942, the tests of the He-280 aircraft were transferred from Mariene to Schwechat. By this time, the Technical Department agreed that the Jumo 004 turbojet engine had significant advantages over the Heinkel-Hirt 001, which never produced the planned thrust. As a result, in June 1942, the He-280 V2 was re-equipped with the "Jumo 004A" with a thrust of 840 kg.

The take-off weight of the car increased to 5200 kg, and the speed reached 785 km / h. Flight testing resumed in July. At the same time, armament of three 20-mm MG 151 cannons was first installed in the forward fuselage.

Meanwhile, the He-280 V4 (GJ+CC) and V5 (CJ+CD) were completed. The latter retained the Heinkel-Hirt 001 engines, while the former had the BMW 003A-0 with a thrust of 750 kg. The Non-280 V5 was proposed by Heinkel as a prototype for the serial Non-280A-1, which had an empty weight of 3060 kg, and a take-off weight of 4300 kg. It was stated that the maximum speed reached 815 km / h (however, this is doubtful), the flight range at this speed and an altitude of 6000 meters is 650 km, and at an altitude of 10,000 meters - 950 km, the rate of climb is 19 m / s, the ceiling is 11500 meters . Landing speed was - 140 km / h.

Aircraft Non-280 V6 (NU+EA) from the very beginning received weapons and engines "Jumo 004". It was tested in Rechlin in early 1943. Heinkel proposed to the Technical Department a He-280V-1 fighter-bomber with two "Jumo 004B" 900 kg thrust. The maximum speed was estimated at 875 km / h. The armament of the Non-280A was planned to be doubled at once - by installing up to 6 x 20-mm MG 151 cannons, and the two-keel plumage was replaced with a single-keel one. The RLM and the Milch department, having concluded only 3 months ago that preparations for the mass production of the Me-262 were premature and that, given the Heinkel's heavy workload with other work, the production of the He-280 was not realistic, they suddenly made a "turn around", ordering 300 machines Non-280V-1. Since Heinkel did not have the necessary capacity, it was decided to transfer the contract to Siebel.

However, by that time tests of the Me-262 V2 showed that the Messerschmitt fighter had superior flight performance over the He-280 with the same propulsion system, especially in terms of flight range - the main drawback of the Heinkel fighter. As a result, on March 27, 1943, the Technical Department ordered Ernst Heinkel to stop all work on the Non-280. It was allowed to finish only 9 experimental aircraft ...

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In 1944, training centers for training pilots for jet aircraft and the first combat units were formed. Jet aircraft took an active part in combat operations almost until the very end of the war.

The main target for the Luftwaffe jets were Allied bombers, which constantly attacked cities and industrial sites in Germany. Aircraft of the Soviet Air Force encountered the latest developments of the Germans only at the very end of the war, when the front was already in Germany.

And the war was coming to an end, the "raw" and unfinished Luftwaffe jet planes could not withstand the perfect ones: La-7, Yak-9 and so on. And the training of German pilots left much to be desired ... The absence of permanent jet aircraft on the Eastern Front is explained by the fact that all jet aces were in the westerly direction and protected the German sky from constant bombing attacks by the allies.

Pilots of the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment were the first to encounter jet aircraft on the Eastern Front.

This meeting took place on February 14, 1945. A. S. Kumanichkin, together with the regiment commander P. F. Chupikov, met in the air with an unusual aircraft. The guards tried to attack the enemy, but the German aircraft unexpectedly quickly broke away from their pursuers. After developing the film of the photo-machine gun, it became clear that the pilots of the 176th GIAP met with the latest Me-262 jet fighter. This was the first, but not the last meeting of the pilots of the 176th GIAP with the German jet technology.

The famous ace Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub recorded the first jet at his own expense.

Kozhedub Ivan Nikitovich He was born on June 8, 1920 in the village of Obrazhievka, now in the Shostka district of the Sumy region, in a peasant family. He graduated from the chemical - technological college. Since 1940 in the Red Army. In 1941 he graduated from the Chuguev Military Aviation Pilot School. On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War since March 1943. Squadron commander of the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment (302nd Fighter Aviation Division, 5th Air Army, Steppe Front) Senior Lieutenant I.N. Kozhedub by October 1943 made 146 sorties, shot down 20 enemy aircraft. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded on February 4, 1944. By the middle of 1944, the deputy commander of the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (302nd Fighter Aviation Division, 16th Air Army, 1st Belorussian Front) of the Guard, Captain I.N. 48. On August 19, 1944, he was awarded the second Gold Star medal. By the end of the war, Major I.N. Kozhedub brought his account of sorties to 330 and downed aircraft 62. For high military skill, personal courage and courage on 18.8.1945 he was awarded the third Gold Star medal. In 1949 he graduated from the Air Force Academy, in 1956 - from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Since 1971 in the Central Office of the Air Force, since 1978 - in the General Inspection Group of the USSR Ministry of Defense. Air Marshal. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd - 5th convocations. Member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of DOSAAF. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin (twice), the Red Banner (seven), Alexander Nevsky, the Order of the Patriotic War 1st class, the Red Star (twice), "For Service to the Motherland in the USSR Armed Forces" 3rd class, medals, as well as foreign orders and medals . Honorary citizen of the cities of Balti, Chuguev, Kaluga, Kupyansk, Sumy and others. A bronze bust was erected in the village of Obrazhievka.

This event took place on February 19, 1945 in the sky over the Oder and, according to the description of I. Kozhedub himself, it happened like this:

“It was like this. We were conducting aerial hunting not far from the front line. I carefully monitor the air. From the south, from Frankfurt, at an altitude of 3500 meters, an airplane suddenly appears. It flies along the Oder at a speed limit for our Lavochkins. Yes, this is jet plane! I quickly turn around. I give the engine full throttle, chasing the enemy. The pilot, obviously, did not look back, relying on high speed. I "squeeze" maximum speed out of the car, try to reduce the distance and approach with a slight decrease under the "belly" of the enemy aircraft. I would like to examine it in detail; if I manage to open fire and shoot it down. I approach from the side of the tail at a distance of 500 meters. A successful maneuver, speed of action, speed allowed me to get closer to a jet aircraft. But what is it? Tracks are flying into it: clearly - my partner I mercilessly scold the "Old Man" in my mind, I'm sure that my plan of action is irreparably violated. But its tracks unexpectedly - unexpectedly helped me: the German plane began to turn to the left, in my direction. The distance shortened sharply, and I got close to the enemy. With involuntary excitement, I open fire. And the jet, falling apart, falls."

In this air battle, I.N. Kozhedub shot down a Me-262. German sources confirm the loss, even the aircraft number is WNr.900284.

Let's try to look at that meeting with the Luftwaffe jet fighter, which ended in one of the mysteries of the history of aviation.

Many, and often everyone, believe that I. N. Kozhedub shot down non-commissioned officer Kurt Lange from I. / KG (j) 54. But this is unlikely, since I / KG (j) 54 at that time (02/22/1945 - 03/28/1945) was based at the airfield in Giebelstat near Würzburg. And the battle of Ivan Nikitovich with a jet plane took place north of Frankfurt an der Oder. If one of the readers does not have the opportunity to look at the map of Germany, then I will allow myself to remind you that Würzburg is Bavaria, which means the southern part of Germany. Frankfurt an der Oder - northern. And the distance between them is quite decent. About 600 km (the practical range of the Me-262 is 1040 km). The question is why KG (j) 54 will send an aircraft across Germany to "hunt" when the more experienced (in terms of pilots) JV44 periodically operates there (the fact is that near the Oder there was a so-called "training zone" of this unit, there young pilots were trained)? But wait, JV44 was officially formed on February 24, 1945, and the jet fighter battle took place on February 19, 1945. Well, JV44 doesn't fit. Let's look at the next parts.

Maybe JG7. Let's consider this option. In February, this unit was engaged in repelling attacks by allied aircraft from the western direction, but there were frequent cases of JG7 flying near the Eastern Front. Fortunately, the location allowed: Brandenburg - Brist.

This means that the plane from JG7 most likely met with Ivan Nikitovich. It is known that the camouflage of this fighter consisted of random spots and with a number behind the cockpit: the number "9" in red. Recall the designations in the Luftwaffe. The red number indicates belonging to the 2nd squadron in each group. So Ivan Nikitich, most likely, shot down the Me-262 from the 2nd squadron JG7. But even skeptics have reason to doubt, for example: why Ivan Nikitich did not declare victory immediately upon landing at the airfield. Or, where is the FKP film that filmed the Me-262? Why is there not a word about a jet aircraft in the regiment's documents, at least in the monthly summary. And one more argument: in the typewritten list of victories, the victory over the Me-262 is inscribed in the margins with a pen, which raises doubts about the authenticity of this document.

Well, this issue is very complex and requires separate consideration. And I just tried to slightly - slightly open the veil of this mystery.

But other pilots also had meetings with the Me-262, someone shot down this "miracle weapon of retaliation", and someone died from his "hands".

Merkviladze Garry Alexandrovich. He was born on February 17, 1923 in the city of Batumi (Adjar ASSR). Graduated from 9 classes. Since 1941 in the Red Army. In the same year he graduated from the Tbilisi, and in 1942 - Armavir military aviation pilot school. From March 1943 on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Deputy squadron commander of the 152nd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (12th Guards Fighter Aviation Division, 1st Guards Assault Aviation Corps, 2nd Air Army, 1st Ukrainian Front) Guards Senior Lieutenant G. A. Merkviladze by May 1945 made 386 sorties, in 87 air battles he personally shot down 13 and in a group 2 enemy aircraft. The title of Hero of the Owls. Union was assigned on 27.6.1945. In 1952 he graduated from the Air Force Academy, in 1961 - from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Since 1970, Major General of Aviation G. A. Merkviladze has been in reserve. Lived in the city of Tbilisi. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner (three times), Alexander Nevsky, the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the Red Star (three times), and medals. He died on April 2, 1971.

The pilot of the 152nd GvIAP, Garry Aleksandrovich Merkviladze, also has a downed Me-262 on his account. The battle took place as follows: Harry Alexandrovich, while flying, noticed a new enemy aircraft, according to the description, suitable for the Me-262. The German pilot also spotted the Soviet fighter and prepared to attack. Merkviladze realized that without cunning this plane "from heaven to earth" could not be lowered.

The enemy fighter went into the tail of the Merkviladze fighter and prepared to shoot, the Soviet pilot took advantage of the maneuverability of his fighter, and when the Me-262 rushed at high speed to the tail of Harry Alexandrovich's plane, he applied the same trick, making a sharp jerk to the side.

Merkviladze changed the flight path of his plane, and the enemy fighter rushed past at breakneck speed and went ahead. The Soviet pilot had only to catch the enemy fighter in sight and fire a line of machine-gun and cannon fire at the enemy, which Garry Alexandrovich did, chalking up the "miracle of German engineering".

German twin-engine jet aircraft Messerschmitt Me-262.

On February 27, 1945, a conference was held in the 16th Air Army on the topic: "The struggle of piston fighters of the Red Army Air Force against the new enemy jet technology." The conference was attended by pilots who had already met in the sky with the Me-262, everyone shared their impressions of the new creation of the Luftwaffe. By the way, Ivan Nikitich Kozhedub also spoke there, but he didn’t say anything about the downed Me-262, he only described how it was possible to shoot it down.

The conference was opened by the commander of the 16th Air Army, General - Commander of Aviation S.I. Rudenko with the following words:

"We have gathered to talk about some of the features of the fight against high-speed German aircraft, including the Messerschmitt-262, which have jet engines. Some of the comrades present here have already met with such aircraft in the air. I would like these pilots shared their impressions of air battles, told how the new enemy planes look in flight, what tactics are needed to better hit and shoot them down. This is required in the interests of the final victory over Nazi Germany."

Novikov Alexey Ivanovich. Born on November 7, 1916 in Moscow in a working class family. He graduated from the 7 classes, the FZU school, the flying club, and in 1936 - the Ulyanovsk school of pilots - instructors. Since 1939 he was in the Red Army, in the same year he graduated from the Borisoglebsk military aviation school for pilots. On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War from the first day. By August 1942, the squadron commander of the 17th Fighter Aviation Regiment (205th Fighter Aviation Division, 2nd Air Army, Voronezh Front) Captain A.I. Novikov made 242 sorties, shot down 11 enemy aircraft in 34 air battles. On February 4, 1943 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In total, during the war he made about 500 sorties, shot down 22 enemy aircraft personally and 5 in a group. After the war he continued to serve in the Air Force. In 1960 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Since 1970, Major General of Aviation A.I. Novikov has been retired. Lived and worked in Moscow. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner (three times), the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (twice), the Red Star (four times), and medals. He died on October 23, 1986.

The first to speak was the assistant commander of the 3rd Fighter Air Corps, Lieutenant Colonel AI Novikov. He spoke about the encounter with the jet plane:

"The plane had a long, thin tail and an elongated nose with a low suspension of two gondola mounts under the wings. The meeting took place on intersecting courses. The enemy quickly slipped past me and disappeared from view. In the process of searching, I met him again and went to approach. German pilot, probably noticed me and broke away again, left.. For the third time he met the enemy on the same course as for the first time.

Turning around, I picked up a speed of 570 km per hour and went to approach. However, the jet aircraft again left me. General E. Ya. Savitsky tried to attack him. But this attempt remained equally unsuccessful: the speed of the German car reached 800 km per hour. Traces of the work of his jet engines were not visible because of the heavy haze."

Summing up his speech, Alexei Ivanovich gave some advice on the technique of dealing with new aircraft. First, to attack only using the method of surprise, it is better from the direction of the sun. Secondly, when conducting a battle, it is necessary to use the maneuver of your aircraft, no matter what to allow targeted firing by the enemy. During the attack of the enemy, it is necessary to make a turn, and when the attacker slips forward, only then open cannon fire.

Alexei Ivanovich also noted the rather poor maneuverability of this aircraft due to its very high speed. Oddly enough, but one of the weak features of this fighter was precisely its speed. According to Novikov, the sight that was on Soviet aircraft was suitable for firing at new enemy aircraft only from short distances. It was pointless to fire at long distances. But still, it makes no sense to remake the sight specifically for the new enemy aircraft. The volume of confrontation between the Me-262 and the Soviet Air Force was so small and ineffective that the jet "Messer" could no longer influence the course of the war.

Makarov Valentin Nikolaevich Born on August 30, 1919 in Sevastopol in a working class family. He graduated from 7 classes and Simferopol flying club. Since 1937 in the Red Army. In 1938 he graduated from the Kachin Military Aviation Pilot School. Member of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. Squadron commander of the 511th Fighter Aviation Regiment (220th Fighter Aviation Division, 16th Air Army, Don Front) Captain V.N. 7 enemy aircraft. On January 28, 1943, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In total, he completed 635 sorties, conducted 150 air battles, shot down 30 aircraft personally and 9 in a group. In 1947 he graduated from the Higher Officer Flight and Tactical Courses, in 1956 - from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Since 1975, Major General of Aviation V. N. Makarov has been in reserve. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin (twice), the Red Banner (thrice), Alexander Nevsky, the Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree, the Red Star (twice), "For Service to the Motherland in the USSR Armed Forces" 3rd degree, and medals. He died on May 20, 1978.

“While covering the ground troops on the northern bridgehead of the Oder River, I also met an unfamiliar plane. At first I recognized it as the Rama, but when I turned around and went on the attack, I was convinced that it was not the Focke-Wulf. Gondolas were suspended under the planes of the car. installations. They probably contained jet engines, as white smoke streamed from the nacelles. The unknown aircraft quickly moved away from me, and I lost sight of it. "

Valentin Nikolaevich agreed with Novikov: in order to shoot down such an aircraft, it is necessary to use the surprise factor using the sun and clouds. According to Makarov, one of the weak features of the new car was the poor visibility of the pilot, and especially the lower hemisphere. The opinions of the speakers also agreed that there was no need to change the sight, but to fire only from small angles.

Also, Makarov made a proposal that it is necessary to send pairs or fours to destroy the Me-262, since they are easier to manage than large groups. And that the battle order, when escorted by attack aircraft and bombers, must be built in such a way as to prevent the enemy from suddenly attacking. Groups should be strengthened and pulled back.

Kobyletsky Ivan Ivanovich Born on August 10, 1916 in the city of Birzula (now Kotovsk, Odessa region) in a working class family. He graduated from 7 classes, school FZU. Worked as a driver's assistant. Since 1936 in the Red Army. In 1938 he graduated from the Orenburg Military Aviation Pilot School. Participated in the national liberation war of the Chinese people against the Japanese invaders. Member of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. Deputy squadron commander of the 43rd Fighter Aviation Regiment (220th Fighter Aviation Division, 8th Air Army, South-Eastern Front) Senior Lieutenant I. I. Kobyletsky in an air battle on August 16, 1942 over his airfield near Stalingrad on a Yak -1 rammed an enemy fighter. Made a landing at the airport. He fought on the Southwestern, Don, Central, Belorussian fronts. Deputy commander of the 53rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (1st Guards Fighter Aviation Division, 16th Air Army, 1st Belorussian Front) Major I. I. Kobyletsky by February 1945 made 451 sorties, in 94 air battles personally shot down 15 and as part of a group of 9 enemy aircraft. On May 15, 1946, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Since September 1948, Lieutenant Colonel I. I. Kobyletsky - retired due to illness. Lived in Kyiv. He worked as a locksmith - patternmaker, senior control foreman, engineer. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin (twice), the Order of the Red Banner (twice), Alexander Nevsky, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the Red Star, and medals. Died July 25, 1986.

From the 53rd Guards IAP, Major Ivan Ivanovich Kobyletsky and Captain Gennady Sergeevich Dubenok took part in the conference.

I. I. Kobyletsky gave an interesting idea. He proposed to arrange something like an "ambush", or rather, to study the enemy's routes and organize an ambush, thereby the enemy would be taken by surprise and, taking the air combat initiative into his own hands, shoot down or force the enemy aircraft to land.

Captain G.S. Dubenok, on the contrary, developed the idea of ​​Lieutenant Colonel V.N. Makarov that in order to successfully fight the enemy, it is necessary to use all the advantages of building a formation of attack aircraft and fighters.

In addition, one or two pairs of fighters must follow in front of the main group and destroy enemy fighters, which will be carried at high speed through the formation of bombers or attack aircraft. Head-on attacks by inexperienced pilots are unsuccessful, because the duration of these attacks is so short that an inexperienced pilot will not be able to aim and hit the target.

Summing up the results of the conference, the commander of the 16th Air Army, Colonel-General of Aviation S. I. Rudenko, recommended that the command of the units continue the process of training in the tactics of combating Luftwaffe jet aircraft. He also expressed the hope that battles with jet aircraft would be fought at short distances (from 20 to 600 meters).

At the end of his speech, the General urged everyone to keep the proud name - the falcons of the country of the Soviets.

The conference was over, the victorious spring of 1945 was on fire. But the resistance of Hitler's army continued, in the sky there were frequent clashes with enemy aircraft. New encounters with Luftwaffe jet technology were no exception.

Dubenok Gennady Sergeevich. Born on January 1, 1920 in the village of Kraskovo, Pustoshkinsky District, Tver Region. After graduating from the Chuguev Military Aviation School in 1939, he was sent to the position of a fighter pilot on the Southwestern Front. Member of the Battle of Stalingrad. He was an aviation commander, and then deputy squadron commander of the 512th Fighter Aviation Regiment, deputy squadron commander of the 55th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 16th Air Army. He fought on the Don, Central and 1st Belorussian fronts. He made 372 sorties in total. After more than 100 air battles, he shot down 12 enemy aircraft personally and 11 in a group. On August 24, 1943, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war, he completed postgraduate studies at the Red Banner Air Force Academy. He served as a teacher and senior lecturer at the academy. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner (twice), the Patriotic War 1st and 2nd degree, the Red Star, "For Service to the Motherland in the USSR Armed Forces" 3rd degree, the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" and many others.

So on March 22, 1945, in a battle with a pair of Me-262s, pilot Lev Ivanovich Sivko (photo provided by A.V. Stankov) shot down a "jet". I would like to dwell on this episode for a moment.

The battle took place in the evening at 18:20 near the town of Tsekhin. Four Yak-9s from the 812th IAP, covering the ground troops, were at an altitude of 2000 meters, and the flight speed was 550 km / h. At the head of this four was Captain V. I. Melnikov. Suddenly, Lieutenant L. I. Sivko, who was flying in a group on the left, saw how fire was bursting out from under his "Yak" towards the leader. The next moment, an unknown plane without propellers passed by them at high speed, with a climb.

When the enemy plane began to turn around, Lev Ivanovich damaged the right wing plane of the Me-262, between the engine and the console, with a burst from 100 meters. The enemy fighter rolled over and crashed to the ground 5 km west of Tsekhin.

According to some sources, L. I. Sivko himself soon died:

"But L. Sivko's car was also damaged, the pilot could not leave it and died a hero's death. Now fighting friends in the skies of Berlin avenged the death of a brave Komsomol member."

On March 22, the US Air Force raided targets in Germany. On this day, the Germans announced 3 downed German fighters. Perhaps these were aircraft from JG7 from the Bradenbug-Brist airfield.

So, on this day, 3 aircraft of the Luftwaffe jet fleet were lost. The first aircraft from 11./JG7 was lost during a bomber attack (pilot August Lübking, WNr. 111541), the second between Cottbus and Bautzen near Alt-Döbern (pilot Heinz Eichner, WNr. 500462). And what about the third, you ask? I will answer that there is very little data on this loss, only the serial number Me-262 is known. WNr. 900192. And the fact that this plane was lost in the Tsekhin area on March 22, 1945. Coincidence? Hardly, considering that this is the territory where Soviet pilots "hunted". So Lev Sivko most likely shot down this particular Me-262. Another argument for the truth of this victory is the confirmation of the battle from the ground.

And where did the second Me-262 from a pair of attackers go? If he returned to the airfield, then why didn't he announce that his partner was shot down by a Soviet fighter? Although he may have notified, but this is already March 1945, less than 2 months before the end of the war. Perhaps the message from the pilot of the second fighter was simply lost in the confusion of German military documents. It's the end of the war...

Less than a month remained before the end of the war, but the resistance of the Luftwaffe pilots did not cease to weaken (we must pay tribute to the German pilots, they continued to resist the enemy, as they say until the last "drop of blood").

In the spring of 1945, Soviet pilots were lucky to shoot down a few more Me-262s. One of these lucky ones turned out to be Yegorovich Vladimir Alekseevich. In April 1945, in the skies of Berlin, he shot down the Me-262 with his Yak-9T.

He was born on May 19, 1919 in the village of Sutiski, now a village in the Tyvrovsky district of the Vinnitsa region, in a peasant family. Studied at the construction college. Since 1939 in the Red Army. In 1940 he graduated from the Odessa Military Aviation School. From April 1943 on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Squadron commander of the 402nd Fighter Aviation Regiment (265th Fighter Aviation Division, 3rd Fighter Aviation Corps, 16th Air Army, 1st Belorussian Front) Captain V. A. Egorovich made 248 sorties by February 1945, in 71 air battles he shot down 22 enemy aircraft. On May 15, 1946, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war he continued to serve in the Air Force. Since 1949, he was the head of the flight department of the DOSAAF flying club in the Zaporozhye region. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner (thrice), Alexander Nevsky, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, and medals. He died tragically on April 27, 1953.

Another "April lucky" Kuznetsov Ivan Aleksandrovich.

The battle took place as follows: the Me-262 group wished to attack the Il-2 attack aircraft when cover fighters took off. "Messers" began to try to get out of the battle. And then the regiment commander gave the order: "Shoot down a jet plane!" I. A. Kuznetsov directed his "Yak" to intercept the jet and fired a long burst at the German aircraft. Messer's right engine smoked. But the jet "Messer" was still trying to get out of the battle, picking up speed. But 3 more fighters took off to help their commander. They simultaneously opened fire on the Me-262. The German pilot could not get away from such an attack, his plane tilted and crashed to the ground.

This victory was recorded on the personal account of Ivan Kuznetsov, although it was a group one. This event took place on April 30, 1945 near Berlin.

And here is how the pilot-attack aircraft describes this battle, Hero of the Soviet Union, the only full holder of the Orders of Glory of all 3 degrees (among pilots), Ivan Grigoryevich Drachenko, who himself shot down 5 enemy aircraft in air battles (including 1 - by ramming) in his book "On the Wings of Courage":

He was born on 01/05/1917 in the village of Repnoye, now the Uvarovsky district of the Tambov region, in a peasant family. Graduated from 2 courses of agricultural technical school. In 1936 - 1938 and since 1942 in the Red Army. In 1938 he graduated from the Kachin Military Aviation School. He worked as a pilot-instructor of the Donetsk flying club. On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War since December 1942. Squadron commander of the 107th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (11th Guards Fighter Aviation Division, 2nd Air Army, 1st Ukrainian Front) Senior Lieutenant I. A. Kuznetsov made 219 sorties by May 1945. In 59 air battles, he shot down 10 enemy aircraft, destroyed a lot of enemy manpower and military equipment with assault strikes. 06/27/1945 was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war he continued to serve in the Air Force. In 1953 he graduated from the Higher Officer Flight and Tactical Courses, served in the Air Defense Forces of the country, commanded a unit. Since 1972, Major General of Aviation I. A. Kuznetsov has been in reserve. Living in Astrakhan, he was the chairman of the regional committee of DOSAAF. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner (four times), Alexander Nevsky, the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, the Red Star (twice), Soviet and foreign medals.

“It was much more difficult for us, attack aircraft, to fight the Me-262. Jet planes swept over our formation, watching for Ilys on turns when approaching a target or when leaving an attack. They also attacked damaged aircraft going to land.

One pair got used to intercepting the Ilyushins in such a way that at least do not return from the mission alone. The corps commander ordered to stop these impudent attacks of hunters. We came up with a simple plan: they decided to use me and my partner as bait, to deceive the enemy with the appearance of easy prey.

One morning, at 8 o'clock, I raised my Il into the air. Ammunition is full, but without bombs. Three pairs of "Yakov" climbed up to 5000 meters. I began to walk over the airfield at speed. Suddenly, from the side of the front line, 2 silver dots began to grow. The leading Me-262 went on the attack. Maneuvering, I fired a cannon burst at him. Then our fighters arrived from above.

The "Messer" that attacked me quickly went up, and our guys still covered the second one. The fascist had no choice but to eject.

Drachenko Ivan Grigorievich Born on 11/15/1922 in the village of Velyka Sevastyanovka, now the Khristinovsky district of the Cherkasy region, in a peasant family. He graduated from high school and the Leningrad flying club. Since April 1942 in the Red Army. In 1943 he graduated from the Tambov Military Aviation Pilot School and was sent to the front. Senior pilot of the 140th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment (8th Guards Assault Aviation Division, 1st Guards Assault Aviation Corps, 2nd Air Army, 1st Ukrainian Front) Guards Junior Lieutenant I. G. Drachenko by August 1944 made 100 sorties for reconnaissance, destruction of enemy manpower and equipment. Participated in 14 air battles. On August 14, 1944, while performing a combat mission, he was seriously wounded and taken prisoner. Managed to run. Upon recovery, he returned to the front. On October 26, 1944 he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war, Senior Lieutenant I. G. Drachenko retired. In 1953 he graduated from the law faculty of Kyiv University, worked as the director of an evening high school, deputy director of the Palace of Culture "Ukraine" in Kyiv. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the Red Star, Glory (all three degrees), medals. Author of books: "For the sake of life on earth", "On the wings of courage".

Why didn't his parachute open? When we arrived at the place where the Nesetsk pilot had fallen, we immediately noticed that the parachute was out of order. So, the pilot was doomed to death in advance ... "

But perhaps the most interesting clash occurred with Major A.V. Vorozheikin.

Arseny Vasilyevich is the only Soviet Air Force pilot who shot down a German Arado Ar-234 jet bomber. In addition, Vorozheykin is also a wonderful writer: from his pen came such wonderful works as: "Soldiers of the Sky", "Private Aviation", "Berlin Under Us". It is in his book "Soldiers of the Sky" that Arseniy Vasilyevich describes how he shot down a jet "Arada". I bring to the attention of the reader the same passage:

"Unusually, some kind of aircraft is sliding under us unusually quickly. My eyes are firmly clinging to it. Under the wings I see 4 twin engines. rockets.

The speed of this car is about 900 km/h. This is the latest novelty of German military equipment. Although we flew on the best "Yaks" - the Yak-3, they are piston-powered and are inferior to the new German jets at a speed of 200 kilometers. You cannot take this fascist with the old tricks. Experience told him how best to attack him.

Vorozheikin Arseny Vasilievich Born on October 28, 1912 in the village of Prokofievo, now the Gorodetsky district of the Gorky region, in a peasant family. Since 1931 in the Red Army. In 1937 he graduated from the Kharkov Military Aviation Pilot School. Participated in the battles on the Khalkhin-Gol River in 1939. Spent 30 air battles, shot down 6 Japanese aircraft personally and 12 - in the group. During the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 he was a military commissar of an aviation squadron. In 1942 he graduated from the Air Force Academy. On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War since 1942. To the squadron commander of the 728th Fighter Aviation Regiment (256th Fighter Aviation Division, 5th Fighter Aviation Corps, 2nd Air Army, 1st Ukrainian Front) for 78 sorties and participation in 32 air battles, in which he personally destroyed 19 enemy aircraft, 02/04/1944 was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The second medal "Gold Star" was awarded to Captain A.V. Vorozheikin on 19.8.1944 for 28 sorties, 14 air battles and 11 downed aircraft. Since 1944, he has been a senior instructor - a pilot in the combat training department of front-line aviation. After the war, he commanded an aviation regiment, division, was the first deputy commander of the air defense of the Black Sea Fleet. In 1952 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Since 1957, Major General of Aviation A.V. Vorozheykin has been in reserve. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner (four times), Suvorov 3rd degree, Alexander Nevsky, the Patriotic War 1st degree, the Red Star (twice), foreign orders.

"Arada" rushes towards. I have an altitude of 6000 meters. When the reactive enemy is in front of me at an angle of 45 degrees, I will go straight down and intercept him there.

As always, "Yak" easily, like a toy, rolled over and went steeply to the ground, quickly picking up speed. The enemy was behind. Why doesn't he contrive and hit me with 4 cannons, and maybe even with rockets? He has only to raise his nose, and he, having great speed, will immediately overtake me. And I sharply twist the car into a dive to see how the Arada reacts to me.

The plane is still flying low and will soon overtake me. This is where I have to catch him. And I spin the car again. "Yak" obeys with difficulty, as if complaining: "Enough to test me" - and is eager to get out of the dive. I hold on tight as I keep losing height. The speedometer needle is already vibrating at the round and dangerous number - "700". And my "Yak", as if having renounced life, lost its agility and no longer rushes up into the sky, but with cold doom goes to the ground.

The car is not designed for such a high speed: it can fall apart. And if there is enough strength, it will not come out of a dive: it will suck.

With full muscle tension, I begin to withdraw. Listens hard, but listens. True, it darkens in the eyes from overload, but I know from experience that this will pass, one has only to ease the pressure on the handle. Just a little more effort. If only the "Yak" could stand it! Must! So I want. And I pull. Although in the eyes of the night, but I feel everything is in order.

"Yak" well done, survived! It clears up in my eyes, I see the horizon, the sky, the earth. There must be "Arad" here somewhere. Here she is! Near. Calculated well. And then something happened that I no longer feared. There was an explosion, a blow to the head. I choked on something thick and cold. His eyes darkened again. Consciousness clearly noted: this is the last attack. A shell burst in the cockpit... But why was it cold and not hot, and I don't feel any pain or scorching fire? Did the plane crumble?.. However, I again have the sky, the earth, the horizon and the "Arad" in front of me. My "Yak" is intact. And what about the explosion, the blow?.. That's it - the lantern was torn from the cockpit, and cold air whipped into the face. I take "Arada" at gunpoint!

Here's a failure. Already far away, I can not get. I'm shooting. Fabulous! Cords of tracers and bullets caught up with the enemy and dug into his body. Sparks, fire, thick smoke poured out of the Arada, and the plane disappeared into the burning Berlin ... "

It is very difficult to trace this loss from German sources. But in fact it is impossible, because it is not even known whether this plane was shot down, since its remains were not found. And there are no witnesses either. One can only guess what happened to that jet "Arada". Of course, the probability that the Ar-234 landed is practically zero, since landing in a city is not very convenient, especially on a bomber. But, if the wreckage of the aircraft was not found and there are no witnesses to the victory, then the victory will not be counted. They did the same with Arseny Vasilyevich. This victory was simply not counted.

Soviet pilots undoubtedly gained experience in dealing with enemy jet equipment (which came in handy a little later in the war with the United States in North Korea), but what about the Germans themselves? Do they have any mention of such incidents in the history of front-line jet aviation? Let's try to figure it out.

Of course, it is unlikely that it will be possible to find out who shot down the first Soviet fighter. We will try to consider all episodes of meetings with Soviet aircraft on the Eastern Front.

So let's start, and we'll start with such an eminent pilot as Johannes Steinhof.

In his memoirs "At the Last Hour", Oberst Steinhof describes encounters with Soviet pilots in the skies over the Oder in February 1945:

"We are flying eastward in the direction of the highway that led to Frankfurt an der Oder. Suddenly, a Russian fighter appears in front of me, and I did not manage to coordinate the position of the Me-262 and fix the target in sight in a few seconds. Only a few meters separated me from the Russian fighter as I rushed past and went up.Looking back I saw the flashes of his weapons.He continuously pulled his fighter up.

There were many fighters maneuvering around me, it was a temptation to get one of their guns, but as soon as I flew up to them, they began to maneuver even more vigorously, which made it extremely difficult to attack. And I was forced to hide from their sight."

"Flying west at an altitude of 1000 meters, I crossed the Oder. Now I have to climb again to be among the Russian fighters. When I put the Me-262 on the wing and moved the gas sector levers to turn around, I saw a group of Il- 2, there were 7 or 8 of them, despite the camouflage coloring, their silhouettes were clearly visible.They fired cannons and dropped bombs on the highway, the trucks going along this highway turned into the side of the road, and the soldiers scattered in different directions.I caught sight of one of the attack aircraft , pressed the button of the guns, the queue was short, and immediately pulled the control stick towards himself so as not to touch the tops of the trees.

A few hundred meters in front of the edge of the forest, he touched the snow with a propeller, a huge snow cloud rose completely hiding the IL-2, when the snow was blown aside by a gust of wind, I saw a distinct silhouette of an attack aircraft in the snow and at that moment a small black figure of the pilot got out of the plane , which first jumped on the wing, and then ran through the deep snow towards the forest.

30-mm cannon, which was on the Me-262.

This meeting took place on February 25, 1945. Steinhof took off from the airfield Brandenburg - Brist. In March, he also mentions meetings with pilots of the Red Army Air Force. Here is another quote from his memoirs:

"On one of the March days, I wanted to teach one of the newcomers to fly in pairs. After takeoff, we headed for the "training zone" near the Oder. We flew over the river and on the other side saw a group of Russian fighters. I want to attack, but the lead angle when firing let me down again, the fact is that the jet Me-262 has a different one than the Me-109. I unsuccessfully flew through the formation several times. Then something appeared in front of me that turned out to be a Russian fighter. Instinctively, I fired four 30- mm cannons. Like lightning, the remnants of a Russian fighter flew around my cockpit. It literally crumbled in the air!

Looking back, I saw the rest of the Russian fighters go home at full throttle. I turn around, descend and see below me a lone fighter with red stars flying to the west. I catch him in the scope and shoot. His pilot twitched, tried to get away at low level, but crashed into the top of the hill."

As we can see from the above quotes, Steinhof claims two Russian planes shot down.

However, Steinhof was not alone in claiming downed Soviet fighters, there were other Luftwaffe pilots flying the Me-262, who also claimed victories won on the Eastern Front.

So, in the last days of April, Ober - Lieutenant Herbert Schluter shot down one Yak-9 near the city of Breslau, and Ober - Fenrich Günther Wittbold destroyed 2 Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft in the vicinity of Baerwalde. He later recalled:

“Everything happened very quickly and at low altitude. I was very surprised to meet Russians there. The gunner of the first Il did not even have time to open fire. "I saw him until the tracer bullets from his cannons flew past my ears. After receiving several hits, the Il-2 fell apart into many small parts."

During the last weeks of the war, JG7 pilots destroyed about 20 Soviet aircraft.

But the most interesting thing is that the last victory in the Second World War, which was won by the Luftwaffe pilots, was on a jet plane, and besides, a Soviet fighter was shot down. Presumably, this is a pilot from the 129th GvIAP G. G. Stepanov. This victory was won on May 8 at 15:20.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the Luftwaffe jet aircraft did not bring the desired result to Hitler. Too late, he "gave the green light" to the mass production of aircraft with jet and rocket engines. Nothing could save Germany.

Pilots died not so much from the fact that they were shot down by enemy aircraft, but because they became victims of man-made disasters.

On the Eastern Front, jet planes did not bring any success, and their use there is comparable to the dying convulsions of a dying man. In this case, the role of the dying was the Third Reich and its war machine.

Nevertheless, experience, courage and loyalty to the Motherland did not even psychologically break the pilots of the Red Army Air Force in front of the "jet monster" of the Luftwaffe, the Russian pilots drove away this beast and put an end to the ambitions of the Luftwaffe.

The Me-262 aircraft was not the only serial Luftwaffe jet fighter that took part in the battles of the Second World War. And although another aircraft of the same company, we are talking about the missile Me-163 "Kometa", did not meet in air battles with Soviet pilots, it is worth telling a little about it.

This aircraft is known in the history of world aviation as "Messerschmitt-163". However, its creator was not Willy Messerschmitt, whose name he began to bear, but Alexander Lippish, a very talented scientist in the field of aviation. This machine was conceived and designed by Lippisch, but built at the Messerschmitt factories. The idea of ​​Lippisch, embodied in metal, began to bear the designation Me-163. There are countless children in the world who bear the names not of their parents, but of those who took care of them. The main thing in this case is the essence, not the name.

Everyone who flew on this jet miracle felt "heat in the chest and cold in the back." This plane in a short time could lift a person to a great height or throw him into the underworld. It was for this temper that he was loved. Here is what test pilot Mano Ziegler writes in his memoirs:

“Almost not a single flight day passed without the loss of one of us. But oddly enough, we all loved this rocket monster, like a windy woman who could deceive you and leave you at any moment, but nevertheless we remained faithful to him ".

The German fighter-interceptor Me-163, which entered service with the German Air Force in May 1944, was one of the most unusual, but at the same time the most promising fighters in the world. In the subsequent decades of aviation development, not a single serial aircraft was created that could be directly compared with this fighter.

The prototype aircraft had the designation DFS-194. Rather, it was a DFS-33 glider, developed by the German Research Institute of Gliding Technology, equipped with a rocket engine. At the same time, the design of the aircraft had to be thoroughly redone, after which it received the designation DFS-194. While it was being built in Darmstadt, Alexander Lippisch and several of his employees had to move to Augsburg to the firm of Willy Messerschmitt (since the institute was mainly a research institution, it was decided to start mass production of the aircraft on the basis of the Messerschmitt firm, the leading developer and manufacturer of German fighters). The aircraft was assigned the corporate designation Me-163. Work on this aircraft began on January 2, 1939. A team of 6 people began to work on it. Heini Dittmar agreed to become a test pilot.

Meanwhile, the DFS-194 built in Darmstadt began to undergo towing tests. Then a rocket engine was installed on it, running on "T-fuel" (hydrogen peroxide) and "Z-fuel" (potassium permanganate). Test flights with such a power plant were carried out at the missile base in Peenemünde. Despite the great difficulties that accompanied the tests, encouraging results were obtained. On a DFS-194 rocket glider, Heini Dittmar reached a speed of 550 km/h.

Tests of the first experimental aircraft Me-163 V1 in a gliding flight began in the spring of 1941. Flight tests of the aircraft were initially carried out in tow. The twin-engine aircraft Me-110 was chosen as a towing vehicle. The first towing flights showed that the Me-163 had a too small glide angle. There was not enough landing strip on the first landing, and Dittmar was forced to slip between two hangars at the end of the airfield. Everyone who saw this landing had their hair on end. A number of improvements in the design of the aircraft followed, and again towing tests for planning.

Until that time, not a single aircraft that did not have a tail had flown at a speed above 350 km / h. At speeds greater than this, there was a dangerous flutter on the rudder. When this was managed, it turned out that at a speed exceeding 520 km / h, he appeared on the elevator. It took more than 15 towing flights until these problems were fixed. In general, in terms of aerodynamic properties, the Me-163 aircraft turned out to be unusually good and reliable. In a gentle flight, he easily reached a speed of about 900 km / h.

Once, Ernst Udet, who was in charge of new equipment at the Ministry of Aviation, came to test the aircraft. At this time, Dittmar, at an altitude of 5000 meters, was carrying out another program on the Me-163, which was raised there in tow. Lippisch, seeing the arrival of Udet, showed him his finger up.

What is it, Lippisch? asked Udet.

Our experienced Me-163...

At that moment, Dittmar sent the car down and at a great speed, about 800 km / h, having leveled it, flew over the airfield, and then went up like a candle.

What engine is in this car? asked Udet.

There is no engine on this plane yet,” Lippisch replied.

No engine? - asked Udet. - Do you take me for a fool, Lippisch?

During this test flight, Dittmar made several dive flights and climbed up.

This cannot be, - every time the plane was lifted up, Udet said, - You are lying to me, Lippisch!

When Dittmar landed, Udet approached the plane and began to carefully examine it. Finally, making sure that he was not being deceived, he said:

Indeed, there is no engine ...

The unpowered flight Udet saw made a strong impression on him. From that time on, he began to vigorously promote further work on it and did not lose sight of it until his death.

The rocket engine created by Walter for the Me-163 had a thrust of 750 kg. The first flights with such an engine were carried out at the missile base in Peenemünde. The car showed an unprecedented rate of climb. But, since the jettisoned take-off Iassi did not have shock-absorbing devices, the pilot was subjected to large vibration overloads during the launch. The same thing happened on landing. There was an urgent need to create a seat for the pilot, able to withstand such overloads. Test flights were temporarily suspended.

Despite the fact that a sufficiently reliable pilot's seat was not made, test flights were resumed. Already in the 4th flight, Dittmar managed to reach a speed of 800 km / h. But this is not yet the limit. Upon reaching a speed of 920 km / h on the plane as a result of flutter, the rudder flew off. Landing the plane was out of the question. Dittmar had to leave it and jump out by parachute.

On the next experimental aircraft Me-163 V4, Heini Dittmar made a record flight and reached a speed of over 1000 km / h. If flights were not carried out in the greatest secrecy, they could become a world achievement. Dittmar himself spoke about these flights as follows:

"Achieving record speeds was not easy. The engine turned off every time, I could barely reach a speed of about 500 km / h. When I managed to figure out his whim, I decided to conduct high-speed flights at an altitude of 4000 meters. A special measured distance was made. Flying over it, I carefully I watched the speed indicator. The pressure gauge showed normal pressure. At this altitude, the engine did not let me down. In one of the flights over the measured distance, I began to increase the speed. The arrow began to creep up: 950 - 960 - 970 ... I looked at the pressure gauge, the engine is in order "I barely looked at the speed indicator, the arrow was already over 1000 km / h. The plane began to vibrate strongly. I felt that he stopped obeying the control stick. I immediately turned off the engine and waited for the plane to collapse. Some time passed. Suddenly I "I felt that the plane began to obey the control. Then I finally realized that I had entered the sound barrier zone. Upon landing, I found out that the plane showed a speed of 1004 km / h on the measuring line."

Thus, already in 1941, an aircraft with a person on board exceeded the 1000-km mark. After achieving such success, Heini Dittmar was awarded the Lilienthal Prize for research in the field of aviation. This was a well-deserved reward for his flight tests, during which he was on the verge of death more than once.

This aircraft was also the first aircraft in the history of aviation to encounter problems with the compressibility of the air flow at high speeds in level flight. Therefore, when developing the machine, a number of new aerodynamic problems had to be solved. The scheme chosen for the "Kometa" - "tailless" with a swept wing - facilitated their decision. Since that time, the use of swept wings has become one of the traditional solutions to the problems of high-speed flight.

The modification of the Me-163 aircraft, which received the designation "B", had a jet thrust, almost 2 times greater than the first. The speed increased, and with it the danger. Knowing full well that every flight could end in death, Dittmar turned to Udet with a request for a partner whom he could teach to pilot a rocket plane. Goes made sure that Dittmar's friend, Rudolf Opitz, was transferred from the front to the Messerschmitt company as a test pilot.

The designers still faced the problem of cushioning the pilot's seat. Already at the end of the tests of the rocket plane with Heini Dittmar, an accident occurred that chained him to a hospital bed for 2 years. When landing, the shock absorber on the landing ski could not stand it. The plane remained unscathed, but Dittmar broke his spine. Tests of the aircraft continued Opitz. Soon he was joined by the famous pilot ace Wolfgang Spathe, recalled from the front. When the tests were completed, in the summer of 1943, "Test Detachment No. 16" was formed in Bad Zwischenahn for training in piloting a rocket aircraft.

It can be said that the members of the anti-Hitler coalition were lucky that the technical difficulties that arose during the development of the aircraft (mainly associated with the creation of a liquid-fuel rocket engine), as well as the political difficulties of that time, made it difficult for the Comet to enter the arsenal of the fascist Air Force .

According to its scheme, the Me-163 was a rather conservative "tailless" with a swept wing, which was designed by Alexander Lippisch, who had gained considerable experience by this time. Single-section elevons were installed on the wing (of a wooden structure), and on the tail section of a short all-metal (aluminum alloy) fuselage - a vertical tail with a rudder. The designers solved the problem of the retractable landing gear by abandoning it altogether. The plane took off from a detachable two-wheeled cart, and landing was carried out on a single ski, similar to the landing gear of gliders. The aircraft did not have supporting wing supports of a ski or wheel type, so almost every landing ended with a turn of the aircraft, and often with a coup.

All available volumes of the fuselage were given over to the tanks, which housed the LRE fuel. The fuel components of the Me-163 fighter were a mixture of methyl alcohol, hydrazine and water (fuel) and hydrogen peroxide (oxidizer). Several Me-163 accidents occurred due to the contact of rocket fuel components outside the engine combustion chamber (Walter HW 509 C-1, thrust 20 kN). Sometimes the engine exploded even just from a rough landing.

Despite a significant fuel reserve (2000 kg), the efficiency of the engine was very low, so that it could only work for 12 minutes; this means that the interceptor had to be based directly under the air corridors followed by the enemy bombers. By the time the Me-163 reached an altitude of 9760 meters, he had only 6.5 minutes of fuel left. In some cases, fully fueled "Comets" were towed to a height behind heavy German aircraft, after which the engine was started in the air, and the fighter-interceptor began to attack the bomber.

The armament of the aircraft consisted of 2 cannons of 20 mm caliber, installed in the wing. Me-163 was one of the smallest fighters of World War II. The wingspan of the aircraft was 9.81 m, the wing area of ​​the aircraft was 20.37 sq.m, the take-off weight was 5299.8 kg, the load per unit area of ​​the wing was 260.9 kg / sq.m. The maximum speed of the serial Me-163S was 858 km / h, the aircraft was able to climb 12,100 meters in 3 minutes 20 seconds; the rate of climb near the ground was 60 m / s.

364 aircraft were produced in mass production. Subsequently, a number of aircraft with rocket engines were created, but none of them ever became a serial combat aircraft of the Air Force.

The Me-163 aircraft was in service with only one fighter squadron - JG400 [commander - famous German pilot ace Wolfrang Spate; ended the war flying on the Me-262, had 99 air victories to his credit] and was used exclusively to combat enemy heavy bombers on the Western Front. By the end of 1944, the combat activity of the JG400 dropped sharply due to the constant bombing of airfields, poor pilot training, and a critical situation with the delivery of fuel. In reality, only the 1st group was fighting, which managed to achieve 9 victories with the loss of 14 aircraft. The 2nd group, due to a lack of fuel, ended the war without making a single sortie ...

The Me-163 rocket plane was not covered with the glory of victories. Many vehicles were lost due to engine failure. Many of them died in air battles. The rest were captured by the Allies and for some time were tested in the research institutes of the Air Forces of the victorious countries. This indicated that his flight performance was of interest.

In our country, test flights of a two-seat training version of the machine - Me-163S were carried out.

In the years when the speed of 700 - 750 km / h was considered very good for serial fighters, in Germany, the designers already knew what would happen to the aircraft when it reached a speed of twice, four times as much, how the car would behave in the sound speed zone and far for her. All the years of the war, the Germans, it turns out, stubbornly conducted relevant research, and not only theoretical, but already in laboratories and at test sites, "purging" in the wind tunnels of Göttingen, Hamburg, Volkenrode, Detmold, Travemünde, Pienemünde, in the giant Otzale tube in the Alps, they shot detailed films about the flights of cruise missiles, about the fall of experimental bombs from a great height (so that when they fall, they have time to accelerate to the desired speed). They learned to reliably, with an error of no more than 1%, determine the parameters of a supersonic air flow at any point of the profile flowing around it, take into account the influence of various physical and geometric factors on such a flow, and much more - and as a result, in 1944, Germany was already building at least 8 experienced jet aircraft, at least 7 were in the design stage.

In 1944 - 1945, our Western allies discovered in Germany a ready-made scavenging aerodynamic model of the Jaeger R-13 fighter (chief designer Alexander Lippisch) and an experimental glider DM-1 - a simplified "analogue" of this fighter, a narrow tailless triangle.

The Americans have already flown on the DM-1. The speed of the R-13 would be, according to some sources, 1650, according to others - 1955, according to others - 2410 km / h. In the powerful wind tunnel of Göttingen, the Germans blew the R-13 model in a flow more than 2.5 times the speed of sound.

Designed by Alexander Lippisch, the DM-1 glider had a 60° leading edge sweep and a 15° trailing edge sweep. The glider was created at the end of the Second World War as a full-scale gliding model of the projected fighter aircraft with a ramjet. The DM-1 was developed in order to test the possibility of providing acceptable flight characteristics of an aircraft of such a scheme at low flight speeds. In the absence of a prototype aircraft equipped with a sufficiently powerful power plant, it was planned to obtain high-speed aerodynamic data in a wind tunnel. Aerodynamic data in the region of intermediate speeds were obtained during flight tests, during which the DM-1 was towed to a high altitude (approximately 7600 meters or more), after which the aircraft separated and free-flyed. The DM-1 was supposed to accelerate to the speed required by the test program during a protracted dive. The relatively small mass of this glider did not allow it to develop a very high speed in a dive. The maximum speed in a dive was approximately 558.7 km / h.

When creating the DM-1 glider, Lippisch was assisted by two groups of engineers - aviation technology enthusiasts from the universities of Darmstadt and Munich (the glider got its name from the initial letters of these cities).

Apart from the lack of an engine, the DM-1 was a fully completed aircraft, including a tricycle retractable landing gear. To ensure the minimum mass of the structure, the aircraft was made of wood, and thin aircraft plywood was used as skin. In addition to the innovative wing shape, a unique design feature was that the cockpit was a root part of the leading edge of the vertical tail of a large relative thickness.

The DM-1 fell into the hands of the American occupying forces, after which it was used in the United States for testing in 1945. The results obtained were so encouraging that Conver received a contract to design and build a jet modification of this airframe. The DM-1 is currently in the US Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio.

Immediately after the war, the United States removed 86 German military designers and scientists from Germany. An incomplete list of them (only the "leaders" are listed) was given in December 1946 by the Aviation News magazine. Named among them was Wernher von Braun, the chief designer of the V-2 rocket, later the head of the development of the American Saturn launch vehicles and the Apollo series spacecraft, and the first was Dr. Alexander Lippisch ...

In conclusion of our story, I would like to return to the developments in the field of jet technology by designer Ernst Heinkel, or rather, to the Heinkel He-162 "Salamander" aircraft.

The history of this car is very interesting. In the last year of the war, when the inevitability of the defeat of Germany was already obvious, two "great ideas" owned Hitler - the creation of a total retaliation weapon and the total mobilization of the entire country. During this period, one after another, "extremely simple" and at the same time, it would seem, very effective means of fighting the enemy appear. One of them was the "total" He-162 fighter. One of the leaders of the Ministry of Armaments had the idea to create a small jet fighter, later called "people's", designed to "defend the fatherland." It was required that it be easy to manage. It was supposed to fly, after a short training, mostly boys from the glider schools of the "Hitler Youth".

The task for the development and tactical and technical requirements for such an aircraft were issued simultaneously to five companies: Blom and Foss, Heinkel, Junkers, Arado and Focke-Wulf. According to the requirements, the speed of the aircraft was to be 750 km / h, armament - 2 guns, flight time 20 minutes, weight 2000 kg., Power plant - one BMW 003 turbojet engine with a thrust of 810 kg.

On September 8, 1944, Heinkel employees received an order for the design of the aircraft. Even before proceeding with its layout, they already knew that it was not advisable to place a single engine in the fuselage. Having experience in building a single-engine He-178 aircraft, they understood how many different linkages would be required with this placement of the engine. It was easier to install the engine above the fuselage, as was already done by the Fizler designers on the Fi-103 projectile. In order to simplify production, the wing and plumage were decided to be made of wood. Even the fuel tank was veneered. It was decided to make the landing gear with a nose wheel, which was supposed to provide good take-off and landing qualities of the car.

The design study of the Non-162 aircraft began on September 24, 1944, and already on December 6, that is, just 2 months later, the first prototype of the aircraft was flown into the air by pilot Peters, who had an engineering education. When it was tested, a maximum flight speed of 840 km / h was obtained at an altitude of 6000 meters. Unfortunately, this talented pilot later died during the testing of the second prototype He-162 aircraft due to the destruction of the wing in flight. However, Hitler hurried Heinkel and therefore, after a slight strengthening of the wing structure, even without additional flight tests, the aircraft was put into production simultaneously at several Heinkel and Junkers factories.

On July 17, 1945, an air parade took place at the English airfield in Farnborough, in which captured German-made aircraft also took part. Among others, 8 He-162 aircraft were shown. According to the report of an English pilot who tested the serial He-162, the speed of the machine did not exceed 750 km / h, which was explained by the haste of launching the aircraft into mass production. About the flight and aerobatic properties of this fighter, he expressed himself in just two words: "The best in the world!"

The original article by Andrey Lyubushkin is on the site "Aviators of World War II". I took the liberty of inserting additional information about the He-178, He-280, He-162, Me-163 aircraft, experimental developments of A. Lippisch into it, supplementing it with some interesting drawings and photographs.

For those who are interested in the history of the creation of jet aircraft in the design bureau of Ernst Heinkel, I suggest reading one of the chapters of his book "In my fast-paced life ..." -

Last edited on 12/12/2011 17:06

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Since the summer of 1944, the Third Reich and its allies have gone into "deaf protection". The catastrophe in Belarus, the transfer of hostilities on the eastern front beyond the borders of the USSR, the opening of a second front, the massive bombing of German territory: everything suggested the imminent and imminent collapse of the "eternal" Reich. Separate local successes of the German armed forces simply prolonged the agony. Germany and its allies were forced to wage war on two fronts: from the east, the Red Army approached the primordially German territories, whose military power increased every day, from the west the Anglo-American troops advanced, having a "big tooth" on the Nazis and a huge technical superiority.

In the context of the conduct of hostilities in the period from June 1944 to May 1945, several rather interesting questions arise. How great were the losses of the Reich in the personnel of the armed forces and in the main types of military equipment during this period? How were they distributed among the theaters of operations? Which direction (western or eastern) was a priority for the leadership of the Reich? For those who live in the territory of the former USSR, it would seem that the answer is obvious. But is he true? After all, for those who today live in the West and in the United States, the correct answer seems to be quite different.

On the one hand, there is a “canonized” opinion, the source of which lies in the Soviet interpretation of the events of the Second World War: the main efforts of the Reich Armed Forces and the allies of the Germans concentrated against the Red Army, and they considered the western front as secondary. On the other hand, there is a directly opposite opinion, especially in the English-language "pop" historiography, regarding the eastern front as "secondary".
Let's try to abstract from personal predilections, preferences and patriotism, and analyze the distribution of resources in the Reich by theaters of war and their losses during the last year of World War II in Europe. Based on these statistics, we will see which of the fronts was considered by the German leadership to be a higher priority. Simply put, whom Hitler was "more afraid of." Let's start with military equipment.

AVIATION

Combat aviation played a huge role in the Second World War. Air superiority allowed the opposing sides to inflict significant losses on the enemy, in turn greatly reducing their own. Moreover, the aircraft industry was a kind of "litmus test" for each of the warring countries, showing both the industrial and intellectual potential of the country, and the ability to put it into practice.
You need to start with statistics on the production of aviation equipment during the Second World War:

According to German data, from September 1, 1939, until the end of the war, the German aviation industry and the industry of the countries occupied by Germany produced 113,515 aircraft of all types, of which 18,235 bombers, 53,729 fighters, 12,359 attack aircraft, 11,546 training aircraft, 1,190 naval aircraft , 3145 airborne gliders.

In Soviet times, it was claimed that the Germans lost 77,000 aircraft on the eastern front. The classic work "Soviet Aviation in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 in Figures" gives more modest figures for the losses of the German Air Force on the Eastern Front: 1941 - 4200 aircraft, 1942 - 11,550, 1943 - 15,200, 1944 - 17,500 , 1945 - 4,400. In total: 52,850 aircraft.

In the monograph "Secrecy Removed" by a team of authors led by G.F. Krivosheeva contains other data on the losses of the German Air Force on the Eastern Front: 1941 - 4,000 aircraft, 1942 - 11,500 aircraft, 1943 - 19,000, 1944 - 17,500, 1945 - 7,500. Total: 59,500 aircraft of all types. This is, so to speak, the official Russian point of view at this moment.

There is a point of view different from our official one. For the first time, the numbers of irretrievable / total losses of the German Luftwaffe were made public by a well-known aviation historian O. Groyler(Gröller) in the 3rd issue of the magazine "Militaergechichte" back in 1972, based on the daily reports of the 6th department of the Quartermaster General of the Reich Air Force. To say that these data differ from those circulating in Soviet historiography is to say nothing. So the loss of aircraft in 1941 on the eastern front is, according to these data, 2213 aircraft irretrievably and 1435 heavily damaged. For the period from January to August 1942, 4,561 were destroyed and 3,740 were damaged.

But the fact is that the documents of the 6th department were not completely preserved, since the Luftwaffe archive was mostly destroyed by the Germans themselves. More or less complete data were preserved until December 1943, partly until December 1944, and fragmentary for 1945. The rest of the documents were mostly taken to the United States, and only in the 1970s were returned to the military archive of the FRG.

Thus, there is no reliable data on the losses of the German Air Force during the last year of hostilities in Europe. However, the irretrievable losses on the eastern front suffered precisely during the performance of combat missions were known quite accurately. According to Groyler, in 1944 they amounted to: 839 fighters, 1342 bombers and attack aircraft, 376 reconnaissance aircraft. Some domestic "historians" happily clung to these figures and, based on the known losses of the Soviet Air Force, deduced the loss ratio of 6:1 in favor of the Germans, and some even managed to get 8:1. However, these "historians" forgot to take into account that all the belligerents suffered significant non-combat losses in aviation throughout the Second World War. The figure of non-combat losses ranges from 40% in the German Air Force, to 50-55% in the Soviet. In addition, Greuler wrote his work back in 1972, since then several more very detailed studies have been published on the issue of the losses of the German Air Force in the period from 1940 to 1945.

At the moment, the most complete and reliable information on the losses of the Luftwaffe and on the layout of these losses in the theater of operations is contained in the works of Professor Murray and aviation historian Michael Holm.

According to these data, the losses of the Luftwaffe are: on the Eastern Front for the period February - December 1942, 2,955 aircraft were destroyed directly in battle, 2,308 aircraft were lost "outside the enemy's influence" and 1,806 aircraft were damaged. The total losses of the Luftwaffe on the Soviet-German front amounted to 5263 aircraft destroyed plus 1806 damaged, and in total 7,069 combat vehicles, which is 58% of all Luftwaffe losses in 1942 in relation to all theaters. On all other fronts, 3,806 aircraft were lost irrevocably and 1,102 damaged, or 4,908 combat vehicles. Data on training units for 1942 are not available.

As follows from the tables: the number of combat aircraft sent by the NKAP factories to the Air Force units was almost 3 times higher than the losses of combat aircraft of all types of front-line aviation, without taking into account wear and tear, including obsolete and imported aircraft. (Recall that during the 6 months of the 1941 war, on the contrary, the losses of our combat aircraft exceeded by 2.4 times the number of combat aircraft of a new type sent by the NKAP factories to the Air Force units).

1944 was a turning point in the strategy of the Luftwaffe on the Soviet-German front.

The German command disbanded several bomber squadrons, the flight crew of which was sent for retraining to replenish the fighter squadrons. Some aviation schools and rear service units were also disbanded, the materiel of which was transferred to replenish combat flight units, and personnel, mainly non-commissioned officers and privates of all specialties, were sent to replenish ground units of the SS.

The measures taken to disband some aviation schools and bomber squadrons show that the German command did not expect to strengthen its bomber aviation in the future, completely abandoned the offensive strategy and sought to keep the active units of the Air Force fully equipped and even have some reserve, especially in fighter aviation, which is a means of defensive strategy.

The main reasons for this change in strategy, in our opinion, are the absolute dominance of Soviet aviation in the air, the successful advance of Soviet ground forces on the Soviet-German front, and, as a result, the success of the Allied Air Force and ground forces in other theaters of military operations, including the opening long-awaited 2nd front in Europe.

In the second half of 1944, the German command significantly increased the cover of ground troops by fighter aircraft and air reconnaissance.

In 1944, compared with 1943, the use of FV-190 aircraft increased sharply due to a decrease in the use of Yu-87, Yu-88, Xe-111 and FV-189, especially Yu-87 and FV-189, the number of sorties FV- 190 in 1944 increased from month to month. This suggests that the German command turned the FV-190 fighter into a multi-purpose aircraft that acts as a fighter, attack aircraft, light bomber and short-range reconnaissance aircraft. It was produced in 20 modifications. The production of fighters in Germany in 1944 reached a maximum of 23,805 aircraft, due to the production of the FV-190 and a decrease in the production level of some bombers. (See Table 3)

In the Soviet Union, in connection with the absolute conquest of aviation strategic air supremacy and a significant reduction in losses, the production of combat aircraft, starting in October 1944, began to exceed their needs. This created a large reserve of aircraft, especially fighters. A situation arose when the question arose of a significant reduction (even cessation) of the production of combat aircraft and, instead of them, to expand the development and production of only experimental aircraft.

AIRCRAFT PLANTS

The development of projectile aircraft began at the dawn of the development of aviation, according to the terminology of that time, this type of aircraft was called aviation torpedoes. In 1910–1911 Frenchman R. Lauren developed the project of the world's first projectile aircraft.

During the First World War, the development of aircraft torpedoes began in England. At the end of 1915, Professor A. Low, who worked on the creation of radar devices, was involved in the development of a radio-controlled aircraft to fight the German Zeppelins and to attack ground targets. The projectile aircraft received the designation AT, which meant Aerial Target (“Air Target”), this was done for reasons of secrecy in order to hide the true purpose of the weapon. The AT aircraft was a small radio-controlled monoplane, equipped with a 50 hp Gnome engine. With. The first prototype AT took off in October 1916, during testing it turned out that the operation of the engine created strong electrical noise for the radio control system. In this regard, work on AT was stopped, but other aircraft manufacturing companies became interested in the concept of A. Lowe.

At the aircraft factory in Farnborough, a prototype aircraft monoplane torpedo was built with a wingspan of 6.7 m and with a 35 hp engine. e., developed by ABC. One of the aircraft torpedoes of this type was demonstrated in March 1917, but it crashed immediately after launch. Sopwith attempted to build an ABS-powered biplane aircraft torpedo, but this aircraft was never completed. The exact number of different types of aircraft torpedoes developed by the British during World War I and the details of their chronology are unclear.

In 1918, the United States began testing the first unmanned aerial vehicles made according to the “biplane” scheme, the N-9 developed by E. Sperry-Curtis and the Bug (“Bug”) designed by C. Kettering. Further tests revealed the advantage of the N-9, after which the US Army ordered an experimental batch of 100 vehicles. The N-9 device had the following characteristics: wingspan - 6.7 m, aircraft length - 4.6 m, takeoff weight - 431 kg, maximum speed - 113 km / h.

Work on automated aircraft resumed in England after the war. In 1920, the serial Bristol F.2B fighter aircraft was radio-controlled and flew successfully, although during test flights the aircraft had a pilot to back up the automatic control system in case of an emergency. In 1921, a radio-controlled aircraft was tested, and in 1927, an aviation torpedo Larynx (“Larynx”),

In the Soviet Union, the Special Technical Bureau for Special Purpose Military Inventions (Ostekhbyuro), led by V.I. Bekauri. For work on a telemechanical aircraft (TMS - that was the name of an automatically or remotely controlled projectile at that time), heavy bombers TB-1 and TB-3 were chosen.

In 1933, the Daedalus system was created for the telemechanical aircraft TB-1. It allowed, after taking off the TMS in manual mode with the help of the crew and subsequent switching to the system, to control the projectile aircraft by radio from the TB-1 escort aircraft, while the crew was then ejected from the TMS with a parachute. Further, the projectile was controlled by radio from the control TB-1, and when the TMS approached a certain distance from the target, a signal was given from the control vehicle to dive.

In October 1933, tests began on a prototype TMS (TB-1 No. 750) with an AVP-2 autopilot coupled with radio control devices. At first, only the autopilot was tested, the pilot sitting in the cockpit insured the automation. On this plane flights Moscow - Klin-Moscow and Moscow - Odoev - Moscow - Zagorsk - Moscow were made. The autopilot maintained the set course during flights satisfactorily, but the speed of the car fluctuated greatly, and several times the pilot had to take the helm and intervene in the operation of the automation.

The next step was to control the TMS by radio, but with the presence of a pilot on board. Command signals were given from the tower of the Central Aerodrome in Moscow. During the tests on October 13, 1933, there was a failure in the control system, after which the aircraft spontaneously went into a dive, but the pilot reacted in time and took control. It turned out that the failure of AVP-2 became the cause of the failure. After repairing the autopilot, they planned to try to attack a conditional target - the intersection of the highway and the railway in Khimki.

The TMS was supposed to be controlled from the TB-3 control aircraft. It was planned that TMS would fly to Senezhskoye Lake, return and pass exactly over the checkpoint at the intersection. The tests lasted two weeks, the best achievement was the flight to Dmitrov and back with a deviation of about 100 m when passing the checkpoint.

Subsequently, many different designs of autopilots (pneumatic, hydraulic, electromechanical) and several advanced radio control systems were tested on the TB-1. For example, in July 1934, an aircraft with an AVP-3 autopilot was tested in Monin, and in October of the same year, an aircraft with an AVP-7 autopilot was tested.

In July 1935, Deputy Commissar of Defense M.N. Tukhachevsky approved the assignment for the development of a telemechanical aircraft complex, which received the designation TMS-36. It consisted of two radio-controlled TB-1s equipped with an explosive charge and one TB-3 guidance aircraft. The takeoff of the TB-1 aircraft was carried out by pilots, who then ejected by parachute, further to the target they were led by operators from the TB-3 board, which was moving behind at a distance of 10–20 km. In 1936, prototype aircraft were built and tested, but the TMS-36 was not accepted into service due to the low reliability of the control system. At the beginning of January 1938, work on telemechanical aircraft was stopped, although at that time a method was being worked out for returning a TB-3 projectile pilot to his airfield by transferring to an I-15 or I-16 fighter suspended from TB-3. In addition, the TMS TB-3 was developed with 3500 kg of explosives, on the back of which the KR-6 control aircraft was attached. The range of this hitch was about 1200 km.

However, in May 1939, the commissions of the Military Council of the Air Force demonstrated the flights of the TB-1 (serial number 712), controlled by radio from takeoff to landing, there was no crew on the plane. In the act, the commission wrote: “The tests carried out proved that for the first time in the USSR ... the problem of creating a telemechanical aircraft was resolved ...” The experience gained helped in the design of other, more modern radio-controlled aircraft. In September 1939, the Defense Committee issued a resolution on the creation of telemechanical modifications TB-3, SB, I-16 and UT-2. The work was to be carried out by plant No. 379 together with the Leningrad branch of NII-10. The Krechevitsy airfield near Pskov stood out as a test base, the chief designer of the work was R.G. Chachikyan.

In January 1940, the Council of Labor and Defense issued a resolution on the production of telemechanical aircraft, which put forward requirements for the creation of telemechanical aircraft with takeoff without landing (one-time) TB-3 by July 15, telemechanical aircraft with takeoff and landing (reusable) TB-3 by October 15, SB command aircraft by August 25, and DB-ZF by November 25, 1940. These works were carried out as part of the Berkut project.

Several prototypes of remotely controlled aircraft based on the TB-1 and TB-3 were built. At the beginning of 1941, the TMS TB-3 "Bomba" (another name is TB-3 "Torpedo") designed by R.G. Chachikyan successfully passed state tests. Two other TMS, TB-3 and command SB, were being tested at the FRI, two other TMS with command aircraft (SB engineer Burning and UT-2 engineer Nikolsky) were factory tested in Leningrad. State tests for them were scheduled for July-August 1941, after which it was supposed to form the first special-purpose squadron from telemechanical aircraft. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, work on the manufacture of six experimental telemechanical aircraft at the Leningrad Plant No. 379 was mothballed, two tested samples of TMS TB-3 were transferred to the Red Army Air Force Research Institute for military testing.

At the end of 1941, one fully trained TMS, consisting of a TB-3 Torpedo (No. 22 707) equipped with a 35 00-kg high-explosive bomb, and a DB-ZF command aircraft were at the jump airfield in Ivanovo. In January 1942, this TMS was sent to destroy the Vyazma railway junction. When approaching Vyazma, the antenna of the DB-ZF command aircraft was killed by enemy anti-aircraft artillery fire, so the unguided TB-3 "Torpedo" went to the rear of the German troops. The second copy of the "telemechanical" aircraft burned down at the airfield during an explosion of ammunition in a nearby bomber. After that, work on telemechanical aircraft in the Soviet Union was stopped.

A year after the cessation of work on telemechanical aircraft in the USSR, work on the creation of similar systems began in the United States, the US Navy began research under the Option project ("Choice"), The first of this project was the TDN-1 remote-controlled aircraft (according to American terminology - attack drone) by Interstate Aircraft & Engineering, which could carry a torpedo or bomb under the fuselage. About a hundred TDN-1 aircraft were built, but they were used mainly for training and evaluation tests. The TDN-1 was followed by a series of TDR-1 projectiles in the amount of 189 copies. Their first combat use took place in late summer - early autumn 1944 in the Solomon Islands during attacks on Japanese ships. Of the 46 launched devices, 29 copies reached the goal. However, the result was not regarded as satisfactory, so the US Navy refused to continue the program further.

The US Air Force developed its own series of projectiles as part of the secret Controllable Bomb, Ground Launched project, this series was designated BQ. Among the devices of the BQ series were machines of various configurations, including even a converted Fairchild AB-21 training aircraft, but the radio-controlled bombers B-17 and B-24, which carried an explosive charge, turned out to be the most brought to practical use.

In July 1944, the US Air Force adopted a program called Aphrodite ("Aphrodite"), in which it was supposed to convert part of the B-17 bombers awaiting their repair into radio-controlled projectiles. Approximately 25 B-17 bombers, mostly B-17F modifications, were converted into BQ-7s, which were to be used to attack heavily fortified targets such as submarine repair docks and launch sites for German V-1 cruise missiles. The 562nd bomber squadron, based in Honinggon (England), was responsible for the combat use of projectile aircraft. After completing the training program, the squadron, equipped with ten projectiles and four control aircraft, moved to Fursfield (north-east of London).

Converted B-17 aircraft carried 9070 kg of Torpex explosive with a contact fuse. BQ-7s were supposed to take off under the control of a crew of two (pilot and engineer). The crew left the projectile with parachutes after setting the course of the device to the target and bringing the explosives to combat readiness. To improve safety when leaving the top of the cockpit was cut off. After the crew was ejected with parachutes, the unmanned vehicle continued to fly, remotely controlled from the CQ-4 escort aircraft (B-17 conversion), for this purpose the Double-Azon radio control system was installed on the BQ-7. At the initial stage of the flight, the BQ-7 and CQ-4 were accompanied by a fighter, which, in the event of loss of control of the projectile, was supposed to shoot it down.

As soon as the BQ-7 approached a certain distance from the target, its controls, on command from the CQ-4 aircraft, were set to the position required for the attack, after which the control aircraft left for the base. The first tests of the BQ-7 showed that it needed to be improved. Two television cameras were installed on it - one in the cockpit to monitor the instrument panel and one in the bow to monitor the flight course according to landmarks, images from the cameras were transmitted to the control aircraft.

The first combat use of the BQ-7 took place on August 4, 1944. The target was the starting positions of German V-1 missiles near the Pas de Calais. In the first phase of the operation, two control planes and two unmanned aerial vehicles took off, but one of the devices went out of control shortly after the first crew member parachuted. The device crashed near the coastal village of Orford and exploded, leaving behind a huge crater. The body of the other crew member was never found. The second unmanned aerial vehicle successfully reached the target area, but due to low clouds, the television image on the screen of the operator's receiver in the control aircraft was poor, so the deviation from the target during the attack was about 500 m. The second phase of the operation was a little more successful. One BQ-7 suffered a control failure before it could attack the target and was shot down by German anti-aircraft artillery. Another aircraft attacked the target with a deviation within 500 m.

On August 6, two projectile aircraft took off to attack German missile launch sites in France. The crews of the drones successfully left their vehicles after takeoff, but a few minutes later one of the vehicles went out of control and fell into the sea. Another unmanned vehicle, due to a malfunction in the control system, suddenly began to move in a circle over the industrial area of ​​Ipswich, but after a while, fortunately, turned away to the sea and drowned.

After these failures, the decision was made to replace the Double-Azon radio control system with the Castor system. The very first raid of a drone with a new control system was accompanied by a disaster: the parachute of the pilot of one of the devices did not open during the jump, and the pilot died. Nevertheless, the unmanned vehicle completely passed along the planned route to the target, but was shot down by anti-aircraft guns and fell approximately 100 m from the target. During the next flight, one of the devices crashed, missing the target due to the poor quality of the television image, and the second device sank into the sea due to failures in the control system.

Further operations took place in October without much success. One unmanned vehicle was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery, and the other lost control over the North Sea and crashed into the water after running out of fuel. The third device failed to detect its target due to poor visibility, so an angry operator from the control plane directed it to Berlin. The fourth drone fell close to its target and caused serious damage.

On October 27, the US Strategic Aviation Headquarters in Europe concluded that the actions of the BQ-7 devices against heavily protected targets were not successful, so the decision was made to use the BQ-7 against industrial targets in large German cities. The first of these sorties took place on 5 December, targeting a railway station west of Hanover. Due to difficult meteorological conditions, the first aircraft was unable to find its original target and was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery while approaching the next target. The second vehicle did not explode its warhead after it fell on the target, and the Germans got a relatively undamaged aircraft with a complete set of remote control systems. The last flight under the Aphrodite program took place on January 20, 1945, the target was the power station in Oldenberg. Both projectile aircraft overshot their target, after which the Aphrodite concept was considered unsuccessful. In addition, she proved costly and was often more dangerous to her crews than to the Germans.

In 1944, in the Pacific, the US Air Force began converting a number of worn-out B-24D/J bombers into BQ-8 radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles, which were supposed to be used against heavily defended targets in the Japanese islands. The concept was the same as for the BQ-7 vehicles, the takeoff was to be carried out by a crew of two. After takeoff and climbing to cruising altitude, the crew removes the warhead fuses from the fuses, switches the manual control of the aircraft to remote control from the escort aircraft and jumps out with a parachute. The payload of the BQ-8 consisted of 11,300 kg of Torpex explosive. The total number of B-24 bombers converted to BQ-8 projectiles is not known, but it is known that they never took part in hostilities.

As part of its own Anvil project, the US Navy converted at least two PB4Y-1 aircraft (patrol version of the B-24 bomber) into projectile aircraft, but the BQ-8 designation was not applied to these devices. The same project included testing a remote control system based on the PY-1 television installation.

Venture. The image of the television camera from the projectile aircraft was transmitted to the B-17 escort aircraft. The control signal corrected by the system was then sent to the projectile. Two PB4Y-1 flights took place in the North Sea, but without any success. On August 12, 1944, during takeoff, a warhead spontaneously exploded on the first apparatus and destroyed both crew members. The second device in September of the same year attacked an area target, but the accuracy of the strike could not be determined, because the television camera was damaged by anti-aircraft artillery fire. Due to the low reliability and lack of accuracy of unmanned weapons, the Anvil program was soon closed.

Similar work on remote-controlled projectile aircraft began in 1942 in Germany. On the instructions of the Ministry of Aviation (RLM), the DFS Glider Institute began studying the features of the use of projectile aircraft using the Mistel scheme, similar to Vakhmistrov's Zven scheme. After the end of the preliminary tests, a program code-named "Beethoven" was adopted. As part of this program, in July 1943, the RLM issued a task to the Junker firm to prepare 15 copies of the Mistel-1 combat system. This system consisted of a Ju 88A projectile bomber and a control aircraft - a Bf 109F fighter.

In the spring of 1944, as part of the IV group of the bomber squadron KG 101 (IV / KG 101), a special squadron was formed, which began to receive Misteli-1. The control fighter was mounted on the back of the bomber on two front rigid struts and one rear spring-loaded strut. Two options for the combat use of the bundle were envisaged. According to the first option, takeoff and flight to the target was carried out only with the engines of the lower machine running. The launch of the engines of the control aircraft was carried out when approaching the target, after which the pilot transferred the bunch into a gentle dive and unhooked. The freed bomber dived on the target, and the control aircraft went to the base. The second option provided for the joint operation of the engines of both aircraft until the moment of undocking, while the engine of the upper aircraft was fed with fuel from the carrier. On the night of June 24, 1944, the Misteley 1 squadron from IV / KG 101 attacked the Allied ships in France at the mouth of the Seine River for the first time.

Other variants of the Mistele were also developed. For example, the Mistel-2 was a combination of the Junker Ju 88G-1 projectile with the Fw 190A-6 or Fw 190F-8 control aircraft. In 1944, 75 Ju 88G-1 bombers under repair were converted into Misteli-2. The first sample took off in November of the same year, it was planned to deliver 125 copies.

The Mistel-3 was a modernization of the Mistel-2, in which an additional landing gear was installed under the fuselage of the projectile, which was dropped after takeoff. The strengthening of the landing gear was caused by several Mistelei-2 accidents due to strut failures during takeoff from poorly prepared airfields.

In October 1944, the IV group of the KG 101 bomber squadron was transferred to the II / KG 200, it was armed with 60 Mistels. In December, it was supposed to carry out a massive attack on the British naval base at Scapa Flow, but due to bad weather conditions, the attack did not take place. Then the German command redirected the Mistels to use them as part of Operation Eisenhammer (“Iron Hammer”), which was scheduled for March next year. The essence of the operation was a one-time bombing of power plants located in the European part of the Soviet Union in order to paralyze the defense industry. About 100 Mistels were required to complete Operation Iron Hammer. According to the scenario of the planned operation, the Mistels were supposed to take off from airfields in East Prussia, but in March these airfields were captured by the advancing Soviet troops. In connection with the change in the situation, II / KG 200 received an order to redirect their Mistels to attack bridges on the Oder, Neisse and Vistula rivers. Since April, the KG 30 bomber squadron, partially re-equipped on the Misteli, has been connected to these hostilities.

A version of the Mistel-3 was developed, which was intended for reusable use as an ultra-long fighter. At the same time, the lower plane was piloted by its own crew; in order to achieve the maximum range, two drop fuel tanks with a capacity of 900 liters each were suspended from it.

Mistel-4 was a combination of Ju 88G-7 and Focke-Wulf Ta 152H fighter. Until the end of the war, about 250 copies were built, up to 50 copies were captured by the Allied forces in the Mercerburg area.

"Mistel-5" was a bunch of stuffed with 2500-kg explosives of the lower aircraft Ta 154A and the upper control aircraft Fw 190A-8. On 14 July 1944, specifications were issued and the Posen factory was supposed to convert four Ta 154As to this combination. The Focke-Wulf company assumed that the first Mistel-5s would be ready for delivery at the end of August, fifty bundles were being prepared for re-equipment. Work continued with a high degree of urgency until mid-August 1944, when an order was received from the RLM to stop work.

In the first half of 1944, one of the Savoy-Marchetti S.M.79 bombers of the Nazi Italian Air Force was converted into a projectile. The bomb-filled plane took off under the control of a pilot on the night of June 4-5, 1944 and headed for Gibraltar in order to attack the British ships stationed there. In a given area, the pilot switched the control of the aircraft from manual to remote, and then jumped out of the car with a parachute. The projectile aircraft continued to fly by radio signals from the accompanying Cantieri control aircraft Cant Z. 1007-11. However, the attack failed, because due to a defect in the radio control system, the projectile crashed before reaching the target. Nevertheless, work in this direction was continued, and the Italian company Ambrosini built a prototype aircraft projectile, which passed flight tests in June 1944. There is no information about its combat use.

author Dushenko Konstantin Vasilievich

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A unique document from the "For Official Use" category describing the design and operation of the YuMO-004B jet engine, the last and most advanced Nazi German military aircraft "Messerschmitt-262" at that time in the world. In the last months of the war, it was with this aircraft that Hitler and Goering hoped for a turning point in the “air war”, during which the Reich suffered one defeat after another, were connected. However, the tests and mass production of the Me-262 were started too late due to the short-sightedness of the Luftwaffe leadership, led by Ernst Udette and Goering's deputy Erhard Milch. The document was developed by the team of the so-called "Bureau of New Technology" of the Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR in 1946. Each copy of this document had its own registration number - in our case, No. 233. A similar document issued by the same bureau was devoted to the fuselage and aerodynamic qualities of the aircraft (not in our collection). Original, condition according to age. The full version of the document is in .

The German fighter Me-262 is considered by many experts to be one of the best military aircraft that took part in the Second World War. If the leaders of the Third Reich had assessed its capabilities and combat potential in time, victory in Europe would have gone to the allies at a much higher price. However, the short-sightedness of Hitler, the unprofessionalism of the Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering, bureaucratic delays turned this first jet fighter in the history of the air war into a kind of "paria" in the detachment of combat aircraft. But how unsuccessful and short was his fate of the Me-262, so amazing was the post-war history of the ideas of jet aviation embedded in it.

THE LAST HOPE OF THE FUHRER

This aircraft had its own mission from the very beginning. Along with the "weapon of retaliation" (an atomic bomb) hastily developed by German scientists, the Messerschmitt-262 was considered as a "weapon of salvation" of the Third Reich from total defeat by the Allies. Under the influence of the Imperial Minister of Propaganda J. Goebbels, whose opinion was shared by many generals of the German High Command, Germany owed its defeats on the fronts primarily to the lack of professionalism of the commander of the air force, Hermann Goering, who was unable to protect the sky and the cities of the Reich from the devastating raids of the Allied aviation. Many believed that if the German Luftwaffe managed to become the master of the situation in the air, a decisive turning point could come in the course of the war. And the main hope in this matter was placed on the new jet Messerschmitt.

In the notes of Joseph Goebbels, which he punctually kept throughout the war, the theme of the jet Me-262 pops up constantly, and in the last weeks of the war it sounds like a spell: “In accordance with the availability of gasoline, all types of aircraft will be withdrawn from our weapons program, with the exception of five. The main attention, according to the decision of the Fuhrer, will be given to the production of ME-262.<…>“Direct hits from the ME-262 just tear the mosquito apart. It takes four hits to bring down such a bomber. In a month of such battles, the Anglo-American enemy must suffer such significant losses that he will have to limit his activity in the air.<…>“Now the Fuhrer has great hopes for jet fighters. He even calls them "the machines of German destiny". He believes that thanks to jet aircraft, it will be possible - at least by defensive actions - to undermine enemy air superiority.<…>“Now the Führer places the greatest hopes on new jet aircraft. This month, 500 of them will already be produced, and next - 1000. Airfields for them can be built with great difficulty.<…>“The Führer pins all his hopes on the use of these new jets. The enemy will not be able to oppose them in the air with anything significant.

All these are records dated March and April 1945, when the outcome of the Second World War was no longer in doubt. Already in the last days of the war, when Soviet troops stood at the walls of Berlin, six commissioners were appointed at Hitler's headquarters to implement the Me-262 accelerated production program. The management of the program was entrusted to two trusted combat generals - Josef Kammhuber, who was responsible for the production of night fighters, and Dietrich Peltz, who was responsible for the production of day fighters. The Third Reich was dying, but the order to recruit 20 thousand cadets went to flight schools, who were to take to the air on the planes of the "German hope".

The German jet fighter "Messerschmitt-262" had another name - Schwalbe, which means "Swallow". Its flight advantages were already demonstrated in the first battle - on July 25, 1944, in the sky over Munich, the new Messerschmitt practically smashed the Mosquito English high-speed bomber to shreds. However, the Third Reich did not have enough time to produce a sufficient number of "miracle aircraft". And although from 1944 to 1945, 1433 Me-262 jet fighters were assembled and transferred to the front at German aircraft factories, which also became the most massive jet aircraft of the Second World War, he failed to fulfill his original mission. Perhaps due to the fact that the path of the new plane into the sky turned out to be surprisingly difficult.

LONG ROAD TO SKY

The idea of ​​creating a jet fighter aircraft in Germany was born almost simultaneously with the development of a turbojet engine (TRD). It should be noted that in the 1930s, the complexity of creating a turbojet engine, as one of the most science-intensive finished products of an aircraft, was considered the greatest. In addition, the very idea of ​​transonic aircraft was perceived with some skepticism, since the then existing wind tunnels did not allow determining the characteristics of such high-speed aircraft. For the first time, the development of a pursuit aircraft under the designation R-1065 began in October 1938. It was planned to install two R3302 jet engines with a thrust of 600 kgf each. It was expected that a fighter with these turbojet engines would be able to reach speeds of up to 900 km/h. The appearance of the aircraft was not formed immediately and its evolution is in many ways similar to the development of flora and fauna: from simple to complex. In addition, the new aircraft could fly "on the slop", as aircraft designers joked - that is, it did not require special high-purity aviation gasoline. At the end of the war, when Germany lost access to oil, this proved to be an important argument in his favor.
Based on the dimensions of the turbojet engine, which was manufactured at the BMW plant, the German aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt approved the first version of the future Me-262. The unusual combination of fuselage contours and the bearing surface (the Me-262 was equipped with the so-called "swept" wing) was a step towards the integral layout of the aircraft, which, as you know, was widely used in the creation of fourth-generation combat aircraft. The design of the aircraft was developed in such a way that each part was easy to manufacture and could be manufactured at various enterprises. A large shortage of aluminum alloys forced the designers, to the detriment of the weight of the airframe, to widely use steel and wood in the airframe design.

Fritz Wendel (right) and aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt after a test flight. 1935

The first flight of a jet fighter, piloted by one of the best pilots in Germany, Wendel, took place on March 25, 1942 and almost ended in disaster. The plane slowly gained a height of 50 meters, and when the pilot began to remove the landing gear, the left turbojet engine failed, and a little later, the right one. The pilot managed to turn the car around and successfully land it on the airfield. This was a result of the poor reliability of early turbojets. However, in the meantime, the Heinkel plant completed testing of the Junkers Jumo 004 A engine, which developed a thrust of 840 kgf. These engines were installed on the Me-262 and continued testing.

In total, three prototypes were produced, and its tests did not go very smoothly. April 18, 1942 experienced Me-262 crashed, the pilot died. All this threatened that the idea of ​​a jet fighter could be abandoned altogether, but the situation was saved by one of the best test pilots in Germany, Adolf Galland. He comprehensively tested the aircraft in the air and on the ground, and a few days later reported to Reichsmarschall Goering that “this machine is a real smile of Fortune! It gives us an advantage as long as the opponents use piston-engined aircraft. This aircraft opens a new page in combat use. Galland proposed some technical improvements in the design of the fighter, in particular, from now on all Me-262s were equipped - for the first time in the history of fighter aircraft - with ejection seats for emergency evacuation of pilots in case of damage to the aircraft. By the way, before the end of the war, this saved the lives of 70 Luftwaffe pilots, whose high-speed fighters were shot down or damaged.

Goering himself was infected by the enthusiasm of the pilots. The Luftwaffe was rapidly losing air supremacy, and the appearance of a new "indestructible" aircraft was supposed to improve the reputation of Goering himself. However, he did not immediately succeed in convincing Hitler that the Me-262 should become that “wonder weapon”. Even then, Hitler treated Goering and the entire Luftwaffe with such great distrust that he personally wanted to verify the effectiveness of the new technology. He demanded obligations and guarantees from engineers, designers and specialists, which they could not give. When the designer Messerschmitt himself arrived at headquarters with a report on the new aircraft, Hitler attacked him with reproaches, not allowing him to say a word. He ordered to continue testing on a few prototypes, and because of this whim of the Fuhrer, preparation for mass production of one of the best aircraft of the Second World War was delayed by almost a year!

Not only the choleric temperament of the German Fuhrer played a role, but also his attitude to questions of strategy. Defense in Hitler's eyes was a secondary matter. Where the Luftwaffe was concerned, he listened only to what pertained to offensive operations; he was deaf to the needs of air defense. When, in late August 1944, Speer and Galland personally drew his attention to the vital need to concentrate German fighter power in the defense of the Reich, Hitler simply threw them out the door, shouting that they must obey his orders. In turn, Goering never objected to Hitler, but only passed down the destructive orders of the Führer down the chain of command. In relation to honored pilots, he sometimes behaved completely insultingly. At one of the meetings, Goering began to talk about how the German fighter pilots received too many awards that they did not deserve. Galland, who was present at the meeting, upon hearing this, turned pale, tore off the Knight's Cross and threw it noisily on the Reich Minister's table. There was an icy silence, but Goering left it without consequences. At the very end of the war, Galland, who was, in fact, one of the creators of combat jet fighter aircraft, was sent to Italy with an unspoken order not to return to Germany until the end of the war. He survived, and in 1953 he wrote his memoirs, in which he spoke in detail, including about the history of the creation of the Me-262.

BATTLE OF THE DOOMED

Meanwhile, the situation on the fronts was rapidly deteriorating, and already in November 1943, the Nazi leaders again remembered the “miracle plane”. Its construction was hastily included in the armaments program and given emergency powers to organize speedy production. Goering personally visited the Messerschmitt factories to get acquainted with the progress of work on the Me-262. True, now there was another hitch: Hitler proposed converting the Me-262 into a jet bomber, which would require a complete redesign, hanging bomber sights and hangers for bombs. This could slow down the production of the aircraft for a long time, since the jet fighter, according to its flight data and visibility from the cockpit, was generally not suitable for targeted bombing.

And a few weeks later, the German aviation industry was overtaken by a large-scale disaster: in February 1944, Allied aviation carried out targeted mass raids on German aircraft factories (the so-called “Big Week” operation). As a result, more than 100 Me-262 aircraft were destroyed at the factories in Augsburg and Regensburg, many technicians and workers were killed. The production of jet aircraft was urgently transferred to the depths of Germany, to Leipheim, however, even there, on April 24, the final assembly workshops were destroyed by a powerful daytime raid by American bombers ...

Jet "Messers" began to enter the troops only in the fall of 1944. The first squadron of jet fighters was assigned to form one of the best German aces, Walter Nowotny, who had 250 downed aircraft to his account and was one of the most productive fighter pilots of the Reich. In the air town of Achmer near Osnabrück, the creation of the first unit of jet fighters, called the 7th Fighter Squadron (JG-7), began. Novotny personally selected pilots for his squadron and staffed it with the best fighter aces that the Luftwaffe had at that time. The “baptism of fire” of the “bomber hunters” was to be taken on the Western Front, which suffered especially from Allied air raids. The pilots noted that the Me-262 was much easier to control than the main Luftwaffe fighter Messerschmitt-109 (Gustav). True, the Me-262 accelerated worse, but on a dive it could easily go beyond the speed limits. In addition, a jet fighter flew quite well on one engine, while its speed reached 450-500 km / h. The duration of its flight at an altitude of 7000 meters reached 2.25 hours. The armament of the fighter consisted of four 30-mm MK 108A-3 cannons with 100 rounds of ammunition for the upper guns and 80 for the lower ones. The choice of such guns indicated that the aircraft was intended to fight enemy bombers, and there was no talk of any maneuverable combat with fighters. According to the German historian K. Becker, “with this weaponry, the pilots of the JG-7 squadron destroyed 45 four-engine bombers and 15 fighters accompanying them in the last week of February 1945.” For example, on March 17, several Me-262s from Group III took off to intercept B-17s bombing Ruland, Bohlen and Cottbus. In that battle, non-commissioned officer Koster shot down two Flying Fortresses, and Ober-Lieutenant Wegmann and Ober-Sergeant Gobel shot down one each.

Basically, the Me-262 fought in the West, but there were also clashes with Soviet pilots. The first battles between Soviet aircraft and the Me-262 showed the vulnerability of Soviet aircraft to German jet ones. At the end of February 1945, Soviet pilots even received a special order - to open fire on the Me-262 without waiting for the approach, from a distance of 600 meters. However, some Soviet aces - for example, the famous Ivan Kozhedub and Evgeny Savitsky - managed to shoot down Messerschmitt-262. Alexander Pokryshkin also encountered the Me-262, but could not bring it down. It also happened that the Soviet pilot managed to shoot down the Me-262, but the command did not believe him. This happened to fighter pilot Major Okolelov, who shot down a Messerschmitt-262 in the last days of April 1945 near the Breslau-Berlin highway. The downed plane crashed in difficult terrain, and the command simply did not believe the Soviet pilot. Only many years later he managed to prove his case - and even then thanks to the memoirs of an English pilot who witnessed this battle and wrote about him in his memoirs. The Soviet command believed the Englishman.

Soviet pilot, commander of the 518th Fighter Aviation Regiment Yakov Okolelov for many years after the war was waiting for confirmation of his victory over the Me-262

The tremendous advantage that jet fighters had over piston-engined machines was best demonstrated on April 7, 1945. On this day, the Luftwaffe, acting according to the "Wehrwolf" (werewolf) plan, directed its attacks not as usual against the bombers, but against the escort of the fighters accompanying them. Having suffered no noticeable losses, JG-7 reported twenty-eight enemy fighters shot down. On the other hand, on the same day, American P-51 Mustang fighters staged a deadly hunt for the German Messerschmitt-109 and Focke-Wulf-190. The military diary of the US I Air Corps speaks of the loss of at least 133 German aircraft and the death of seventy-seven pilots.

It was the last great air battle in the skies over Europe. A few days later, the Me-262 pilots had to relocate to an airfield in Prague, very distant for active participation in hostilities. And the courage and steadfastness of individual pilots could no longer prevent the military defeat of Nazi Germany. Thus ended the combat history of the Me-262. Developed before the war, ignored for years and almost even banned by Germany's top military leader, the German jet fighter remains a shining symbol of German ingenuity even in times of crisis, although its impact on the outcome of the war was negligible. A significant part of the built Me-262s died during the Anglo-American air raids, many of them never managed to take to the skies.

FALCONS VS SWALLOWS

Of course, the Kremlin knew that the Germans had a jet fighter, and were waiting for an opportunity to get at least one copy of this miracle of German engineering. In the USSR, in general, they were just as zealous about the achievements of the Germans in the military aircraft industry, as in Germany - to the characteristics of Soviet tanks. The rivalry between Russian and German pilots unfolded during the First World War (see note) and continued during the years of the Spanish confrontation (see note). Perhaps it was in Spain that the most sensitive blow was dealt to the pride of the Soviet military aircraft industry. Despite the incredible efforts of the USSR, German aviation reigned supreme in the Spanish sky, completely wiping the Spanish city of Guernica off the face of the earth as a demonstration of its power. And this despite the fact that the USSR did not skimp on expenses, trying to bring its aircraft closer to the battlefields in Spain. Nowadays, few people know that the Cuevas del Canelobre caves, which became a tourist attraction in the city of Alicante, were used in 1936 as a hangar for the assembly and shelter of Polikarpov's Soviet aircraft - multi-purpose U-2 biplanes (known in the West as Po-2). Work on equipping this natural cave, pouring concrete, making a giant tunnel (which still serves as the entrance to the cave), as well as laying almost three kilometers of a mountain road, took Soviet military specialists less than a year.

Today only specialists know about this episode of the war in Spain. On the Canelobre cave itself, there is not a single pointer to what happened here during the years of the Civil War. And in the USSR itself, they tried not to remember the war in Spain once again. Only occasionally - and even then through an oversight - did the Soviet press publish materials on this topic, as shown in the illustration below - which just shows Polikarpov's planes in the sky of Spain.

However, the Soviet pilots also had one more tooth against the German aces. The fact is that many of them in the 20s and 30s, bypassing the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, studied in the USSR and even were graduates of higher military educational institutions: the future Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Field Marshal Walter Model, Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch, General Manstein, Kruse, Gorn, Feige, Hitler's Air Force adjutant Colonel Nicholas von Below and many others. And the future developer of the Luftwaffe military aviation, aircraft designer Hugo Junkers, also lived in Moscow in the late 1920s, where he trained at the design bureau of Andrei Tupolev. And although many of them did not share the idea of ​​war with the USSR in their hearts, they all applied their experience gained during their studies in the USSR in the war. So, in the memoirs of Nicholas von Belov, an interesting dialogue is cited that took place between him and Hitler back in 1939, when the Fuhrer asked his adjutant what experience he had learned from his studies in the USSR. In response, von Below said that once, when German pilots were carrying out bombing exercises in the Lipetsk region (where they studied at the local secret aviation school), one of the bombs exploded in a field where local boys were grazing horses. Both children and horses died, but the Soviet authorities billed the German command only for horses. Not a word was said about the dead children. From this case, von Below drew a conclusion, which he shared with Hitler: “In a war, Russians will not count people ...”

German cadets - future aces of the Second World War in a flight school near Lipetsk. Photo by D. Sobolev

Of course, such treachery did not add love to the German pilots from the Soviet military. It is known that in many parts of the German pilots were not even taken prisoner alive. The technical superiority of German aircraft, which had developed by the beginning of the war, was evened out by the middle of it. The new Soviet fighters, as well as Soviet tanks, were not inferior, and in many respects even surpassed the enemy. And then, out of nowhere, the Me-262, practically inaccessible to Soviet aircraft. It was necessary to urgently study a new car - but for this it had to be obtained somewhere. Such an opportunity presented itself only in April 1945. Then Ober-Sergeant Major Helmut Lennartz from the same 7th Fighter Squadron was forced to make an emergency landing on the territory occupied by Soviet troops. At the same time, the engines of his aircraft received additional damage from the earth that got into them. After that, the car got to the Soviet troops, it was taken to the Air Force Research Institute and repaired under the guidance of the chief engineer - I. G. Rabkin. Then it was repainted in the colors of the Soviet military aviation, the swastika on the tail was replaced with a red star, and the car was handed over for flight tests.

Captured Me-262, which became a Soviet fighter

A little later, units of the 16th Air Army captured more than 20 Me-262 jet fighters at the airfields in Oranienburg, Dalgov, and later in Berlin Tempelhof. General Savitsky came to “run in” the captured jet car. He took to the air in a two-seat fighter, assisted him in flight by a German captured pilot. The aircraft were transported to the Air Force Research Institute, where Soviet specialists got acquainted with their design. Our pilots knew that repeatedly jet "Messers" were pulled into a dive at high speed and the German pilots crashed along with the machines, so the candidate for testing was selected especially carefully. The first Soviet pilot to fly the Me-262 was Andrey Kochetkov. On September 15, 1945, he launched a test flight on the repaired Schwalbe. Until November 1945, he completed 17 more flights, for which he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During the tests, the same unpleasant features were revealed when flying at high speeds that German specialists had previously encountered. When trying to reach a maximum speed of 870 km / h, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled dive. Fortunately for the pilot, this happened at an altitude of 11,000 m, and with great difficulty Kochetkov still managed to save the car. Until the end of the summer of 1945, the Air Force Research Institute managed to test the gas turbine Jumo 004 on domestic low-octane gasoline, and another turbojet engine, BMW 003, on tractor kerosene.

Meanwhile, in the occupied areas of Germany, Soviet and American specialists were on a real hunt for military-technical documentation and all kinds of "know-how" of German industry. In April 1945, employees of the army counterintelligence arrested in Berlin the chief technical adviser on jet aircraft, engineer E. Puruker. A few days later, the head of the GRU, General F. Kuznetsov, informed the Minister of Aviation Industry of the USSR A. Shakhurin: “The prisoner E. Puruker is of great interest to you, as he is widely aware of the production of jet engines for aircraft in Germany. The prisoner is in Moscow and can be provided for special interrogation by your representative.” It was from Puruker that it became known exactly where the technical documentation for the Me-262 and other experimental Luftwaffe aircraft was stored. Special teams were sent for the drawings, who carefully searched the design offices in Ceske Budejovice, Wiener Neustadt and Bergkristall east of Linz. A high-ranking engineer also reported on a secret airfield in the vicinity of Prague, where about 60 aircraft were based. Puruker turned out to be a very valuable informant, because it was he who spoke about the technical difficulties that the Germans encountered in the process of "bringing to mind" their jet "Swallows". He also clarified that the German aircraft industry reached the largest number of Me-262 production in March 1945, having received 237 aircraft from the conveyors.

Numerous messages from German pilots, engineers, high-ranking aviation officials increased interest in the jet Messerschmitt in the Soviet Union. The captured aircraft were sent to aircraft factories in Syzran and to the experimental sites of the Air Force Research Institute, where specialists carefully studied each node. In the conclusion of the act, based on the results of flight tests, it was noted, in particular, that the Me-262 is a finished jet aircraft and has a great advantage in maximum horizontal speed over modern domestic and foreign fighters with piston engines. Deputy People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry P.V. Dementiev, having received the first results of flight tests of a captured fighter, sent a letter to the Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars G.M. Malenkov with a proposal to immediately begin mass production of Soviet jet aircraft based on the Me-262. It was planned to organize the production of the aircraft at factories No. 381 in Moscow and No. 292 in Saratov. The study of the design of the aircraft, the production of drawings and adaptations of the aircraft for Soviet equipment and weapons was entrusted to the chief designer of the department Myasishchev, and the development of engines was entrusted to designer Klimov. Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev, having carefully studied the design of the Me-262, also noted in his report: “I must note that this aircraft, according to the recall of the Civil Aviation Research Institute of the Air Force, has a number of operationally proven designs, such as a three-wheeled landing gear, cabin pressurization, etc., has good handling characteristics , allows the installation of very powerful weapons and its use as an attack aircraft, has a proven double training version and the possibility of further increasing the maximum flight speed (up to 900-960 km / h) and range (up to 1200 km). At the same time, equipping the Air Force with spacecraft with jet aircraft (in single-seat and two-seat training versions) can begin from the middle of 1946.

However, the famous aircraft designer Alexander Yakovlev turned out to be a fierce opponent of this idea. In his book The Purpose of Life, he wrote: “At one of Stalin’s meetings, when discussing the work of the aviation industry, the proposal of People’s Commissar Alexei Shakhurin on the serial production of the captured Messerschmitt-262 jet fighter captured by our troops was considered. During the discussion, Stalin asked if I was familiar with this aircraft and what was my opinion. I replied that I know the Me-262 aircraft, but I object to launching it in our series, because it is a bad aircraft, difficult to control and unstable in flight, which had suffered a number of accidents in Germany. If it enters service with us, it will scare our pilots away from jet aircraft. They will quickly see from their own experience that this aircraft is dangerous and, moreover, has poor takeoff and landing properties. I also noticed that if we copy the Messerschmitt, then all attention and resources will be mobilized on this machine, and we will cause great damage to work on domestic jet aircraft ... ”After further discussion, the proposal to copy the Me-262 was rejected. Although the Soviet history of the German jet "Messerschmitt" did not end there. In preparation for the November 1946 parade over Red Square, the Air Force proposed to use the Me-262 at the rate of 5-6 flights for each to train pilots selected to fly the first jet MiG-9 and Yak-15. For the training of pilots, it was supposed to overtake 20 Me-262 aircraft to the airfield of the 16th Air Army in Chkalovskaya. However, this proposal did not pass: the first Soviet jet fighters, the famous MIG-9, were designed for one pilot, and our pilots would have to be retrained from the German “sparks”.

The final "point" in the issue of copying German jet aircraft was put by life itself. On September 17, 1946, during a test flight at the Chkalovsky airfield near the village of Kishkino in the Moscow region, one of the German Messerschmitt-262 crashed, burying test pilot F.F. Demid under its wreckage. From that moment on, the final decision was made - not to copy the "Germans", to develop their own. Nevertheless, the Me-262 left a deep mark on Soviet aviation. It's just not customary to talk about it.

TROPHY AVIATION INDUSTRY

In fact, this is one of the carefully hushed up topics of post-war Soviet history - how exactly Soviet science, the military-industrial complex and industry disposed of the engineering "legacy of the enemy", which we inherited at the end of the war. During the fighting in Germany, the Soviet occupation zone included areas in which many aviation enterprises were concentrated - mainly large aircraft manufacturing concerns like Junkers, Arado, Heinkel, Focke-Wulf, Dornier. Most of the factories were badly damaged by aerial bombardments, many turned into ruins. Aircraft designers and developers of new military equipment - Prandtl, Betz, Busemann, Georgi, Heinkel, Lippisch and others - went to the West (as it is believed, not without the help of Western special services). However, even what the winners got could be enough for many years with thoughtful and serious study. Therefore, almost simultaneously with the start of the fighting on the territory of the Third Reich, a special scientific and technical council (NTS) was created in Moscow, which immediately after the war was transformed into the Bureau of New Technology - it was it that issued the document presented in our collection. Professors, academicians, leading scientists were mobilized to work in the NTS, whose task was to "determine the scientific and technical policy for the further development of the army and navy", or, in other words, to use the captured military-technical and scientific potential of Germany to the maximum for needs of Soviet industry. Thousands of pages of drawings and texts, product samples, descriptions of experiments, scientific literature were delivered to Moscow in a continuous stream. Hundreds of translators from German were recalled from the front and retrained as specialists in scientific and technical translation. In parallel, in Germany itself, everything that was of even the slightest value was being dismantled. By the middle of 1946, 123,000 machine tools and other industrial equipment had been exported from Germany to the USSR. This made it possible to create nine new aircraft factories in the Soviet Union, including two aircraft and three engine factories.

Naturally, special attention was paid to the latest models of weapons - jet aircraft, rocket technology, nuclear projects ... Although Stalin, Voroshilov, Budyonny before the war did not believe in the power of new developments in the field of weapons and spoke contemptuously about missiles, the experience of the war taught them a lot. In March 1945, when the war was still rumbling, but the fate of Germany had already been decided, the State Defense Committee issued a decree on the export of documentation and equipment on radars from German factories for their production in the USSR. Soon the State Defense Committee issued a decision "On sending a commission to remove equipment and study the work of the German Rocket Institute in Peenemünde." We are talking about the enterprise where the German "miracle weapon" - V-1 and V-2 was created. Academician Georgy Byushgens wrote: “After the end of the war in 1945, TsAGI scientists and other aviation specialists had the opportunity to get acquainted with the captured materials of aviation research from the German DVL Institute in the city of Adlershof. These materials contained, in addition to the results of tests in the wind tunnels of the institute, models of specific aircraft, and general data.
Trophy materials scientists of TsAGI - Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after N.E. Zhukovsky - was not immediately appreciated. However, many specialists of the institute quickly realized the promise of this direction. Further theoretical and experimental studies were entrusted to a team of the most authoritative scientists of the Institute. In addition to technical documentation, Soviet specialists found unfinished samples of Me-162 single-engine jet fighters, three damaged He-280 twin-engine jet fighters. Soviet exercises studied enemy developments. Here is a quote from one of the reports: “The development of jet technology in Germany has taken on a large scale in recent years. Captured samples of German jet technology available in the USSR - jet aircraft (fighters, attack aircraft, bombers), aviation jet gas turbine engines, liquid-propellant jet engines, radio-controlled and unguided rockets (long-range and for combating anti-aircraft targets), projectiles and radio-guided glide bombs from aircraft show that the introduction of jet technology in aviation, navy and artillery was carried out in Germany on a large scale, and the Germans had serious success in this area.

To study enemy achievements and the possibility of their use in the USSR, by the decision of the government in the summer of 1945, an interdepartmental Commission on jet technology was created under the GKO. In August 1945, bench tests of German jet engines were carried out. At the pilot plant No. 51, the production of 10X projectiles, similar to the German V-1 cruise missile, began. In the same 1945, the idea arose to use German specialists for the development of jet aviation in the USSR. The People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry Shakhurin turned to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks with a secret letter. It stated in particular: “A large number of German specialists and scientists in the field of aviation are now in our hands. These scientists and specialists have vast reserves of knowledge accumulated during their work in research and experimental organizations in Germany ... From our point of view, it would be advisable to have on the territory of the USSR or in the zone of Germany occupied by us a special type of organization with a special regime (under the supervision of the NKVD ), where German scientists could conduct research work - according to our assignments ... ".
This was immediately reported to Stalin, and the go-ahead was obtained to use the "enemy's legacy" in order to develop the domestic military industry. The search for and involvement of German specialists in cooperation took place in various ways. Some, for example, the former head of the experimental production of the Junkers company, Dr. B. Baade, voluntarily expressed a desire to cooperate in order to continue working in aviation. The leading specialist in aerodynamics of the Heinkel company, Z. Günther, also turned to the Soviet authorities. Many were driven by mercantile considerations - money and food rations. Some scientists, having heard about the atrocities of the NKVD, were simply afraid to refuse.
In total, more than a thousand German scientists were involved in the work. They were collected in Berlin, Dessau, Leipzig, Halle, Strasfurt and Rostock. Everyone made a report on the past activities of the scientific institution and spoke about their work. Having become acquainted with these materials, Soviet specialists gave their resumes and set new tasks for the "trophy" scientists. The completed work was sent to the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry, to research institutes and enterprises for a more complete study for use in their future work.
At the end of August 1946, the most valuable and promising German specialists were transferred to the USSR. There were about seven thousand of them. Aircraft builders were assembled at the pilot plant No. 1 in the village of Podberezye, Kimrsky district, on the shores of the Moscow Sea. Specialists in turbojet engines and instruments were sent to Pilot Plant No. 2, located near Kuibyshev. Scientists involved in engines took their jobs at enterprises near Moscow - plant No. 500 in Tushino and No. 456 in Khimki. It is still not known exactly what contribution the German teachings made to the development of the Soviet aircraft industry and how many ideas they suggested to their colleagues from the USSR. However, one can guess that the contribution of 7 thousand of the best minds of the German aviation industry to the development of Soviet military-technical thought turned out to be very significant. Perhaps it was these and similar developments that became the main military trophy of Russia. A trophy that allowed a dilapidated country to turn into a world superpower in a matter of years - with the best aviation and weapons in the world ...