| Heinkel He 162A-2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Description | ||
| Role | Fighter | |
| Crew | One, pilot | |
| First Flight | 6 December 1944 | |
| Manufacturer | Heinkel | |
| Dimensions | ||
| Length | 9.05 m | 29 ft 8 in |
| Wingspan | 7.2 m | 23 ft 7 in |
| Height | 2.6 m | 8 ft 6 in |
| Wing area | 11.2 m² | 120.5 ft² |
| Weights | ||
| Empty | 1,660 kg | 3,660 lb |
| Loaded | ||
| Maximum takeoff | 2,800 kg | 6,180 lb |
| Powerplant | ||
| Engines | 1x BMW 003E-1 or E-2 turbojet | |
| Power | 800 kg | 1,764 lb |
| Performance | ||
| Maximum speed | 900 km/h | 562 mph |
| Maximum range | 975 km | 606 miles |
| Service ceiling | 12,000 m | 39,370 ft |
| Rate of climb | 594 m/min | 1,950 ft/min |
| Armament | ||
| Guns | 2x 20mm MG 151, 120 rounds each | |
The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger (People's Fighter) was the second jet engined fighter aircraft to be fielded by the Luftwaffe in WWII. It was a rival to the Messerschmitt Me 262 and was the fighter with the highest tactially useful Mach number of the first generation of Axis and Allied jets. Volksjäger was the official RLM name given to the He 162. Other names given to the plane include Salamander, which was the codename of its construction program, and Spatz (sparrow) which was the name given to the plane by Heinkel.
Development
When the US 8th Air Force re-opened the bombing campaign on Germany in early 1944, the bombers returned to the skies along with the P-51 Mustang in escort. General der Jäger Adolf Galland reasoned that superior numbers had to be countered with superior technology, and demanded production of jet fighters.
His favourite was the Messerschmitt Me 262, which even when employed in small numbers could be devastating to the bomber streams. Galland did in fact point out that he would prefer one jet over five propeller fighters. While the Me 262 was delayed due to development problems with the engines, which couldn't rely on high-quality alloys due to the scarcity of raw materials (especially tungsten), it met competition by a new line of jet fighters. Though Galland opposed the project which he felt was diverting resources away from the Me 262, a specification for a single-engined jet fighter that was suited for cheap and rapid mass production was established under the name Volksjäger ("People's Fighter"), and the Heinkel He 162 won the contract.
Heinkel had designed a neat, sporty-looking little aircraft, with a sleek streamlined fuselage, the BMW 003 engine carried in a nacelle on the back of the aircraft, twin tailfins to allow the vertical tailplanes to clear the jet exhaust, a high-mounted straight wing with a shallow dihedral, an ejection seat for the pilot and tricycle landing gear that retracted into the fuselage. The plane was flying in an astoundingly short period of time; the design was chosen on 25 September and first flew on December 6th, less than 90 days later.
The He 162 suffered a setback when one of the planes crashed during a demonstration flight when one of the wooden wings failed. Though the He 162 was improved on subsequently, it still was troublesome with regard to lateral control in low-speed flight, and was restricted in the amount of permissable rudder input in this part of the flight envelope.
Operations
By early 1945 any hope of having the aircraft in widespread use was somewhat pointless, as the war was clearly drawing to a close. Nevertheless the ambitious production program continued and 300 were complete by the war's end, with another 100 ready for delivery. The first 46 He 162s were delivered in February to the test pilot evaluation group "Erprobungskommando 162" under the command of Heinz Baer, based at the Luftwaffe test center at Rechlin. Baer, an experienced combat pilot, credited with 200 kills, and his men, familiarized themselves with the new airplanes.
That month also saw deliveries of the He 162 to its first operational unit, I/JG-1, the 1st Group of Jagdgeschwader 1 (fighter squadron), which had previously flown the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. I/JG-1 was transferred to Parchim, not far from the Heinkel factory at Marienhe, where the pilots could pick up their new jets and begin intensive training in March, while the transportation network and fuel supply of the Third Reich was collapsing under the pressure of Allied air attacks. On April 7, the USAAF bombed the field at Parchim with 134 B-17 Flying Fortresses, inflicting serious loses and damage to the infrastructure. Two days later, I/JG-1 transferd to a nearby airfield at Ludwigslust. Less than a week later they moved again, flying north to an airfield at Leck, near the Danish border. In the meantime, the 2nd Group of JG-1 (II/JG-1) had moved to the Heinkel airfield at Marienhe to begin trading their FW 190s for He 162s.
The He-162 finally saw combat in mid-April. On April 19, a captured RAF fighter pilot informed his Germans interrogators that he had been shot down by a jet fighter matching the description of a He 162. The Heinkel and its pilot were lost as well, shot down by an RAF Tempest fighter while on the landing approach. Though still in training, from mid-April, I/JG-1 had scored a number of kills, but had also lost thirteen He 162s and ten pilots, ten of the aircraft losses where due to various malfunctions, such as engine flameouts and sporadic structural failures, just two where shoot down. He 162's 30-minute fuel capacity also caused problems, as at least two of JG-1's pilots were killed making emergency landings after exhausting their fuel.
On May 4, all of JG-1's surviving He 162s were formed into a special consolidated "Einsatzgruppen (Special Action Group)", and when on May 5 the Germans agreed to a cease-fire all the He-162s were grounded. Erprobungskommando 162 fighters, which had been passed on to an operational unit under Adolf Galland a few weeks earlier, were all destroyed by their crews to keep the jets from falling into Allied hands. However, JG-1 cooperatively turned their He 162s over to the Allies, and examples of the fighter were then flown in the US, Britain, France, and the USSR.
The difficulties with the He 162 where mainly because it was rushed into production, not that it was an inherently bad design. One experienced Luftwaffe pilot who flew it called it a "first-class combat aircraft". Though a British pilot was killed in November 1945 when one of the tailfins broke off during an air display at Farnborough a British pilot who evaluated the He 162 praised it.
Variants
- A-1 - armed with 2 × 30 mm MK 108 cannons, 50 rounds each.
- A-2 - armed with 2 × 20 mm MG 151 cannons, 120 rounds each.
- A-3 - proposed upgrade with reinforced nose mounting twin 30 mm MK 108 cannon.
- A-8 - proposed upgrade with the more powerful Jumo 004D-4 engine.
- B-1 - a proposed follow on planned for 1946, was to include more powerful Heinkel-Hirth 011A turbojet, a stretched fuselage to provide more fuel and endurance as well as increased wingspan, with proper dihedral and discarding the turned-down wingtip extensions. The He-162B-1 was to be armed with twin 30 mm MK-108 cannon.
- He-162B airframe was also used as the basis for possible designs powered by the Argus As-044 pulsejet engine.
- C - featuring the B-series fuselage, Heinkel-Hirth 011A engine, swept wing, a new V shaped tail assembly, and twin MK 108 cannon featuring a Schräge Musik weapons assembly.
- D - with a configuration similar to C-series but a forward-swept wing.
- E - He-162A fitted with the BMW 003R mixed power plant, a BMW 003A turbojet with an integrated BMW 718 liquid-fuel rocket engine for boost power. At least one prototype was built and flight-tested for a short time.