Mustang v Komet – Germany 1944
The Messerschmitt Me. 163B was the only rocket powered intercepter in history. Find out how piston-engined US P-51 Mustangs managed to down two of these super fast aircraft in dogfights high above Germany in late 1944.
Designed by Alexander Lippisch, it is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational and the first piloted aircraft of any type to exceed 1000 km/h (621 mph) in level flight. Its performance and aspects of its design were unprecedented.
German test pilot Heini Dittmar in early July 1944 reached 1,130 km/h (700 mph), an unofficial flight airspeed record unmatched by turbojet-powered aircraft for almost a decade. Over 300 Komets were built, but the aircraft proved lackluster in its dedicated role as an interceptor and destroyed between 9 and 18 Allied aircraft against 10 losses.[
Aside from combat losses many pilots were killed during testing and training.
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