Watch more videos of this event or by other airshows on the playlists of my channel below. 🙂 Messerschmitt: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Seyd5-Thr98.html Warbirds: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Nxf05ZRjYmc.html Hangar 10: ru-vid.com/group/PL_kDcX2_3upoEavcA1EWAHRzMmIG6CB8K Supermarine Spitfire: ru-vid.com/group/PL_kDcX2_3upoWC3ftQ-dNfj6_cjXCxVvF Airshows: ru-vid.com/group/PL_kDcX2_3upoftlBOhtnzEPE_eiDNejG-&disable_polymer=true
@@ranekeisenkralle8265 You are being harsh. In real life it only had powered flight for about 5 to 10 minutes, after which it glided. Its original design contemplated that it would always be gliding into land. Just enjoy the gliding flight characterists of this replica which gives a good glimpse into the gliding characteristics of the real thing.
This is great ! Thank you for the video . I enjoyed seeing this even without the Rocket being fired . People do not realize how risky that just the fueling process was ? That plane glides just the way it was designed to do . Very agile !
@@richardverney6702 The rocket chemicals were caustic and dangerous for the pilot, sometimes causing chemical burns on their legs. A good re-enactment that should be enjoyed by all.
I know that the rocket motor is way too dangerous to use, but it's still a bit disappointing that it was nothing more than slow glider from the takeoff.
well there was the "rocket racing league" that proposed to use LOX and kerosene. Not too dangerous. then again maybe one of those tiny jet engines? easily slip in some NACA ducts that would be stealthy and not pollute the look of the aeroplane.
@@mrrolandlawrence I've worked with pure hydrogen peroxide. I was told if I got it on my skin I would die. The Komet used 80% hydrogen peroxide. In the 1970s top fuel dragster teams were illegally using hydrazine mixed with nitro. Hydrazine hydrate is also deadly on contact in its pure form.
A late friend of mine flew it. Flugkapitän Hans Pancherz, he was a "Versuch flieger" (highest test pilot level) at Junkers. At the end of the war he was in charge of the development of all jet and rocket aircraft. He was the only pilot that flew the Ju 248, all 14 flights. Basically the same aircraft as Me 163, but with two rocket engines instead. One larger and one smaller. The Ju 248 was planned to go through the sound barrier. But it never happend, as supplies was short at the end of the war. The supersonic wings for the Ju 248 was never finished of this reason. They wings were calculated for Mach 1.6. After the war, Flugkapitän Hans Pancherz lived in Sweden and worked at my fathers company, Malmö Flygindustri, MFI.
A machine straight from hell. The climb rate was insane due to the rocket motor. 10000 meters in 3 minutes. The German pilots experienced completely new issues related to swift climbing and high service ceilings without a pressured cabin and pressured pilot suits. Risk of barotrauma of the small intenstine, colon, ear, and what not. This was insanity.
@@theothertonydutch I was just about to say that. The rocket fuel was so corrosive, so volatile, and so unstable that many of those planes blew up on the ground...or, if they didn't blow up, the fuel would leak into the cockpit and literally turn the pilot into soup. If that weren't so tragic it would be funny, how the Nazi hierarchy thought that to be an acceptable weapon and not the nuclear research a few of their scientists were trying to develop. Since all the knowledgeable scientists in nuclear science were Jewish, and thus none left in Germany, they fell behind in that development. They could not report a timeline of when, or even whether, their research could possibly be weaponized; and our own development was so well-shielded against their espionage network (though not the case with the Russian espionage network) that they were pretty much on their own. The German hierarchy just never expressed an interest in nuclear development since there was no guarantee that it could be weaponized in short order. But suicide rockets...oh, yeah, put 'em up there! I wonder if that served as some inspiration for Wile E. Coyote...
@Radagast Cartmanbra The japanese had a license to produce and possible plans for using them as kamikaze bombers but they werent intended as such by the developers and only seven were produced in japan. Armed with 2 Mk 180 cannons in the nose they were inteded to fly a swift attack on bombing formations over germany, land, refuel, repeat. Reports state that the sled, which was used instead of conventional landing gear due to aerodynamics, in combination with the insane speeds these had made the landing so incredible bumpy that it quote "shook the pilots till total exhaustion" (roughly translated, my english isnt so great), so they needed a short break before being thrown into the sky again. The same source states that they were only able to fly two attacks instead of the intended 3-4. So contrary to the comments here, although this thing was absolutely terrifying to be in, pilots did often fly multiple sorties in them. The abundancs of ways to die in this thing and the not existant care/research into accelerating or climbing this fast made it incredibly dangerous and the pilots could only attack once before gliding back to base making it pretty bad at its job. And no, its not kamikaze, why would you say something like that. The body consists of wood, the fuel would be mostly used up by the time they finally found a target, the germans barely had any good pilots left, an untrained pilot wouldnt last in this thing and there is no mention of it ever being used like that. Sources on this: "Welt" article from the eighth of may 2018 on the me 163 and the (german) Wikipedia article on the me 163
@@radagastcartmanbra5845 False. I./JG 400 lost a total of 14 Me 163's (6 shot down, 9 to other causes). Several members of that squadron lived for quite some time after the war. Mano Zeigler wrote several books about the Me 163 before he died in 1991, age 83. Paul Rudolf Opitz was one of the test pilots during the development, and later flew in I./JG 400 as well. He died in 2010, at the ripe age of 100 (!). The squadron commander, Major Wolfgang Späte, later became supervisor for air safety in West Germany's Luftwaffe, and retired in 1967 as Lieutenant Colonel. He, too, wrote a book about the Me 163 before he died in 1997, age 86. Please stick to things you actually *know* instead of making things up.
This is amazing because a Komet pilot actually built this glider in his garage, and the crazy thing is, although it looks the same, he redesigned the structure to be lighter and safer and it has excellent flight characteristics. I love seeing stuff like this.
@Radagast Cartmanbra there was never an intention by Messerschmitt to use this as a kamikaze plane, it was made of wood and would have had little to no fuel when it got to altitude, as well as being equipped with machine guns
Rick Davis The Rockets only burned for 10 Minutes or so, after that, they where not more than very fast Gliders. The Me163 was used for defending smaller Areas like an Airfield or something else like that. Sorry for my English, i don't use it too much😉
I think that title was misleading. That is not flying but gliding and I really expected and would have liked to see it fly with rocket power. There are modern safe and affordable rocket motors so it's not impossible. What comes to gliding, yes it's a beautifull sight still. Thank you for the video but not the title.
I know, probably one of the main reasons why it was towed is because the two liquids they used in the fighter were extremely explosive and they didn’t want to damage this plane, the liquids were so explosive to where when refueling, they had a special cleaning crew to clean the plane and the fueling pipe and tank in case there is still some left of one liquid and they refueled it with the other one and they had to do everything so fast that a few planes exploded, another reason is probably due to lack of sources for the two liquids
Ignoring the comments about the lack of jet propulsion (for obvious reasons) in the flight, thank you so much for the upload. It was a thrill to see such a legendary aircraft actually flying!
@@robertwilliamson6121 not easily. Rockets are incredibly complex and temperamental machines. For a plane thats likely to fly 3-5 times a year developing a rocket that requires round the clock maintenance and tons of pre-flight prep-work is fucking stupid and cost prohibitive
All the german aircraft towards the end of the war were truly WAY ahead of their time. It's actually real lucky that they got to that advanced technology only when the war was about to end...
My somewhat adopted grandfather, Joachim Hohne, flew these at Udetfeld and Sprottau with III/JG 400 in November and December of '44. Wish he could've seen this.
Curious about how to adopt a grandfather. Grandpa died when I was still a kid and I think Grandma could use a little company sometimes. Where did you get yours from?
Sorry but from what I know, back then these aircraft used highly explosive chemicals to create thrust for about 30-45 min in the air and were used to intercept high altitude bombers. These things were very unsafe for instance they needed the two different fuel trucks to fuel at different times in the case the chemicals don’t mix up and blow everything sky high.
@@poochie6062 More German over-engineered nonsense. In a year's operation time, that contraption only downed 19 bombers, for the loss of at least 15 Komets. Another thing that stupefies me: the ultra-speed fetish, both of this thing and all the jet-powered "Wunderwaffen". If your target is moving at well below 500 km/h, I can see no practical way of approaching, firing and hitting target while moving at well over 700 ... All in all, that was extremely expensive, dangerous and resource-consuming technology for technology's sake!
@Javier Gil Vidal During this time Flak and other ground based anti-air were not cutting it. Standard fighters could not easily rapidly respond to the bombers that are flying extremely high. The German people viewing their, distinctive disadvantage believed they could not succeed via conventional approaches. They were interceptors. Today we could just use Ground to Air guided missiles to take down high altitude targets accurately. Though back the. You had to either use inaccurate flak cannons, which used a colossal amount of ammunition, for usually low return rates. Thus the German people thought a high-speed glider would be more successful at taking down the bombers. When you work out the cost to a bomber to a komet, while the numbers they delivered are by no means a success, they are neither a total failure. Though like many say, the Germans had too many R&D programs, though when you are fighting at an overwhelming disadvantage, you can't really fight a conventional war. If anything, had the Germans been a little crazier and tried harder in developing atomic weapons, perhaps things may have went more their way.
We are talking about an aircraft that had high probability of exploding, at literally any moment. During re-fueling, take-off, mid-flight, and landing, or leaking its fuel into the cockpit, turning the pilot into a half-liquid pile of goo.
Even without a rocket motor, its an impressive craft, and the pilot is gutsy to get in that thing. Its basically a modified flying wing, with teeth. The landing looks tricky without spoilers and no horizontal stabilizers. Would the Komet be a good candidate for a modern turbine engine conversion? I'd like to see that conversion, as long as the originality of the Komet is not permanently altered (this aircraft is historically significant, and it should be preserved as well as flown). Thanks for posting this video.
virtual? the Komet sent many good pilots, also a woman (in the WW2) in the hospital. i think it was one of the most dangerous aircrafts ever built, thanks to the (pretty unique) rocket motor... but i saw some fights of onboard cams in ww2, and i think, as a dive bomber and fighter, this plane was awesome for this time landing is the most dangerous, what i knew were more Me163 destroyed while regular landings than allied fire...
I was thinking 'Surely, they ain't gonna fly it, that fuel was so f*%!&ing dangerous. But it was well managed and a joy to see. I was amazed at what a floater it was, it didn't want to come down, once in ground effect had it just wanted to go on and on & on & ...... Amazing! Thanks for showing it.
I remember seeing a doco on these, with original test footage in my early teens. One landed hard and caught fire. The pilot literally dissolved as he tried to escape!
Me 163: *Attacks a B-17 Bomber* Jerry: "That thing has no propeller, how does it fly??" Johnny: "It does have one! But it's so small, how does it power the aircraft?!" Nicky: "That's really weird, what'd ya think Micky?" Micky, the top gunner, with Four 30mm Mk103 cannon shots to his chest: "I don't know mate, but it sure does pack'up some blasting."
The Komet was designed to be towed and released just as demonstrated. It also was designed to be a very good glider and always landed as a glider. To have fueled this rare museum piece would have been insane.
While scanning through available videos, I saw this one, and shouted out loud "WHAT?" I had no idea there was a flying ME-163 in existence. Way too cool.
Failed the hell out of a couple of service crews too. The fuel was extremely nasty to work with. Apparently a pilot was dissolved in his cockpit when a fuel line broke. Nasty Stoff.
I doubt these changes would have saved any lives if they had done this in 1944 when it was used. Try towing it up to altitude with allied fighters flying around.
Great to see! I like seeing the flights of this back in the 40's. I remember it having wheels that would drop off after takeoff. What a beast. Amazing, but more amazing were the ones who actually were brave enough to pilot this thing.
Those detachable wheel trucks could even take a bad bounce and hit the aircraft off the rebound. If the rocket fuel tank got hit and split open, the pilot could end up melted by the corrosive propellant.
I had the pleasure of meeting Rudi Opitz, one of the few men who survived flying the Komet. A very diminutive man, (you had to be small to fit). His recollections were very interesting to hear first hand, he said few pilots had the skills to fly the plane, and even if you did your chances of surviving several flights without injury was slim, He was burned by the corrosive fuel while flying, when it leaked from the fuel tank and got under his protective suit. Other pilots broke their backs on landing as the skid often malfunctioned.
In the late 90's Rudy Opitz was one of my Glider flying mentors, along with Al Santilli who was still an FAA Examiner into his 90's who's original Glider pilot's license was signed off by Orville Wright. Very proud to have both of their signatures in my logbook.
@@marcosalvarez7096 Hmm. They all declared allegiance to Hitler, but I agree with you broadly. A lot of them just wanted to be good soldiers with what began as the most advanced army in the world. They were quite heavily indoctrinated and propagandised as well, so it's only fair to let sleeping dogs lie and leave history in the past where it belongs. Regardless of who they were fighting for, a lot of them were very brave and honourable men, and to fly craft like the ME163 they certainly must have had nerves of steel.
The actual 163 was essentially a rocket-powered glider, if that makes any sense. It was designed from the outset to fly well without power because the rocket motor could only run for about 8-9 minutes total. So the ones that did make it home did so on the glide.
I believe it happened when the poor pilot had the canopy fly off and he was knocked out and during its tragic decent it broke the sound barrier shortly before impact . Unless anyone knows better ?
My brother-in-law Phil Owen somehow acquired a complete engine from an ME 163 Komet. When Rudi Opitz heard about it, he paid him a visit as he just had to see it and they had a great talk about it. This was in the '50s. I recall the turbine fuel pump, which ran on Hydrogen Peroxide, was larger than the rocket combustion chamber. He donated it to the Air Force Museum and they were glad to receive it because it was in better condition than the example they had.
RN pilot Eric Brown flew a powered one of these after WW2, his comments were something like 'most flying wings were just dangerous death traps, but the designers got this thing just perfect, it was just amazing to fly.'
It seems little is known about that plane, so some info. This replica is from Josef Kurz, usually building replicas of gliders from the 1930s. His "masterpiece" might be the DFS Habicht from 1936 (for the Olympics in Berlin), from the original planset, the first dedicated aerobatic glider, designed for a max speed of 380 km/h, more than any other glider in the world. In a time of spruce, plywood and fabric... For those that say "why not with engine": The ONLY flight pattern the Me 163 was capable of was to start and climb to 12,000 meter (36,000 feet) in 5 minutes until the engine burnt out, from then on it was ONLY gliding (including the attack run). So displaying the plane as glider is how you would have seen it. Seconds after the start you would have seen nothing more than the streak of the jet exhaust goin vertically upwards with 900 kph. The engine could hardly be throttled, and not relit. Premature engine flameout was extremely dangerous, the fuel remains tended to explode when landing on the skid the original had. Leaking propelliant dissolved organic matter (humans), so you better took care to get rid of that stuff asap. Just to say it, the plane was NOT designed for supersonic flight, it would have needed a different airfoil for that. So should you go into horizontal under power you ran into a high-speed stall due to the supersonic compression shockwave delaminating the airflow, making the plane uncontrollable and braking it down (not necessarily apart). But if it did not kill you, the pilots said it was a delight to fly. They built about 350, and formed a combat test group. But the concept was pretty insane: the range was nil, so you needed to have the airfield directly there where the bombers came. The fighter escorts soon found out, just wait til the Me 163 runs out of speed, it cannot pull away anymore. And when the planes were on the ground, they just lay around in the middle of the runway, perfect targets for strafing runs. So the airfield needed heavy flak defence and an own protective fighter screen around the airfield, usually Fw-190s. Maybe something interesting regarding escort fighters 1943/44: It was decided by the USAAF that whilst bombing was important, fighting down the german air defence (incl .the Me-163) was of the higher importance. So the bombers were almost used as bait to get the germans in the air, and the prime task of the escort fighters was NOT to fence off the attacker from the bombers, but to chase after the german fighters and shoot them down, even if that meant leaving the bombers alone. Of course that meant at some point you have gotten rid of the german fighters, but in the meantime... The german could then make use of that, lure away the US fighters, and then another group attack the lone bombers. That tactic cost the lives of about 50,000 bomber crews. What is even more amazing, it took the Allies until July 1944 to attack the german fuel production in earnest. The fuel production needs space, it could not "easily" be relocated underground like e.g. fighter production. And within weeks the german had lost about 70% of their fuel production capacity. Fuel had always been a problem, the germans were always notoriously short on fuel, great tanks and planes with hightech that could hardly be used due to lack of fuel. Had the allies realized that this is an absolute achilles heel, that going for that one industry incapacitates EVERYthing, and started this campaign a year earlier, I am pretty certain that the war would have lasted a year less. It was even so that because the fuel production was the main source of sulphur in Germany, and the fuel production in the end was at about 2% of the max value, the germans would have run out of gun powder a few months after capitulation.
Beautiful aircraft...I was able to write, talk to Rudolf Opitz (Test Pilot) and wrote to Wolfgang Spate (C/O of Erprobungskommando 16 and JG 400) years ago. Rudi Opitz flew the Me-110 that towed Heini Dittmar to altitude for both the first gliding flights and when he broke the powered record of 1000 kph. And on many other occasions, and flew the 163 himself. Both testing and combat. These were two of the most influential men (and Dittmar) testing and using it in combat.. The Germans were very advanced...first aircraft to break 1000 kph in level flight and perhaps broke the sound barrier years before Chuck Yeager did. Alexander LIppisch and Hellmuth Walther. Incredible
It is a reconstruction in wood. Very nice to show the aerodynamical potential of Alexander Lippischs design. He designed the plane. Not Messerschmitt. Makes no sense to complain that this privat reconstruction has no engine. Just enjoy what we have here. As a young glider pilot in the mid 1980ies at Dornier airfield in Oberpfaffenhofen i had an ex ME 163 B fighter pilot as instructor. Any time our plane was hooked on he told me "take the sun between your legs son!"
Loved this plane since I first saw it when I was very young. This and the me262 were incredible for their time, thank you so much for posting this glimpse into the past!!!
Komet is descended from gliders and was tested as a glider before rockets were fitted. After the rocket burned out it glided to attack bomber formations then back to base.
Good book: Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants, by John D. Clark, Rutgers U. Press. Great history of the development of rocket fuel, from propellants more dangerous that nitroglycerin to chemicals less worse.
@@rogertycholiz2218 C-Stoff und T-Stoff (substance C and substance T) too be correct. C-Stoff was a mixture of Methanol, Hydrazine hydrate, water, and Potassium tetracyanocuprate. T-Stoff was Hydrogen peroxide, water, and stabilizers. And guaranteed to kill a person if they looked at it funny.
I was actually really worried they were going to light that thing up for real. Thank God it was a glide demo. Komets were real widow makers. Great to see though. Living history.
@@Shaun_Jones - wrong. Considering the death rate from the test phase alone, it's a miracle that there hundred examples were even built. Finding volunteers to fly the the aircraft proved a challenge because of the death rate of flying the machine in combat. Next time, try and check your facts a little more closely.
Utterly amazing - such a clean aircraft and even unpowered it was very, very fast. I read Mano Ziegler's book 'Rocket Fighter' many years ago and I was impressed with the sheer guts of the chaps who flew these things and thank goodness the current pilots don't have to take those risks.
I was wondering who was crazy enough to refuel and fly that little firecracker. No-one since Winkle Brown, it seems. Oh well, they spent most of their operational life gliding.
I bet Captain Brown RN didn't have that much float on landing. The original had the glideslope of a house brick. His record of most military types flown is quite safe I recon.
They would only glide on their RTB, when the bombers came over they'd zip all over doin their thing......but sitting ducks gliding home. Faster than shit under power.
@@Peasmouldia my understanding is that allied test pilots were keen to fly the me 163 with the rocket but none actually did, including Brown. Dr Walter managed to talk them out of it with a demonstration of the explosion resulting from just 2 drops of the propellant mixing together.
Thanks for the upload, great to see some of the German planes from WW2 still being flown. As a Brit we get to see our planes quite often but never anything from the 'other' side.
Nonsense. Duxford flies lots of German aircraft every summer at Flying Legends. Best air show there is. They also have many aircraft on static display, 163, 262, FW190, etc........you should go, it’s wonderful.
Wonderful! Such grace and precision in a (supposed to be-) rocket fighter ! My admiration for the builders (original AND replica) and for the high class pilot!
I'm extremely impressed by the ability of that teensy tiny little propeller's ability to pull that plane through the air! Ha, just kidding! Seriously though, it would be super cool if they could retro fit a safe modern rocket engine and actually fly the thing around under power.
[Nephew of Ida] An original fly with the rocket engine is impossible. You need a 2 component "gas" , the "C" and the "T". One drop before the fly together and you have an explosion like with nitroglycerine.
I'm sure there are modern rocket engines that could be mounted and are not as dangerous......? Seeing it fly on its own and taking off would be fantastic.
very cool, i just bought a R/C model in this red scheme, powered by a brushless motor but also has a working solid rocket booster, cant wait to get it built and flying!
Laura Radigan its extremely lightweight. especially with no rocket motor. it would be really nice to see this thing with rocket start and flight :) someone should make it R/C, and lets go,.....
@@teecar9868 The Flying Heritage and Combat Armor museum in Everett WA has one as well flyingheritage.org/Explore/The-Collection/Germany/Messerschmitt-163-B-Komet.aspx
@@teecar9868 That's totally incorrect. There are ten surviving Me-163s on display around the world. Might you be confusing this aircraft with the Ho-229? The Ho-229 is the larger flying wing design with twin jet engines, and the only surviving example is indeed in pieces awaiting restoration. Please fact check yourself before trying to correct others. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163_Komet#Surviving_aircraft
I am always happy to see that some people are repairing, maintaining vehicles from WW2. It's sad when we see rusted hulks pulled out of lakes or farmers' fields, or abandoned in industrial parks or other places to rust and rain. Even if it was just for educational purposes, having functional vehicles is so useful.
But you miss the point, like many here, that this only LOOKS Like an Me 163 but is not even close to being constructed in the same manner. It is a sailplane replica. Well done but it is not a real Me 163, it is a great lightweight replica.
I sat in the cockpit of one these last year at the National Museum of Flight in North Berwick, Scotland. Cheers Davey for pulling some strings to allow it.
Nice. Thanks for posting. It was a great glider. That much is in the record. The gliding characteristics, according to Hannah, were absolutely adorable. The model in the video looks like the unpowered testbed used to test the flying characteristics, before series production began.
@@geoffphillips8029 Yes, the original planes had a skid to land on in the front and a small tail wheel. They took off on a set of wheels that would be dropped by the pilot by releasing the skid, then pulling the skid back up for flight. They were carted off the field after landing by a buggy, taken back and put on wheels on both wings where they sat ready to be fueled for their next mission.
If anyone is wondering what is the difference between rocket engines and jet engines, rockets have the own organic air supply, while a jet takes in air around it through its air intakes in front of its engines then thrusts the air back out to create thrust
Germany was losing the war. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Alot of the weapons forced into service late in the war were ill-conceived. Still, some of them saw a degree of success in the right situation.
Just one word to describe this Plane. Marvelous. If we realize that the Me-163 was designed und built almost 80 years ago we can only say: brave GERMAN technology.
Brave is... Not the word you'd use to describe this thing. Innovative and suicidal are better descriptors. Don't get me wrong, these things are cool, but when your aircraft uses a hypergolic mix of kerosene and 90% Hydrogen Peroxide that requires the entire plane be hosed down after each fuel was added so it didn't *explode*, you might have a problem.
You can also say this was born more out of *desperation* . They knew they could never compete with the allies when it came to quantity of war material so they put all their faith in "wonder weapons". By the end of the war they gambled really high because they knew they couldn't play it safe anymore or attempt any "poker face". Btw, the atomic bomb was way more technically advanced than this plane and no Germans were involved in the making of that one. Oh, and the allied computers used to decipher the German Enigma code.
Interesting that it's part of the EADS Heritage flight, along with at least an Me109G and a new-build Me262. The big difference from the original is weight - 500kg at take-off vs 3500! Note also that they've replaced the original retractable landing skid with a deepened fuselage and wheel - the skid sometimes didn't extend and injured the pilot's back in the ensuing hard landing.
It is so futuristic, just amazing. The concept and the engineering that went into it. The walther rocket motor was not as dangerous as it may seem, as long as the tanks, pipes were sealed it was safe. And the motor had a maximum service limit, at which a new motor was installed.
Simply the best! Better than all the rest! Rocket on? If I could offer only one suggestion, IMHO, it would be that it needs a rocket engine. Still it’s way better than my Comet. So far.
