Heinkel He 162

Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger or Salamander is a Fighter plan interceptor of the Second world war.

History

Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger ( Hunter of the people ) or Salamander ( Salamander ) was conceived in ten weeks during the year 1944. This apparatus answered a schedule of conditions of the Ministry for the German Air for a jet fighter light, easily controllable for pilots having only one summary formation on military apparatuses and being able to take off and atterir on summarily arranged tracks (in particular of the asphalt roads or celebrates it Hamburg-Berlin highway become a true aerodrome at the end of the second world war). The construction of this apparatus did not require a strongly qualified labor and few strategic materials which were done rare at the end of the war. This did not contribute to the quality of the specimens of series.

It is about a monoplane with median aerofoil built out of wood and aluminum fuselage equipped with a three-wheeled Gear landing, of a Empennage bidérive, two gun S Mauser MG 151 of 20 mm and a Turboréacteur BMW 109-003E-1/2 of 800kg of push established on the back of the apparatus. He 162 was also characterized by its low scale compared to its fuselage. Interceptor above all, He 162 offered fuel tank only for half an hour of flight to the maximum.

First flight of the prototype take place in December 1944. This one appearing not very handy, a new version was developed under the denomination He 162A-2 with increased drifts and wing tips to the anhedral.

Despite everything, this apparatus normally intended for pilots directly resulting from the centers of gliding of the Hitlerjugend was not a plane simple to control and required much attention on behalf of its pilots, in particular because of brittleness of a not very reliable engine. Another opinion was that actually it was not more difficult to handle than another apparatus but which it owed the being differently , the reflexes acquired on the normal planes becoming dangerous with him; in other words, it would have needed pilots not having known anything other.

A few units were equipped with it in April - May 1945 (in particular the I/JG 1) and used it in operational flights but it does not seem that this apparatus met the least adversary. Some think that it perhaps cut down a Typhoon of the RAF disappeared without known cause. If several He 162 were lost on accidents, it seems that none was cut down in flight: definitely faster than the best hunters with propeller Anglo-Saxon, its handiness (confining with instability for an awkward pilot) and its small size would have made a difficult adversary of it.

It should be noted that the last series of He 162A-2 were equipped with the first ejector seats, those having become essential in the event of need for ejection because of dangerous position of the engine in the event of “traditional” evacuation.

He 162 was the base various studies, such as He 162B with empennage butterfly or He 162C with sweptback wings reversed. These two concepts remained on the drawing board, although largely having been studied thereafter by the aeronautical engineers of the allied countries. France could test He 162 recovered in Germany.

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