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An Me 163B Komet begins a ‘sharp’ start in a cloud of steam, exhausted from a vent below the combustion chamber. Dangerous to operate and fly, the Me 163B was the fastest production aircraft of World War Two. via Bill Rose being deflected downwards to allow VTOL and a hover capability. Simply known as a ‘Fluid Sustained and Propelled Aircraft’, this advanced design was completed in 1954, but it remains unclear if it was intended to be any- thing more than a small utility vehicle. Noth- ing came of this interesting heel-shaped aircraft and it probably never progressed much further than a paperwork study. being deflected downwards to allow VTOL and a hover capability. Simply known as a ‘Fluid Sustained and Propelled Aircraft’, this advanced design was completed in 1954, but itremains unclear if it was intended to be any- thing more than a small utility vehicle. Noth- ing came of this interesting heel-shaped aircraft and it probably never progressed much further than a paperwork study. Lippisch completed a series of proposals After reaching the US, Lippisch finally ended that led to an experimental triangular-shaped —_ up at Wright-Patterson AFB where he became vehicle called DM-1, so named because a__ friends with Alfred Loedding. team of especially bright students from Darm- As one of the great aviation designers of the stadt and Munich Universities were recruited 20th century, Lippisch created all manner of to build it. There were plans to launch the _ intriguing, often impractical concepts. These DM-1 glider from the back of a Siebel Si204 included annular-wing aerodynes (similar to light-transport aircraft and follow the DM-1 those developed by von Zborowski for with more advanced jet and rocket-powered SNECMA in the 1950s), advanced drones and versions, leading to a supersonic ramjetinter- small lifting body heel-shaped vehicles, ceptor. Although the DM-1 had almost been which share elements of Loedding’s later completed by May 1945, itnever flew and was __ proposals. It seems likely that the two design- captured by US Forces. On the advice of — ers shared and exchanged their ideas for low Charles A Lindbergh and the authority ofGen- aspect ratio VTOL aircraft and, after joining eral Patton the aircraft and Lippisch’s design _ the Collins Radio Company, Lippisch began team were shipped back to the United States. | working on plans for a compact lifting body Lippisch’s work was at the cutting edge of avi- _ aircraft powered by two internal contra-rotat- ation research and made an immediate _ ing squirrel cage rotors. One or possibly two impact on leading British and US designers. engines would drive both rotors, with air The Skyray The first American carrier-based jet-powered combat aircraft to combine safety, reliability and performance came about as a result of the US Navy’s 1947 Single Engine Fighter Competition. The winning proposal came from Ed Heinemann, Chief Designer at Dou- glas Aircraft, El Segundo, who drew heavily on research carried out during World War Two by Dr Alexander Lippisch. After a series of initial studies, Heinemann’s team refined their concept into a low aspect ratio tailless aircraft with swept wings and rounded tips known as Design or Model D-571. This aircraft Designed by Dr Alexander Lippisch, the DM-1 experimental glider was the first in a new series of aircraft, which he expected to lead to a supersonic interceptor. US Army 86 Secret Projects: Flying Saucer Aircraft