Check out this video of a giant-scale Messerschmitt 163 Komet. This 1/3-scale RC flier has a wingspan of more than 10 feet! The full-size Komet was the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history, which made it perilous to fly. Thankfully this RC version looks much more stable!
MAN In Action
MAN In Action
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The Me-163 was a stable aircraft, until quality control in wartime conditions compromised the slots. It was the fuel that was unstable!
Stability was never the Komet’s problem. It was the high landing speed on rough ground or takeoff dolly bouncing up and striking the aircraft after release leading to the rupture of the fuel tanks and a resulting explosion or melting of the pilot!
The great British test pilot Eric Brown remembered the 163 as one of the best flying aircraft he flew.
That airplane is very fast and obviously extremely agile. Great looking model as well. Jam up all the way around.
Lippisch was a genius, a very good but complex design, twisted wing planform.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Lippisch
Excellent model and piloting Would be interesting with a solid fuel rocket motor, there are ones that burn for about 20 sec.
Note it only downed about a dozen bombers, but once did get in a dogfight with a Mosquito and won! Dangerous fuels, easy to crash, killed dozens of pilots.
That engine and fuels were close to the system that powered the V1 takeoff booster, when it didn’t explode. If the Germans had spent all the money on 4 engine bombers and aircraft carriers, instead of the 163, 262, V1 and V2, we would all be speaking German today.