The Spotlight On Series is famous amongst modellers and achieves a very high standard of unique full colour illustration. This volume displays the unique and incredible Me 163 rocket fighter. – Very Highly Recommended.
NAME: 21 Spotlight On, Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet FILE: R3087 AUTHOR: Krzysztof Wolowski PUBLISHER: Stratus, MMP Books BINDING: hard back PRICE: £19.00 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Luftwaffe, WWII, rocket power, rocket fighter, point interceptor, Alexander Lippisch. Technology, Allied assessments, Messerschmitt, Stummel Habicht, Walter rocket motor, T-Stoff, C-Stoff
ISBN: 978-83659558-47-1
PAGES: 42 IMAGE: B3087.jpg BUYNOW: tinyurl.com/s6qxvzy DESCRIPTION: The Spotlight On Series is famous amongst modellers and achieves a very high standard of unique full colour illustration. This volume displays the unique and incredible Me 163 rocket fighter. – Very Highly Recommended. The Me 163 could have been described by Lord Wellington, “ I don't know what they do to the enemy but they frighten me”. The aircraft was tiny and as deadly to its pilots as to the enemy. Most accurately, it was a powered glider that shot up to altitude under rocket power and then glided down into the Allied bomber streams without power, firing its 30 mm cannon and unguided rockets. There was always a quantity of the two rocket fuels still in the pipework and enough to destroy pilot and plane if they accidentally mixed under the shock of landing on the landing skid. During take-off risk was also very high with the jettisoned wheels sometimes bouncing up into the aircraft and causing its destruction. Technically, the Komet was an amazing aircraft, produced at great cost but in small numbers. It was an example of a lack of focus by the Nazis on producing weapons that were sufficiently reliable, and in adequate numbers, to counter enemy strength. The outstanding illustrations show a wide range of German colours and markings, together with captured Komets tested by US, British and Russian test pilots and one in French civil registration owned by Avions Ledtrade. Enthusiasts will particularly appreciate the illustrations of the Me 163D and the Me 263V1, showing the continuation of development.