German secret weapons

[watchtower]

The Natter on the inside - Who wants to volunteer for this secret mission thingy??

[RyanCrierie]

Since I've covered the B-29 and B-36 for the allied side; it's only fair that I do a roundup of the German Wunderwaffen designs on terms of technical plausibility.

You got to keep in mind people, that a lot of the German wunderwaffen were merely paper designs when the war ended; and in many cases they called for engines that generated levels of thrust that the Germans simply could not get to.

First up:



Me-263: A stretched Me-163, with a longer fuselage allowing more fuel to be carried for the rocket motor, increasing range; a pressurized bubble canopy, and conventional retractable landing gear, a new two-chamber engine design which had a high power chamber for takeoffs, climbing, and attack runs; and a second chamber for cruising at low power, allowing the -263 a maximum endurance aloft at low power of one hour; which along with the landing gear, converted the rocket-fighter from a manned SAM into a conventional aircraft which could be based at airbases like any other aircraft.

Also, having a pressurized cockpit made the pilot's life much easier at high altitudes; making piloting it much less hazardous.

Statistics:

Me-163:
3,800 lb rocket engine
596 MPH speed
8,710 lb gross weight
8 minute flight time
25 mile range
39,700 ft service ceiling.
2 x 30mm Mk 108s

Me-263:
3,750 lb rocket engine (Full Power Chamber)
660 lb rocket engine (Cruise Power Chamber)
11,350 lb gross weight
600~ MPH speed (Wiki states 620, but I find that unrealistic, with no increase in thrust and a 30% increase in gross weight; it would probably be slightly faster than the -163 due to aerodynamic cleanups allowing a few more MPH to be squeezed out.)
1 hour maximum endurance on low power; 15 minutes on full power.
Range is at minimum 40~ miles on full power; due to the seven minutes of extra endurance at full power over the 163.
50,000~ ft service ceiling
2 x 30mm Mk 108 with 60 rpg.

Plausibility: Very High; there's nothing unusual or different about this design; it's an evolutionary design of the -163 with more fuel allowing longer range; and there are no dramatic increases in engine power needed (thrust levels between the -163 and -263 are the same).

More Secret Weapons to be reviewed later.....