Germany - Air Force Messerschmitt Me 163B-1a Komet YELLOW 15 - East Fortune

1 imweezel
(2. 7. 2008, 20:43 CET)
Pardon my french but, Wher the hell is the intake on this aircraft? Does the little impellor on the nose of the aircraft have anything to do with the intake? I just don't get it! Every turbine must have an intake and I just cannot find one. somebody explain this to me? Please?? Messershmidt Me 163-1a Komet. With those centered and small and unforgiving COG landing gear it must have been a nightmare to land.

2 Wallace Shackleton
(2. 7. 2008, 20:51 CET)
It was rocket powered, used a highly volatile mixture of Hydrogen Peroxide and alcohol. It was known to blow up if it hard a hard landing jolted any propellant left in the rocket motor. The wee propeller drove a generator.

3 imweezel
(2. 7. 2008, 20:57 CET)
I figured it out, people. It must have been rocket-powered. Gas-generator or Staged compression cycled. Maybe Expander cycle. Or the pumps are run by a turbine on the exhaust. I guess the impellor is used to operate the oxidizer and fuel pumps most likely. Unless the rocket is tank pressure operated and the impellor is used for something else like to run a generator for electric power. Anybody know?

4 imweezel
(2. 7. 2008, 20:58 CET)
Thank you Wallace. I wouldn't have even guessed.

5 imweezel
(2. 7. 2008, 21:02 CET)
Wow! that sounds like a terrible risk for a fighter aircraft, doesn't it? Kind of like flying a bomb with wings. I would never have imagined Hydrogen Peroxide and Alcohol. Honestely, was it even worth it? Aside from the research potential did it have a notible track record of any kind?

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