HEINKEL HE 176 "FIRST ROCKET PLANE"

The Heinkel He 176 was a German-made single-seater experimental aircraft in a low wing configuration with a classic tail and wood structure. The propulsion was provided by a single Walter HWK R1-203 rocket engine. The flight of the prototype took place in June 1939 and most likely, apart from a single prototype, no further examples of this aircraft were created. The He 176 was designed to test one of the rocket engines built by Hellmuth Walter. It was an airplane that was very simple in construction, and at the same time a cheap airplane, almost entirely wooden. However, it was characterized by very good aerodynamic properties, by placing the cabin in the nose of the fuselage, as well as the possibility of the pilot ejecting, which was an absolute rarity in the 1930s. The authorities of the Third Reich were not interested in this interesting machine, and the Heinkel company itself abandoned further work on He 76 and He 178. It is worth mentioning, however, that the modernized He 176 propulsion engine was later used as a propulsion for the Me 163 rocket fighter.