ZEPPELIN RAMMER AND LIPPISCH GLEITER

The Zeppelin Rammer was a WWII German rocket-powered fighter project. The drive was to be provided by a single engine Schmidding 533. The deck armament was to consist of 14 55mm R4M unguided missile launchers. The plane has never been tested, much less entered mass production. At the end of World War II, German airline companies, including the Zeppelin plant, developed many jet and rocket fighter designs that were to be a remedy for the overwhelming advantage of the Western Allies in the air. One of such planes was the Zeppelin Rammer project. The design of this machine first appeared in November 1944. This machine was to achieve a significant maximum speed of about 950 km / h, and its main task was to destroy Allied strategic bombers. A very unusual combat tactic was planned - in the first phase, the Zeppelin Rammer was to fire the bomber with a series of rockets, and then ram its vertical tail! Although such a maneuver was extremely dangerous for the pilot, the Zeppelin Rammer was not considered a suicide weapon, at least officially. However, the project was discontinued in January 1945, as a result of the bombing of the factory where the planes were to be built.The Lippisch Gleiter Bombenflugzeug was a project for a German combat glider capable of carrying a bomb from the end of World War II. The project was probably created at the beginning of 1945. Probably the length of the glider would be approx. 8.5-9 meters, and the wingspan would not exceed 4-4.5 meters. The crew was to be one pilot. It was assumed that the Lippisch Gleiter Bombenflugzeug would be aimed primarily at destroying enemy surface units. The glider was to be capable of carrying a single 1000 kg aerial bomb, and it was to be delivered under the fuselage of the Junkers Ju-88 bomber. At a distance of about 10 kilometers from the target, the glider was released from the latches, and then the pilot would introduce it into a diving flight, already heading towards the target. At a distance of several hundred meters from him, he would have released a bomb, and himself - in a shaft flight - would fly away from the enemy ship. However, there are many indications that the Lippisch Gleiter Bombenflugzeug would be a suicide weapon. The glider never moved beyond a rather loose design stage.