05-2020 MESSERSCHMITT ME 263

The Messerschmitt Me-263 is a German, experimental, rocket-powered fighter, developed as a development of the Messerschmitt Me 163B rocket fighter, which was used in combat from May 1944. Originally designated - due to its development at the Junkers plant in Dessau - as Junkers Ju 248. The main goal of the Junkers constructors during the work that began in mid-1944 was to eliminate the basic disadvantages of the Me 163B - insufficient fuel supply and an impractical skid landing method, making problems with moving the plane on the ground. For this purpose, the Ju 248 received a new, elongated hull, increased fuel tanks, retractable three-wheeled landing gear and the HWK 109-509C twin-chamber rocket engine, allowing to reduce fuel consumption in flight at cruising speed. The first, unencumbered, flight of the first Me 263V1 prototype, towed by the Ju 188, took place in August 1944, later the aircraft received an engine and performed solo flights; however, several more prototypes were under construction. Serial production did not start until the end of the war, and after the war the only surviving prototype of the Me-263 was taken over by the Red Army. Technical data: length: 7.83 m, wingspan: 9.5 m, height: 3.17 m, maximum speed: 880 km / h, climb speed: 150 m / s, armament: fixed - 2 cannons MK108 cal. 30 mm.