Zeppelin Fliegende Panzerfaust
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The Fliegende Panzerfaust, meaning 'Flying Bazooka' (literally 'Flying Armor Fist') in the German language, was a project for a Third Reich very-short-range interceptor designed by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.
The Fliegende Panzerfaust project was part of the Nazi propaganda-based Wunderwaffe ('wonder weapon') concept. It was proposed to the Emergency Fighter Program against the allied bombing raids over Nazi Germany in the last years of World War II.[1]
Description
The Fliegende Panzerfaust was a rocket-powered design meeting the demand for a low-cost aircraft in a very-short-range interceptor role. It was a parasite aircraft meant to be towed behind a Messerschmitt Bf 109G for which it had a special long nose.[2] Powered by six Schmidding SG 34 rocket engines, three on each side on the rear half of the fuselage, the Fliegende Panzerfaust was a small plane with a v-tail, a wingspan of 4.5 m and a length of 6.0 m.[3]
This Zeppelin-built aircraft would have been released upon reaching combat altitude above the enemy bomber fleet. Shortly before contact with the combat box below it would ignite its six solid-fuel rocket engines, attacking the target bomber by firing two 73 mm RZ 65 air-to-air missiles at an extremely close range.[4] The front half of the aircraft which had the pilot lying in a prone position in the cockpit would then split from the other half. Both parts would land separately with parachutes, being later retrieved and reused.[5] Owing to the extreme risks for the pilot inherent in its operation this aircraft is sometimes referred to as a suicide weapon.[6]
Specifications
Data from Dieter Herwig & Heinz Rode, The Luftwaffe Secret Projects: Ground Attack & Special Purpose Aircraft. Midland Counties Publ. ISBN 978-1857801507
General characteristics
- Crew: one
- Length: 6.0 m (19 ft 8 in)
- Wingspan: 4.50 m (14 ft 9 in)
- Height: 1.50 m (4 ft 11 in)
- Gross weight: 1,200 kg (2,646 lb)
- Powerplant: 6 × Schmidding SG 34 solid-fuel rocket engines, 1,200 kN (270,000 lbf) thrust each Total weight 150 kg
Performance
- Maximum speed: 850 km/h (530 mph, 460 kn)
Armament
- Rockets: 2 RZ 65
See also
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists
- List of German aircraft projects, 1939–45
- List of rocket aircraft
- List of World War II Luftwaffe aircraft prototype projects
Bibliography
- Manfred Griehl & Joachim Dressel, Die Deutschen Raketenflugzeuge 1935-1945: Die Entwicklung einer umwalzenden Technik, Weltbild, ISBN 3613012766
References
- ^ Ulrich Albrecht: Artefakte des Fanatismus; Technik und nationalsozialistische Ideologie in der Endphase des Dritten Reiches
- ^ Messerschmitt Me 109 and Fliegende Panzerfaust model
- ^ The Fliegende Panzerfaust (Flying Armored Fist). Another Desperate Attempt To Stop The Inevitable
- ^ Allgemeine Luftkampfraketen
- ^ Fliegende Panzerfaust - Luft'46
- ^ German Suicidal Aircraft