Heinkel He 176 The story of the Heinkel He 176 rocket powered aircraft has been clouded in mystery and

incorrect information for many years. Only in the last few years have some of the real facts emerged. Although there had been a few rocket powered planes earlier (Espenlaub's E 7 and the Opel-Sander Rak-1), these both used solid fuel rockets. The He 176 was to be the first aircraft in history to fly using only liquid-fueled rocket power. A proposal was first put forth in Berlin in May 1935 by Major Wolfram von Richthofen to develop a rocket-powered interceptor for the use against high fly ing bombers. This led to the Heinkel He 176 prototype, and eventually the Messer schmitt Me 163, the world's first rocket-powered combat interceptor. Design work was begun in late 1936, with detailed engineering drawings b eing completed around July 1937. Construction of the prototype began at the same time. All design work for the Heinkel He 176 was done in Sonderentwicklung I, a department that was kept isolated from the remainder of the Heinkel factory at Rostock-Marienehe. The men who designed the He 176 were: Walter Knzel - project leader/engine installation Walter Gnter - aerodynamics (suffered a fatal accident on September 21, 1937) Adolf Jensen - aerodynamics/flight mechanics H. Bosch - Loading and stress analysis H. Regner - detail design Jacob - landing gear The He 176 featured a circular cross-section fuselage with the diameter being barely large enough for a pilot to be seated in a reclining position. The wings had a elliptical planform with a straight leading edge, and featured posit ive dihedral. The original wings were to hold the fuel supply, but problems nec essitated the use of a dual spar design for the prototype. Behind the cockpit we re located the fuel tanks (methanol and "super" hydrogen oxide) and the Walter H WK R1 rocket engine. A Werner von Braun developed rocket engine was originally p lanned for the He 176, but it proved too large. The Walter engine's thrust could be regulated pneumatically between 500 kg (1102 lbs) and 600 kg (1323 lbs) of t hrust. A "tail dragger"-type retractable landing gear was chosen, but a fixed no se wheel was added for taxi and towing trials at Peenemnde. The man gear retracte d to the rear into the fuselage. Although the pilot was reclined, the extensive cockpit glazing provided an excellent view. In an emergency, the entire forward cockpit section could be jettisoned via an explosive charge, after which a brak ing parachute enabled the pilot to bail out. Between July 9 - 13, 1938 the He 176 was tested at the large windtunnel at Gttingen. Although the He 176 program was begun at the Heinkel factory at Rost ock-Marienehe, the completed prototype was soon moved to Peenemnde, where better secrecy could be maintained. Tests were conducted with a wooden cockpit mockup d ropped form a Heinkel He 111 from an altitude of between 6000 to 7000 meters (19 685 to 22966 feet). To obtain accurate data, a life-sized mannequin was made wit h human like articulations, and dropped with the mockup cabin. On the beach at U sedom (near Peenemnde) the He 176 prototype was towed behind a 7.6 liter Mercedes for taxi trials, with ground speeds of 155 km/h (96 mph) being reached. The fir st short air hops took place in March 1939 under rocket power, with very limited amounts of fuel in the aircraft. The first official flight of the Heinkel He 176 V1 was on June 20, 1939 flown by Flugkapitn Erich Warsitz.* On the next day, June 21, the He 176 was dem onstrated in front of some of the RLM leaders (Ernst Udet, Erhard Milch). Udet w as not impressed, and prohibited further tests due to the inherent dangers of ro cket flight. This ban was twice lifted and twice issued again until July 3, 1939 , when another demonstration was arranged at Roggentin for Adolf Hitler and more of the Third Reich leadership. An official order was issued on September 12, 1939 terminating any furth er work on the He 176 project. The prototype aircraft stayed under wraps for yea rs at the Heinkel factory at Rostock-Marienehe, but was eventually crated up and

sent to the Air Museum in Berlin, where it was destroyed in an air raid in 1944 . *Some sources state that up to 29 test flights were made between January 8 and A pril 14, 1939 and another 19 flights between June 12 and November 8, 1939. Heinkel He 176 Span 5.0 m 16' 5" 6.2 m 20' 4" 1.44 m 4' 9" 5.5 m 59.2 ft Heinkel He 176 Empty Fuel 900 kg 1984 lbs 948 lbs 720 kg 1587 lbs 3572 lbs Dimensions Length Height Wing Area

Weights Payload Max. Takeoff 430 kg 1620 kg