The Focke-Wulf ''Flitzer'' ("streaker" or "dasher", sometimes incorrectly translated as "madcap") was a jet
fighter under development in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
at the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Development
The design, also called Entwurf VI, had a central
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...
and
two booms carrying the
rear control surfaces, having great similarity with the contemporary
de Havilland Vampire
The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and the first to be powered by ...
. It also had the air inlets still positioned on either side of the nose, just below the
cockpit.
The estimated horizontal speed was not satisfactory and ''Flitzer'' was revised whereby the jet intakes were situated in the wing roots. Further improvements included a narrower fuselage and a changed pilot's
canopy
Canopy may refer to:
Plants
* Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests)
* Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes
Religion and ceremonies
* Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...
. In order to improve the
rate of climb
In aeronautics, the rate of climb (RoC) is an aircraft's vertical speed, that is the positive or negative rate of altitude change with respect to time. In most ICAO member countries, even in otherwise metric countries, this is usually expressed ...
, a
Walter HWK 109-509
The Walter HWK 109-509 was a German liquid-fuel bipropellant rocket engine that powered the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and Bachem Ba 349 aircraft. It was produced by Hellmuth Walter Kommanditgesellschaft (HWK) commencing in 1943, with licensed p ...
hypergolic
A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other.
The two propellant components usually consist of a fuel and an oxidizer. T ...
liquid-propellant rocket was built in to give supplementary thrust. A complete mockup was built and all construction and assembly plans were finished, but the aircraft was not accepted by the
Reich Air Ministry
The Ministry of Aviation (german: Reichsluftfahrtministerium, abbreviated RLM) was a government department during the period of Nazi Germany (1933–45). It is also the original name of the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus building on the Wilhelmstrasse ...
(''Reichsluftfahrtministerium'', RLM).
Although referred to as Fw 272 in some sources, the ''Flitzer'' was never given an RLM designation, and the putative designation "Fw 272" is derived from drawing Nr. 272 for the ''Flitzer''.
[Dan Sharp, 2020. ''Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe: Jet Fighters 1939-1945'', Mortons.]
Specifications (design draft of 15 September 1944)
See also
*
Emergency Fighter Program
The Emergency Fighter Program () was the program that resulted from a decision taken on July 3, 1944 by the Luftwaffe regarding the German aircraft manufacturing companies during the last year of the Third Reich.
This project was one of the ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
Luftwaffe Projects(In Russian)
{{Kurt Tank aircraft
Abandoned military aircraft projects of Germany
Flitzer
Twin-boom aircraft
Mid-wing aircraft
Single-engined jet aircraft
Aircraft with auxiliary rocket engines