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)

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

Development

Specifications (design draft of 15 September 1944)

See also

References

Bibliography

External links