The Focke-Wulf ''Volksjäger'' (German: "people's fighter"), was a German
emergency fighter project for the ''
Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
''. It was designed by
Focke-Wulf towards the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
as part of the defense effort against the devastating
Allied bombing raids.
History
In mid 1944 the
Nazi Ministry of Aviation launched a ''Volksjäger'' program and in the months that followed Focke-Wulf presented two consecutive projects. The variants presented were a
turbojet
The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...
and a
rocket-powered design, corresponding to project number one and project number two. Neither of them was given an
RLM aircraft designation.
[Jean-Denis G. G. Lepage, ''Aircraft of the Luftwaffe, 1935–1945: An Illustrated Guide'', McFarland, p. 256-257]
Variants
''Volksjäger'' 1
The initial ''Volksjäger'' competition in the second half of 1944 required the use of the
BMW 003 jet engine. The Focke-Wulf ''Volksjäger'' 1, the first model of the Focke-Wulf project, was an innovative-looking single-jet aircraft. It was designed to be powered by one BMW 003 A1 turbojet as an actual contract competitor to the
Heinkel He 162A ''Spatz'', the winner of the ''Volksjäger'' design competition and the selected ''Volksjäger'' aircraft to be mass-produced.
The air intake of the turbojet engine was placed in the front and the engine itself in the lower fuselage. Two possible
shoulder wing configurations were designed for the Fw ''Volksjäger'' 1, straight and swept back. The wings of the swept back version spanned and had an area of . The tail was supported by a boom above the engine exhaust. The aircraft was to be armed with two
MK 108 cannon, one on each side of the air intake.
In some postwar English language publications, the Fw ''Volksjäger'' 1 project is referred to by the incorrect name ''"
Volksflugzeug"'', a name that is not found in any German-language source referring to this aircraft, but referring instead to a very different Nazi aviation project.
''Volksjäger'' 2
Designed for early 1945 RLM requirements the Focke-Wulf ''Volksjäger'' 2 was a small rocket-powered
interceptor
Interceptor may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Film and television
* ''The Interceptor'', a British drama series on BBC One
* Interceptor (game show), ''Interceptor'' (game show), a British television game show that ran during 1989
* Interc ...
. It had a wingspan of and a length of . Power was to be provided by a
Walter HWK 109-509 A-2
rocket engine
A rocket engine is a reaction engine, producing thrust in accordance with Newton's third law by ejecting reaction mass rearward, usually a high-speed Jet (fluid), jet of high-temperature gas produced by the combustion of rocket propellants stor ...
that would enable it to reach speeds nearing . Armament was to be two MK 108 cannon located under the fuselage.
In order to save strategic materials, the wings of the Fw ''Volksjäger'' 2 were built of wood and covered with a thin metal layer. The wings,
swept back and mounted on mid-fuselage, as well as the
T-tail
A T-tail is an empennage wikt:configuration, configuration in which the tailplane of an aircraft is mounted to the top of the vertical stabilizer, fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs fr ...
, were similar to those of the
Focke-Wulf Ta 183. The aircraft had no wheels, only a landing skid. It was designed to take off on a
detachable dolly. Once airborne it would speed almost vertically towards the bomber
combat box formations where it would fire its cannon.
Although the Fw ''Volksjäger'' 2 was designed to reach an altitude of 5,900 m in one minute, its roughly 15 minutes of combat action time compromised it as an interceptor. Test flights for this aircraft were scheduled to be carried out between May and June 1945. Three units of the Fw ''Volksjäger'' 2 were under construction at the time of the
surrender of Nazi Germany.
[Ernst Heinrich Hirschel, Horst Prem, Gero Madelung et al. ''Aeronautical Research in Germany: From Lilienthal Until Today,'' Volume 147]
Specifications
''Volksjäger'' 1
''Volksjäger'' 2
See also
Bibliography
*Walter Schick, ''Geheimprojekte der Luftwaffe- Jagdflugzeuge 1939–1945'', Motorbuch Verlag; 1st edition (1994)
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Focke-Wulf Volksjager
Super Lorin
Abandoned military aircraft projects of Germany
Rocket-powered aircraft
Mid-wing aircraft
T-tail aircraft