Focke Wulf FW 226 “Flitzer”
FW 226 Flitzer was a mid-end war project of Nazi Germany, a highly promising design that unfortunately was not realized due to the end of the war.
However, having high similarity to the successful British design de Havilland Vampire only proves that the design itself was very much viable.
At least 3 different designs/variants of this planes exist.
- Jet fighter with booster rocket for fast climbing to high altitudes.
- Jet fighter with rocket but with less fuel for climbing to medium altitudes.
- Pure jet fighter with no rocket boosters - This is the chosen end design variant.
Construction of this aircraft was mainly steel, at 52%. According to transcript from 10th of September 1944 and Specification No.280 in extended draft form of 15th of September 1944.
By 18th of September 1944, the design of this plane had been finalized. With maximum operational speed being 770kmh (at 6000m) and maximum horizontal speed being 900kmh permitted it the flight ceiling of 10700 meters. Powered by Heinkel HeS 011A.
The final design of this planes armament were either two MK 108 cannons with 80 rounds per gun or four MK 213 revolver guns with 120 rounds per gun.
The actual mockup of this plane had armament placement for either 2x MK 103 or MK 108 guns in the nose.
Pilot had a ZFR 4a telescoping gunsight to help with aiming
Below is a more detailed view of the internals of FW 226, showing loactions of fuel tanks, engines and weapons. In this drawing you can see how a HeS 011 R turbojet was planned to be integrated into this plane in earlier design plans.
Below is a picture of the more final plan.
Cockpit
Detailed pictures
Spoiler
Any help with research on this aircraft is definitely appreciated, I lost multiple sources that had good information after my suggestion on this plane was suddenly without given reason removed from old forum suggestion section even after being accepted and having gained popularity for multiple months.
Please do note, this post is not made for discussion/debate regarding “paper”-“prototype”-etc planes, this is simply post made to discuss this plane in detail and to research it. According to Gaijin “new” suggestion/inclusion rules, this plane is good to be added, as assemblies of prototypes were made in addition to full mockups with working parts.
Sources used:
- Jet planes of the Third Reich Vol 1. By Manfred Griehl.
- The History of German Aviation, Kurt Tank: Focke-Wulf’s Designer and test pilot by Wolfgang Wagner.
- Luftwaffe secret projects : fighters 1939–1945
- Various secretprojects forum posts for source pictures and books.
