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The Messerschmitt Me P.1101 was a prototype luftwaffe fighter that many consider as the first 2nd Generation fighter jet. Its construction began in 1945 and was 90% complete in May 1945 when it was captured by advancing allied troops in Oberrammergau.
History
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The Me P.1101 was born on January 5th 1944 after a meeting, through Messerschmitt’s hochgeschwindigkeit program, a program made to built the fastest aircraft possible, translated as “High Speed”. It was developped alongside the Me 262 HGI and Me 262 HGII, aswell as the paper Me 262 HGIII. Willy Messerschmitt wanted an aircraft with the engine inside of the fuselage to reduce drag and increase high speed performance, generally he wanted to pair the smallest possible airframe with the most powerful engine. The Me P.1101 was described as being the “Smallest possible fighter with the best performance and minimal cost to be equipped with the HeS 011 engine.” The preliminary design was made on August 30th 1944 and showed high part commonality with the Me 262 and other fighters, sharing the controls, Outer wing section, wing assembly, undercarriage and the same “Racing canopy” found on the proven Me 262 HGI. The main gear was to use Bf-109K components and absorbers. The Me P.1101 was submitted to the Emergency Fighter Program, the requirements were for a single engine jet fighter that was both easy to build and to fly. Altough it wasn’t the winning design, it ultimately was the most advanced aircraft submitted, so its development was not cancelled. Tests were carried out on an Me 262A1a that was fitted with Me P.1101 intake ducts on its port side engine.
Development of the aircraft continued alongside the already in-game Me 262 C-2b.
On November 10th 1944 the program was transfered to the “Konstruktionsbüro” and work began on the prototype in Oberammergau at the intentionaly vague “Oberbayerische Forschungsanstalt”, designated as such to avoid unwanted attention from the 8th Air Force. At around the same time a wind tunnel model was made and tested at the DVL Wind tunnel in Berlin-Adlerhof. The directive for the construction of the prototype was to “use as many parts of the mass-produced Me 262 as possible” ensuring utter most speed in the construction of the prototype and reducing costs. It was originaly built to house a Jumo 004 but could easily be retooled for the intended HeS-011. In May 1945 the aircraft was captured by the US combined advanced field team which was tasked to get their hands on german aircraft technology. However, the story of the Me P1101 does not end here, as after capturing and shipping the P.1101 to the US, the Bell aircraft company built and flew the X-5 on June 20th 1951, with minimal changes made to the original airframe.
Specifications
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- Total Weight (kg) : 4,064
- Fuel Weight (kg) : 1,250
- Wing area (gr) (m²) : 24.5
- Wing Area (net) (m²) : 15.85
- Takeoff wing loading (kg/m²) : 256
- Span (m) : 2.58
- Length (m) : 9.17
- Height Gear Down (m) : 3.71
- Tail area (m²) : 1.4
- Maximum speed at altitude 7km (km/h) : 985
- Ground run (m) : 700-750
- Service Ceiling (km) : 12.0
- Range (km) : 1,500
- Engine : Jumo 004b or HeS-011
- Fuel Load : 1,565 litres
- Swing Wing Range : 35° - 45°
- Angle of incidence fluctuation : +2% to -3%
The pilot was to be protected by armour plates protecting him from 12.7mm bullets from the front and 20mm shells from the back.
Armament
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- x4/2 Mk108 30mm Cannons
- x1 SC500 Bomb
- x55 R4M Rockets
- x2/4 Ruhrstahl X-4 Radio guided Air-to-Air Missile
Diagrams
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Cockpit
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Images
Sources
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- Luftwaffe Emergency Fighters by Robert Forsyth
- AeroJournal LuftWaffe 1946
- Messerschmitt Me P.1101 / Last Emergency Fighter - Page 2 - Passed for Consideration - War Thunder - Official Forum
- New Plane Proposal – Me 262 HG II - Passed for Consideration - War Thunder - Official Forum
To Conclude, I will quote the Me 262 HGII suggestion post on the old forum;
“having obscure completed prototypes instead of prominent almost complete planes (like HG II) does not represent the German tech-tree in a historically accurate manner.”
