German Secret Projects Volume 7

Lippisch P01-115 Interceptor
The Li P01-115 was one of many designs in a series for a development of the Me 163. The P01-115 design housed both a jet engine and a rocket motor with the jet being mounted on top resulting in a dorsal intake behind the cockpit. This was after many configurations and seemed to be the most ideal using a wing from a previous design by Lippisch . Although unusual this arrangement was seen on many post-war projects.

All work was put on hold to concentrate on liquid fuel rocket powered projects. Later Lippisch continued work on a jet powered Me163, the P20.

Messerschmitt Me P1101-92 Zerstorer In 1944 Messerschmitt produced a whole series of designs for multi-jet engined bombers and zerstorers. The P1101-92 (drawing XVlll-92) featured here was for a twin jet-engined swept wing zerstorer with a butterfly ‘V’ tail. It’s main feature being the incorporation of a large BK 7.5 cannon housed in the starboard side of the lower forward fuselage under the two-man cockpit. The barrel extended well beyond the nose.

There were two versions of the same design, differing only in the mounting of the engines. One had them in under-wing nacelles similar to the Me 262 and the other placed them mid-wing similar to the Gloster Meteor. All work on this and the rest of the series of designs due to delivery delay problems of the powerplants.

Messerschmitt P1090 ‘Modular’ Aircraft
(Text and diagrams kindly provided by Dan Johnson of website Luft46). This Messerschmitt design dates from early 1943, and was an attempt at making a "modular" aircraft. Basically, the idea behind this project was for whole sections of fuselage, wings or other components which could be exchanged for other sections to make a "new" aircraft for different roles.

Possible role versions:
Single seat fighter ~ High speed bomber ~ Twin seat heavy fighter ~ Dive bomber ~ Strike fighter ~ Torpedo bomber ~ High altitude fighter ~ Fighter bomber.

Approximately the size of a Messerschmitt Me 410 (span: 16.39 m, length: 12.56 m), the P.1090 could be powered by either two Daimler Benz 603G 12- cylinder piston engines (2000 horsepower each) or two turbojets (probably Jumo 004s). By the use of Rüstsätze (field conversion sets), different configurations could be achieved (please see table below). All fuel was to be carried in the wings with the exception of those configurations that would carry extra fuel in the centre fuselage section. The empty weight ranged from 5.5 to 8 metric tons, and the takeoff weight could go as high as 11.5 metric tons. On both the piston and jet powered versions, the twin wheeled main landing gear would retract into the engine nacelles. The piston-powered aircraft featured a retractable tail wheel; the jet-powered example used a front wheel tricycle gear arrangement. Top speed was estimated to be around 500-775 km/h for the DB 603-powered aircraft, and 1010 km/h for the Jumo 004-powered version.

Modular components:
Cockpit/nose section - Single or twin seats, different armament packages.
Fuselage centre section - Cameras, bomb bay, extra fuel tanks.
Rear fuselage - Radio, navigation or rescue equipment.
Inner wings - Common
Outer wings - Standard and increased wing area versions, 28 sq. m. to 31 or 36 sq. m.
Engines - DB 603G piston engines or Jumo 004 turbojets. Possible DB 021 turboprops.

Messerschmitt built a wooden mock-up with modular sections that could be swapped out to prove his concept to the RLM, but nothing ever came of this novel arrangement. The only surviving drawing is shown at the top of the page.

Websites A site I have come to increasingly rely on for references recently is:
Michael Riener’s www.WW2 Aircraft Profiles. This site intends to catalogue every aircraft flown during WW2; a massive undertaking that already is a gold mine of information. Highly recommended.
Dan Johnson’s Luft 46 site: www.luft46.com
www.secretprojects.co.uk

Books
Luftwaffe Secret Projects: Fighters 1939-1945 by Walter Schick and Ingolf Meyer,
Luftwaffe Secret Projects: Strategic Bombers 1935-1945 by Dieter Herwig and Heinz Rode.
Luftwaffe Secret Projects, Volume 3: Ground Attack & Special Purpose Aircraft by Dieter Herwig and Heinz Rode.
Jet Planes of the Third Reich Vols 1 and 2 by Manfred Griel
Reichdreams Dossier No 18 Lippisch and Messerschmitt Supersonic Projects by J. Miranda & P. Mercado
Secret Aircraft Designs of the Third Reich by David Myhra

Special Thanks
Special thanks to Dan Johnson of www.luft46.com, members of www.secretprojects.co.uk for advice and data and our very own Rowan (Merlin).

Many thanks. More on the way.