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Luftwaffe Projects - Volume 9

Messerschmitt Bf162 ‘Jaguar’

Messerschmitt derived this aircraft project from the Bf 110 in response to a 1935 RLM specification for a Schnellbomber (Fast Bomber). The German propaganda department released a picture in 1939-1940 of this aircraft and called it the Messerschmitt Jaguar. A similar aircraft with a different nose and intended for the reconnaissance role was the Bf 161.

Initially 65 aircraft were ordered in the 1937/38 programme but due to Messerschmitt’s commitment to the Bf109 and Bf110 programmes coupled with the superiority of the Jaguar’s build contract winning competitor the Junkers Ju88, this was reduced to 5 with only 3 being completed.

The first two models V1 and V2 were powered by Daimler Benz DB600D engines while the third model V3 was powered by two DB601A engines. The first two aircraft flew in 1937 the third on the 7th July 1938. The first aircraft (V1) was dismantled after it's initial flight trials, the second (V2) went to Rechlin and the third (V3) was used alongside the equally ill fated Me161 at Ausberg for towing the Me163A. Any common parts left over including the incomplete V4 and V5 were used in Bf110 production.

Skoda Kauba V4 and 257

Aesthetically, extremely attractive, the SK V4 possessed exceptional flying qualities, and from this design was evolved the SK 257 single-seat fighter trainer. The only Kauba design to be ordered into production, the graceful SK 257 single-seat fighter trainer never attained service status with the Luftwaffe.

Kauba's extremely attractive design, the SK V4, was a single-seat fighter trainer powered by a 240 hp Argus As 10C-3 eight-cylinder inverted-Vee air-cooled engine. Featuring exceptionally clean lines, the SK V4 was a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a tail wheel undercarriage, the wide-track main members of which retracted inwards. Provision was made for the mounting of a single 7,9-mm MG 17 machine gun, an electrically-controlled variable-incidence tail plane was provided, and the structure comprised a one-piece wooden wing built around a single box spar, and a welded steel-tube fuselage with plywood skinning. Prototypes were ordered and built. One role envisaged for the V4 was for a Panzer killer, equipped with 2 underwing pods of 14 R4MP rocket tubes.

So successful were flying trials with the SK V4 that the RLM awarded Skoda-Kauba a contract for the development of a more powerful fighter trainer of generally similar configuration and construction. Designated SK 257, the new aircraft was powered by a 485 hp Argus As 410 twelve-cylinder inverted-Vee air-cooled engine, and four prototypes were completed. Again, the aircraft displayed exceptional handling qualities and performance, and the SK 257 fighter/trainer was ordered into quantity production for the Luftwaffe at a factory at Trencin on the Biskupice airfield in Slovakia. However, only five production SK 257 trainers were completed at Trencin, and because the manufacturing standard of these was abysmally low that they failed to pass the Luftwaffe quality control inspectors. The contract was immediately terminated.

Tailpiece – WN 19 Fighter

To finish Volume 9, rather than a full colour profile, I’ve included a keyline drawing of the mystery aircraft project Wn19. Only very recently official drawings dated 1938 have been discovered of a previously unknown aircraft. The drawings are genuine but there is some debate as to what reason the drawings were done and the designation Wn19. It seems to relate to a concept fighter, submitted as a graduation thesis at the Technical University Hanover by a student named Helmut Weitzmann, dated January 1938.

What puzzles here is the RLM designation "8-19.00-02", giving it a "19", as well as a "Wn", as in "Wiener Neustadt Flugzeugwerke, a small aircraft company, still in Austria at that time. Did they produce the Wn19 drawings as a serious attempt to land a major project?

It seems more likely it is the work of the student Helmut Weitzmann. But watch this space.

The design looks similar to a Messerschmitt Bf109 but there are many differences. It is somewhat ‘dumpier’ and there are differences concerning the wings and tail.

Should you wish to see the drawings please visit:
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=20235

References and credits

Websites 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 Dossiers by J. Miranda & P. Mercado
Secret Aircraft Designs of the Third Reich by David Myhra
Les Avions Dornier by Pierre Gaillard
Stukas by Herbert Leonard

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

That concludes Volume 9. For Volume 10 I have many projects from which to choose, but I fancy a change for the next set. I have a good number of both French and Italian secret design projects so may do a combined volume of these. We’ll see.