ME-163 KOMET GERMAN ROCKET POWERED FIGHTER AIRCRAFT - AMC Pictorial Review 1 40040d HD

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  • Опубликовано: 25 ноя 2024

Комментарии • 746

  • @hertzair1186
    @hertzair1186 2 года назад +351

    “We were not only surprised how far ahead of us the Germans were…we were shocked!”- Capt. Eric Brown, British test pilot and post-war evaluator of German aircraft.

    • @seanmcconkey72
      @seanmcconkey72 2 года назад +27

      en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Whittle
      Short sightedness by British commanders was the only reason that the British didn't have a jet fighter long before anyone else.

    • @l337pwnage
      @l337pwnage 2 года назад +26

      @@seanmcconkey72 lol, sure...

    • @l337pwnage
      @l337pwnage 2 года назад +26

      That was true in pretty much every aspect. We'd have colonies on Mars by now if they'd won.

    • @thethirdman225
      @thethirdman225 2 года назад +11

      @@l337pwnage It’s true. The problem was that the British air staff had to make decisions on what they could and could not produce, based on timeframe and industrial capacity. Whittle was hocking his idea in the 1930s.

    • @thethirdman225
      @thethirdman225 2 года назад

      @@l337pwnage Wehraboo alert…

  • @crispchaos
    @crispchaos Год назад +36

    That climb rate after takeoff was insane 😯

  • @Bigsky1991
    @Bigsky1991 2 года назад +49

    My Grandfather was a B-17 Pilot and Group Lead...he told me when he saw me building B-17 and Me-109 models as a kid, he told me about the 2 times he saw Komets come through his formation. they came up ironically from Giebelstadt Airfield...one that I later flew in and out of years later as a Pilot myself. He said they launched, got far above the group, dove through firing that big cannon then glided back down to Giebelstadt or over to nearby Kitzingen. crazy times.

    • @caribman10
      @caribman10 Год назад +1

      Not a very useful defense fighter as you describe it. Being able to make at most two passes at the bomber formation with gun sighting from a fighter 200 mph slower shows that.

    • @RaferJeffersonIII
      @RaferJeffersonIII Год назад

      @@caribman10ur a bludclart

  • @Waldemarvonanhalt
    @Waldemarvonanhalt 2 года назад +165

    The C-stoff fueling these things was more dangerous than the weaponry on the plane! It set a speed record for rocket-powered aircraft that wasn't broken for years after WW2.

    • @thethirdman225
      @thethirdman225 2 года назад +13

      @JZ's Best Friend C-Stoff was rocket fuel, not jet fuel. The combinations was hypergolic, meaning it ignited on contact, obviating the need for an ignition source. Modern rockets still use hypergolics such as Unsymmetrical Di Methyl Hydrazine (UDMH) and an oxidiser like Tri-Nitrogen Tetroxide. The disadvantage is that they are extremely toxic so they tend to be used sparingly and for special applications only.

    • @thethirdman225
      @thethirdman225 2 года назад +7

      @Current Batches I was referring to current applications, which was what the post I responded to was about.

    • @thethirdman225
      @thethirdman225 2 года назад +5

      @JZ's Best Friend I read books. Try "Ignition!" by John D. Clark.

    • @thethirdman225
      @thethirdman225 2 года назад +13

      @JZ's Best Friend Your maturity and education level would seem to reflect that.

    • @thethirdman225
      @thethirdman225 2 года назад +7

      @JZ's Best Friend If you can't stand the heat then stay out of the kitchen.

  • @justmerc1642
    @justmerc1642 5 лет назад +86

    Newsreel announcers are my ASMR

    • @gokuta333
      @gokuta333 3 года назад +5

      That makes two of us. Same with Documentaries from the 80's, early 90's and Old (Usually by then Classified) training films.

    • @sethwallace4878
      @sethwallace4878 2 года назад

      Spent the last twenty minutes trying to figure out wtf asmr is 😂😂😂… I dig it these are always great for sure

  • @prieten49
    @prieten49 3 года назад +155

    The engine was really low maintenance! The plane usually exploded during fueling, exploded while taking off, or was shot down while gliding back to its home base, so no maintenance necessary!

    • @rafa221
      @rafa221 2 года назад +2

      It's because forced laborers sabotaged the Komets on purpose.

    • @thefolder69
      @thefolder69 2 года назад +21

      @@rafa221 also because the entire design was a death trap to begin with... but yeah sabotage helped as well

    • @hellcatdave1
      @hellcatdave1 2 года назад +10

      @@thefolder69 The most dangerous part was the sled and landing process. But sabotage made the aircraft extremely deadly.

    • @IchMagEssen13
      @IchMagEssen13 2 года назад +3

      @@rafa221 i've heard this about the He-162 also

    • @Winter-Solst1ce
      @Winter-Solst1ce 2 года назад +8

      @@hellcatdave1 No no, the fuels were highly volatile and the smallest mistake could send it up in flames

  • @Skorpychan
    @Skorpychan 2 года назад +101

    180MPH landing speed, on a skid, with no engine for a second attempt.
    And glass fuel tanks full of corrosive liquids.
    Those things were deathtraps.

    • @orbitalair2103
      @orbitalair2103 2 года назад +8

      It was war. They were desperate for alternatives that didnt use oil.The Walter motor is 'fairly' simple, the fuel injectors are pretty complex and precise little units, and iirc each motor used 10 of them. Not captured here is the sound, with 6-7 shock diamonds that little motor was loud, loud, loud.

    • @asconajuenger
      @asconajuenger 2 года назад +11

      No, when they landed, the fuel Tanks are empty!
      They Fuel is only for the Interception.
      Than it glieds to Earth.

    • @Skorpychan
      @Skorpychan 2 года назад +4

      @@asconajuenger The vapour is more dangerous than the liquids, since it's just as corrosive and reactive.

    • @kkteutsch6416
      @kkteutsch6416 2 года назад +2

      Only german enginnering are really innovative and futuristic those days and ever, those concepts and anothers like flying wings and flying saucers are studyed from 40's 'till today...

    • @kkteutsch6416
      @kkteutsch6416 2 года назад +2

      Do you know the " american way " to do this ? The GeeBee R1 racing aircraft leds to death a sort of good - and mad - pilots... A bigger engine with a minimal control surfaces and an imense drag frontal bullet aircraft...

  • @joeylandry4933
    @joeylandry4933 2 года назад +60

    Those pilots were extremely brave men in the beginning of the jet age!

    • @luke8857
      @luke8857 2 года назад +5

      That isn't a jet, bro. It's a rocket plane. Different entirely. Rockets are basically just riding a controlled bomb exploding. Jets are like car engines just new design that works well in the air. Would never work well in a car since jets accelerate and decelerate way too slowly to be "red light" functional. 😥

    • @joeleonard9965
      @joeleonard9965 2 года назад +4

      @@luke8857 Listen, I understand and appreciate the complexity of the tolerances, gears, and turbine blades but at the end of the day, a jet engine is not much more than a turbo with a continuous fuel source.

    • @Crispy_Crisp
      @Crispy_Crisp Год назад

      @@luke8857 not that big of a deal bro

    • @Catcrumbs
      @Catcrumbs 11 месяцев назад

      @@luke8857 He didn't say this was a jet plane. He said it was the beginning of the jet age and he was correct.

  • @alanjm1234
    @alanjm1234 2 года назад +206

    Take off at 200mph from a grass paddock... then land at similar speeds without wheels!
    Crazy stuff.

    • @musikfreund54
      @musikfreund54 2 года назад +16

      Yes, they have not to be coward!
      But it was the first stepp of the way, to where we are today. Someone has to make it.
      And, houw would it have looked like, if it have been elsewhere in the world?
      Here we see the absolute beginning, steps in the totally unknown!
      (sorry, my English is limited)

    • @adrianotero7963
      @adrianotero7963 2 года назад +8

      More like desperate stuff.

    • @elchavodelochobr8273
      @elchavodelochobr8273 2 года назад

      @@musikfreund54 Yes, germany makes the best tecnology in the world then it lose the war and usa and russia steal it.

    • @keepingcalm6469
      @keepingcalm6469 2 года назад +4

      @@adrianotero7963 Situation was desperate - but you got to have more than despair to fly one. I have to hate bombers.

    • @adrianotero7963
      @adrianotero7963 2 года назад +4

      @@keepingcalm6469 without a doubt.....all you had to do is show the pilot a newsreel of the aftermath of a bomber raid.

  • @magnus7857
    @magnus7857 2 года назад +76

    That thing looks incredibly dangerous. To the pilot, that is.

    • @knightlypoleaxe2501
      @knightlypoleaxe2501 2 года назад +10

      It was. extremely so.

    • @DIREWOLFx75
      @DIREWOLFx75 2 года назад +2

      Yes, it was basically an at best reuseable SAM.
      It also wasn't all that effective as a gunplatform, too high speed and not enough flighttime.
      However, at the same time it needs to be mentioned that if they had been available in larger numbers and/or earlier, they could still have had a major impact on the bomber armadas.
      OTOH, German research into actual SAMs had already reached far enough that they probably should have focused on those instead. Even if their "single use only" would appear to make them much more expensive, they would not waste manpower needed elsewhere, they were generally more effective and would also not require the large infrastructure that actual aircrafts with extremely volatile fuel needed.

    • @mikkel066h
      @mikkel066h 2 года назад +1

      @@DIREWOLFx75 The Me163 were more expensive due to maintenance, crew, loss ratio and logistics.
      It was the German audiology that kept sams from being developed further due to them wanting heroes that could inspire and motivate them population.
      People tend to say that Germany was far ahead of its time, which is true in some aspects, however they were far behind in others. Good example is the the US assembly line production, radar, Norton bomb sight, B29, Atom bomb and many other innovations. The British with the enigma machine, intelligence services, S.A.S and the meteor which was ready by the end of the war.

    • @DIREWOLFx75
      @DIREWOLFx75 2 года назад +1

      @@mikkel066h "Good example is the the US assembly line production, radar, Norton bomb sight, B29, Atom bomb and many other innovations."
      USA was woefully behind technologically at the beginning of WWII. The one thing it had good was massproduction, and in that regard it was 2nd best in the world after Germany.
      USA progress in radar and the atomic bomb came solely due to the Tizard mission. Which essentially transferred EVERY UK and to a lesser extent French, Belgian, Dutch, Polish developments.
      It's one of the biggest most absurdly unfair "deals" of the war, because this tech transfer is what gave USA its future tech industry, and yet UK was forced to pay for LL, not getting even a dime for the technologies provided that kept USA as one of the world leaders technologically for decades.
      "It was the German audiology that kept sams from being developed further due to them wanting heroes that could inspire and motivate them population."
      I completely and utterly disagree.
      The main problem was lack of focus. Germany had as many projects ongoing as USA, USSR and UK TOGETHER. They spread their experts and industry far too thin.
      I once tried to do a comprehensive survey over what SAMs and AAMs Germany tried developing, and i simply quit counting after i had found over 150 of them and still nowhere close to finishing.
      Sure, most of those were shortlived and then migrated into a followup, but even if you just count the main lines of projects, it's still over 2 dozen, probably twice that. Including at least some that are blatantly unrealistic that should never have been kept going after the initial concept overview.
      If, from the very start they had simply selected the halfdozen most promising lines of development, and focused on those, at least a couple of them almost certainly would have become operational before the end of the war, at minimum.
      More likely, 1944. Even 1943 certainly not impossible.
      Because no, there were definitely no "heroworship" reasoning involved in interfering with missile development.

    • @williamzk9083
      @williamzk9083 2 года назад

      It’s not true to say it was extremely dangerous to the pilot. The aircraft handled extremely well and couldn’t even be stalled. It had a fairly high landing speed which combined with the primitive skid undercarriage (which couldn’t handle high sink rates) often lead to back injuries. That was to be solved on the Me 163D or Me 263 with a standard undercarriage. When Me 163 did over turn in a crash the propellant tanks were strong enough to not burst and he could walk away. The one occasion a pilot was dissolved occurred when his engine failed just after takeoff. He turned around to land but clipped a radio tower which crashed his aircraft. He probably died on impact but was dissolved by the propellants. It was upsetting to his squadron since they’d attended his wedding the day before. In most cases as safe as any other fighter.

  • @christhesmith
    @christhesmith 2 года назад +53

    That straight run at low level blows my mind every time!

    • @roberthaworth8991
      @roberthaworth8991 2 года назад +8

      Imagine the Gs this guy must have pulled -- not only in the near-vertical climb at start, but then in that almost 90-degree transition to level flight after he descended from operating altitude (negative Gs).

    • @iainbagnall4825
      @iainbagnall4825 2 года назад

      @@roberthaworth8991 I mean, less than an average takeoff in an EE. Lightning I imagine or manoeuvers in a modern fighter, but they didn't have g suits.

    • @christhesmith
      @christhesmith 2 года назад +3

      @@iainbagnall4825 Just extra tight lederhosen.

    • @Triple_J.1
      @Triple_J.1 7 месяцев назад

      @@christhesmith😂

  • @tedsmith6137
    @tedsmith6137 2 года назад +148

    Always interesting to see film of early developments in Aviation. It is, sadly, spoiled as usual in Periscope Films with the timing bar getting in the way of what we want to see.

    • @jr-ft3oz
      @jr-ft3oz 2 года назад +4

      Cry

    • @ZerokillerOppel1
      @ZerokillerOppel1 2 года назад +19

      You should be glad Periscope films has this material to begin with whiner....

    • @johnbattista9519
      @johnbattista9519 2 года назад +9

      Please learn why there is that bar in the first place.. then get back to us.

    • @noiwonttellyoumyname.4385
      @noiwonttellyoumyname.4385 2 года назад +16

      @@johnbattista9519 The bar is there, obviously, to cover over the range markings on the graph showing intercept profiles.

    • @rickv1007
      @rickv1007 2 года назад +6

      @@ZerokillerOppel1 These films are all from the US National Archives.

  • @TheStevePow
    @TheStevePow 4 года назад +102

    "The Fuhrer want new planes but we have no materials ... we have left only wood, aluminium and rocket engines ... German engineers ... "hold my beer..."

    • @horacegentleman3296
      @horacegentleman3296 2 года назад +2

      Halt mein beir

    • @Hanz_Otto
      @Hanz_Otto 2 года назад +14

      @@horacegentleman3296 Correction: Halt mein bier

    • @horacegentleman3296
      @horacegentleman3296 2 года назад +2

      @@Hanz_Otto whoops

    • @aveyli
      @aveyli 2 года назад +3

      @@Hanz_Otto Bier ist ein Nome und wird groß geschrieben

    • @thethirdman225
      @thethirdman225 2 года назад

      You mean like what the British did with the Mosquito?

  • @knotgood9077
    @knotgood9077 2 года назад +13

    As always, TY for all your hard work and content contributions.

  • @starmanforever7704
    @starmanforever7704 2 года назад +19

    From what I recall from a documentary series entitled "Wings of the Luftwaffe" on TV decades ago, many of this aircraft were lost (damaged or blown up) by accidents that happened during the fueling procedure, so explosive were the two fuel ingredients.

    • @mikeromney4712
      @mikeromney4712 2 года назад +2

      3 were shot down by a total of 14 losses......
      The refueling process was dangerous in itself, as you say, but the main cause of most of the losses was the leaking of the T-Stoff connection to the combustion chamber when the landing impacts was too hard. The dreaded and well-known white cloud - followed by an explosion.....

    • @_MaxHeadroom_
      @_MaxHeadroom_ 2 года назад +1

      The compounds they used for fuel were nasty, angry chemicals. Many times during flight the tanks would rupture and cover the pilots in propellant, which literally dissolved them.

    • @mikeromney4712
      @mikeromney4712 2 года назад +2

      @@_MaxHeadroom_ Not "many" times...but it happend (mostly while landing, as I wrote)
      H²O² without the 8-Hydroxychinolin (T-Stoff) is in itself relativ harmless....Wolfgang Späte was pranked to dip his finger in.....but when you take a bath....well.....sooner or later even the rubber-ceramic seals could eroded on the aluminum extension of the combustion chamber. A hard landing impact was all than, what was needed. That was the problem...once a small amount of T-Stoff hit organic fat, a violent reaction ensued, which could then result in the injectorpump injecting an uncontrolled amount of C-Stoff into the chamber and causing the famous explosion.
      The C-Stoff, as combustion bearer, was btw. made from methanol, water and hydrazine nitrate...You would lose your eyesight, but you can drink it......^^

  • @V1RT8
    @V1RT8 2 года назад +3

    Extremely big balls and great stick and rudder skill were surely a must to get into the ME163’s cockpit!

  • @paulkojat1526
    @paulkojat1526 2 года назад +10

    It was a death trap that killed many of its test pilots and the fuel was so dangerous it also wiped out ground crew it was a last desperate measure by the Germans

  • @dorpth
    @dorpth 2 года назад +3

    "So do I get a landing gear?"
    "We've glued a sled to the bottom of the plane. Good luck!"

  • @kenrobba5831
    @kenrobba5831 2 года назад +1

    Best description of the working of rocket motor and aircraft of the Me 163 !

  • @Herobrinetv57
    @Herobrinetv57 4 года назад +39

    when you really think about it everyone even the narrator has all died and we're here listening to this video kinda sad

    • @TheStevePow
      @TheStevePow 4 года назад +16

      one day someone will read your comment and think the same about you ... and so on :)

    • @reapthewhirlwind6915
      @reapthewhirlwind6915 4 года назад +2

      not rly its bound to happen to everyone

    • @dumpygoodness4086
      @dumpygoodness4086 3 года назад +3

      @@reapthewhirlwind6915 plus DEATH IS TOTAL FREEDOM.
      Life is slavery!

    • @mydogbrian4814
      @mydogbrian4814 2 года назад +1

      - I think the same when I watch old 1930's movies on Turner Classics on cable. And also think these people had no clue to what was waiting for them in the 1940's.

  • @Ezekiel-ms8kn
    @Ezekiel-ms8kn 2 года назад +13

    Those pilots had real guts! It is like sitting on a burning pack of Dynamite!

    • @t37able45
      @t37able45 2 года назад +1

      Like in the Apollo 11

    • @AJ-qn6gd
      @AJ-qn6gd 2 года назад

      Reminds me of Wylie Coyote sitting astride a giant firework and lighting the fuse 😜👍🏻🇬🇧

  • @johnz4860
    @johnz4860 2 года назад +22

    No matter how many times countries join forces to destroy Germany, she always emerges as an engineering and industrial world class titan.

    • @williamzk9083
      @williamzk9083 2 года назад

      Geography

    • @Autinond
      @Autinond Год назад +1

      Im pretty sure any country with a decently sized landmass and population can do that, lol.

    • @johnz4860
      @johnz4860 Год назад

      @@Autinond Really? Name a single country that has been completely devasted as many times as Germany since the 18th century and has bounced back as a world class engineering and industrial power. Just one!

    • @Autinond
      @Autinond Год назад

      @@johnz4860 Poland, lol. Lmao. They could easily beat Germany today in a conventional ground war. Germany is unable to defend itself due to gross bureaucratic incompetence

    • @johnz4860
      @johnz4860 Год назад +1

      @@Autinond Maybe. But then Poland would depend on German investments (yet again) to have a workable economy

  • @jerseybob1000
    @jerseybob1000 2 года назад +77

    I had a old friend who was a advance scout in Germany in ww2, he said he went forward in a jeep and hundreds of germans wanted to surrender to him. , he could not take them and told them to go to the front lines and give up there, he turned off the main road and found himself in a abounded airfield where the jets were left.. he raced back and got help to secure the jets with guards. A general came back and thanked him, they were all looking for the jets.

  • @probablygraham
    @probablygraham 2 года назад +45

    The only aircraft where the pilot had a shorter life expectancy than a Starfighter pilot.

    • @jeromewagschal9485
      @jeromewagschal9485 2 года назад +2

      👍

    • @jeromewagschal9485
      @jeromewagschal9485 2 года назад +1

      @@unvaxxeddoomerlife6788 The Starfighter must have felt incredibly safe compared to the Komet...

    • @williamzk9083
      @williamzk9083 2 года назад +2

      The enemy 163B defect was about three minutes too short range which was required to form up an attack. The skid undercarriage was also inconvenient and had a poor sink rate. The solution was the Me 163D/Me 263 which was enlarged and had 66% more range and endurance. The Me 163B was only a test. The more capable Me 163C or Me 163D with more fuel and a boost sustain rocket chamber with much greater efficiency was to be the main version.

    • @jeromewagschal9485
      @jeromewagschal9485 2 года назад +1

      @@williamzk9083 I guess thankfully the German engineers never had the time or the resources to mass-produce these better versions of this or that rocket/ jet aircraft...
      Although I'm not sure it would have made a difference in the end...
      Germany would have lost regardless, it would just have taken longer...

  • @adrianotero7963
    @adrianotero7963 4 года назад +22

    Pilot in the film was Rudolf Opitz he came to America after the war.....

    • @Kai-bj5ol
      @Kai-bj5ol 2 года назад +2

      like the whole project....

    • @fredblonder7850
      @fredblonder7850 2 года назад

      I got to hear him speak. He was a hoot. He really loved the plane and even decades later sounded giddy as he spoke about it.

    • @adrianotero7963
      @adrianotero7963 2 года назад +1

      @@fredblonder7850 he was one of not many who actually flew the plane....that technology was way ahead of its time.....going vertical after takeoff must have been a rush.....even with all of its dangers.

  • @marcmcfarland1153
    @marcmcfarland1153 2 года назад +15

    I truly feel sorry for the pilots that had to fly this thing. Tanks of hypergolic fuels that are corrosive, toxic, and explosive right next to their legs. If anything ever broke, leaked, or took battle damage they'd be melted.

  • @thomasaquinas2600
    @thomasaquinas2600 2 года назад +9

    Some believe the ME163 was a potential war-winner. Most consider it monstrously inferior to the ME262 and almost a piece of junk. The joke at the time was that it killed more Germans than it did Allies. Dangerous simply to fuel on the ground, hard to take-off, almost impossible to land, it was ill-conceived. Allies learned to watch it fly about, then quietly follow it home where it coasted, sometimes unpowered, trying to land. It was a total 'sitting duck' at that point for any Allies present.

    • @pipercessna3827
      @pipercessna3827 2 года назад +2

      They were correct. If Germany had populated their airforce with the Me-163 it would have been a war winner...........for the Allies because all the Luftwaffe pilots would have not existed after 7 days of flying that pocket rocket bomb. 💥

    • @West_Coast_Mainline
      @West_Coast_Mainline 11 месяцев назад +1

      The me-262 was junk, the me-163 was suicide

  • @TheStevePow
    @TheStevePow 4 года назад +41

    Melted a few pilots apparently with fuel leaks ...

    • @Suo_kongque
      @Suo_kongque 3 года назад

      During careless landings, yes

    • @elliotshin6448
      @elliotshin6448 2 года назад +3

      @@Suo_kongque how do you not have a careless landing with a ski for landing gear

  • @LastAvailableAlias
    @LastAvailableAlias 2 года назад +19

    Hydrazine is still used in spacecraft in small position adjusting rockets

    • @Triggernlfrl
      @Triggernlfrl 2 года назад +1

      Hydrazine is still used in modern jets for powering the emergency power unit.

    • @patrickgriffitt6551
      @patrickgriffitt6551 2 года назад

      @@Triggernlfrl Thanks I was going to mention that.

  • @Lockbar
    @Lockbar 8 лет назад +47

    Holy crap, don't get that stuff on your hands!!!

    • @dumpygoodness4086
      @dumpygoodness4086 3 года назад +3

      when Covid hit, and the govt was recommending HAND SANITIZER, I told everyone "you're gonna find out the sanitizer is toxic too!"
      Months later, the govt and msm said over 100 brands of Hand Sanitizer were VERY BAD FOR YOU and maybe lethal!!!
      SAME PATTERN EVERY TIME.

    • @orue5499
      @orue5499 2 года назад +5

      @@dumpygoodness4086 hand sanitizer is good for you, dont drink it though or inject it in your veins, if you do its on you, for being stupid

    • @fuzionzz8415
      @fuzionzz8415 2 года назад +1

      @@dumpygoodness4086 No shit hand sanitizer is toxic, you're not supposed to drink it.

    • @dumpygoodness4086
      @dumpygoodness4086 2 года назад

      @@orue5499 DEAR GIULIANI BRO,
      over 100 BRANDS OF HAND SANITIZER were found to have DANGEROUS chemicals, the main one of which COULD BE FATAL if it touched your skin, ya dumbfuck.

    • @Waldemarvonanhalt
      @Waldemarvonanhalt 2 года назад +6

      @@dumpygoodness4086 Dudes, C-stoff is completely different. It's so caustic it would dissolve your flesh in minutes. Happened to a few German pilots.

  • @danielbell9779
    @danielbell9779 2 года назад +8

    Was it ingenuity as much as desperation? My dad was a crewman on a B-17. One of these attacked their formation, shot at a few of the Fortresses, then was gone. Dad said the intercom went wild of the crew talking about it!

    • @blucheer8743
      @blucheer8743 2 года назад

      Cant imagine the looks on their faces when the saw those planes in action

    • @danielbell9779
      @danielbell9779 2 года назад +2

      @@blucheer8743 , he said at debriefing when they came back, an officer asked "Did any of you see anything unusual during your run?" He said the room with wild! It was then that the officers displayed an intelligence photo of the ME-163 on the screen.

    • @blucheer8743
      @blucheer8743 2 года назад +1

      @@danielbell9779 that’s a movie we’ll never see! There is a documentary about the German flying wing the Norton brothers build they found stored and forgotten about in USA… the Germans used aluminum and plywood to build it and it was coated with a charcoal paint used as a primitive stealth coating… we were lucky the war ended when it did.

    • @amckittrick7951
      @amckittrick7951 2 года назад

      @@blucheer8743 no we weren't lucky because germany got annihilated. Also it wasn't intentionally stealth. Purely coincidence by the design.

    • @Gentleman...Driver
      @Gentleman...Driver 2 года назад +2

      @@blucheer8743 Also look at the Northrop N1-M. The Germans werent the first to develop a "flying wing"-design...

  • @jsl151850b
    @jsl151850b 2 года назад +7

    "Hey! I thought Buck Rogers was on our side!"
    {Dialog from a movie where a ME-163 flew past an American bomber}

  • @billwilson3665
    @billwilson3665 2 года назад +5

    Those pilots were truly fearless.

  • @heinz-josefostholt244
    @heinz-josefostholt244 2 года назад +3

    Absolutes Himmelfahrtskomando mit dieser Kiste zu fliegen

  • @xj900uk
    @xj900uk 2 года назад +12

    I pity the poor ground crewmen who had to re-fuel the thing...

  • @davidvincent8929
    @davidvincent8929 2 года назад +2

    WOW BRILLIANT!!! THANK YOU PERISCOPE FILMS.

    • @PeriscopeFilm
      @PeriscopeFilm  2 года назад

      Our pleasure! Believe it or not, this film was rescued from a drum of films found at Wright AFB.
      Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.
      Join this channel to get access to perks:
      ruclips.net/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0gjoin

  • @gaptaxi
    @gaptaxi 2 года назад +19

    And on landing they had to get their wheels back, Germany lost so many pilots trying to get jet fighters up and running they basically wiped out their own Air Force.
    The inventor of the Jet engine was Frank Whittle of the UK, but the RAF wanted to stick with what they knew untill WW2 was over and won, and they were right.
    German scientists were building for the next war without the present one being finished and most of the Messerschmitt engineers gave themselves up in Oberammergau, along with Wehner von Braun on Operation Paperclip.
    They were litterally just waiting for the Allies to win and carry on as if nothing had happened and gave the USA their first Jet Fighters, even the mosern stealth bombers resemble WW2 designs from Germany.

    • @TinyBearTim
      @TinyBearTim 2 года назад +1

      They were on the defensive for most of the war you need all the advantages you can get

    • @drott150
      @drott150 2 года назад +1

      Whittle wasn't really the inventor of the jet engine. Hans Von Ohain was a contemporary of Whittle's and the idea of the gas turbine jet engine had come and was understood by technical experts in multiple nations. That's why Von Ohain's engine was installed in the He 178 and became the very first jet aircraft to fly on 27 August 1939. Whittle's engine first flew in the Gloster E.28/39 on 15 May 1941, almost two years after the Germans' first flight.

    • @PxThucydides
      @PxThucydides 2 года назад +2

      @@drott150 There's a video interview of Hans Von Ohain himself who said (speaking perfect English) that Whittle was ten years ahead of everyone, and that in his opinion, the RAF could have been demonstrating a 500 mph fighter prototype in 1935, in which case there would not have been a World War 2, because the Nazis would not have dared to start it.

    • @drott150
      @drott150 2 года назад

      @@PxThucydides Whittle was not ten years ahead of anyone. If he were, the British would have at least beaten the Germans into the air by a year or two. Instead, they were 2 years behind them. Sure, Whittle had to deal with an disinterested British government. But then the Germans had to deal with the terms of the armistice that strongly limited their aircraft, militaria and technology for many years. So it doesn't add up.

    • @freddieclark
      @freddieclark 2 года назад +1

      @@drott150 He was talking about jet engines not jet aircraft, there is a difference. Germany broke the terms of the WW1 armistice almost a soon as the ink was dry on the paper. They began rebuilding their military in the 1920's . There was no limit on their technology and they ignored and disguised limits on anything else.

  • @Pr.Wyvern
    @Pr.Wyvern 2 года назад +7

    That was a very lethal plane. For the pilot

  • @JoeOvercoat
    @JoeOvercoat 2 года назад +4

    By the time you were over the edge of the airfield on your takeoff run, before you pulled back “gently” on the stick, you were already going faster than any other human had gone to date.

  • @L_U-K_E
    @L_U-K_E 2 года назад +5

    Damn that quick acceleration

  • @kniespel6243
    @kniespel6243 2 года назад +7

    Thanks to the german technology the americans (and others) they took advantage after war . For them ,german technology (1944-1945) was something unknown and like in the futures movies !

  • @iainbagnall4825
    @iainbagnall4825 2 года назад +4

    The next planned iteration of this plane was intended to have retractable undercarriage. "Landing skid is deployed with a cannister of compressed oxygen". Why not CO2 or nitrogen? I guess they figured the plane may as well be as explosive as possible.

  • @tamahagane1700
    @tamahagane1700 2 года назад +5

    That climb angle... I'm not sure about Komet's thrust-to-weight ratio but it seems to be around 1.

    • @leneanderthalien
      @leneanderthalien 2 года назад

      no: trust from the rocket was 1700kg and weight a take of was 3950kg to maximum 4110kg, real climb angle was ~40°. Hanna Reitsch the well known german test pilot did say: the speed reach 800km/h at end the airfield and the me 163 climb to 9000m in 2 minutes...nota: the germans use only metric like all continental europeans...

    • @patrickgriffitt6551
      @patrickgriffitt6551 2 года назад +1

      Check Bachem BA? "Natter"

  • @diana8259
    @diana8259 2 года назад +3

    Horten 229, heinkel , arado 555, messerschmitt , excellent airplanes reaction... the Best planes of the ww2 Germany .

    • @klausakkermann4245
      @klausakkermann4245 2 года назад +1

      German Power ...

    • @diana8259
      @diana8259 2 года назад

      @@klausakkermann4245 one Tiger destroy 25 tanks sherman of USA the Day D , month 6, Day 6 , hour 6 , . 666 ? Extrange..

    • @West_Coast_Mainline
      @West_Coast_Mainline 11 месяцев назад

      ⁠​⁠@@diana8259 there were well over 40 shermans for every tiger, the horton 229 was a fantasy, the arado 55 was a folly, the me-163 was a suicide box for the pilot

  • @gaddarprabha8984
    @gaddarprabha8984 2 года назад +3

    I'm impressed with this types of planes made by the germans who were much more advanced than the other countries,,

    • @amckittrick7951
      @amckittrick7951 2 года назад +1

      Not really. By the end of the war, America Britain, and then after the war, soviets all had jets. The British meteor was the groundwork for modern jet engine design and was found to be superior to german rocketry and jets.

    • @West_Coast_Mainline
      @West_Coast_Mainline 11 месяцев назад

      @@amckittrick7951 to be fair, Frank Whittle, a british man, invented the jet engine

    • @amckittrick7951
      @amckittrick7951 11 месяцев назад

      @@West_Coast_Mainline yes, true. The jet is a british invention

  • @eshelly4205
    @eshelly4205 2 года назад +3

    Hanna Reitsch was one of the most talented pilots in her time regardless of nationality, the fact that she survived testing this pilot killer and a crash in one proves she had courage and skill.

    • @gregorypadilla5422
      @gregorypadilla5422 Год назад

      Hanna was the first human being to fly faster than 650 MPH and live to tell the tale, just barely.

  • @perfectionbox
    @perfectionbox 2 года назад +7

    Imagine seeing these things for the first time, to witness history right as it happens.

    • @kristophermeharg7048
      @kristophermeharg7048 2 года назад

      Now imagine this....What if the Germans sold them to Japan....with small nukes strapped to them....

    • @amckittrick7951
      @amckittrick7951 2 года назад

      @@kristophermeharg7048 first how would they get it to Japan? Why would they give it to Japan when they are losing their own war? And how would you strap an atomic bomb when you don't have the atomic bomb invented.

    • @amckittrick7951
      @amckittrick7951 2 года назад

      There is a famous quote by Chuck Yeager saying first time i saw a jet i shot it down.

    • @West_Coast_Mainline
      @West_Coast_Mainline 11 месяцев назад

      @@kristophermeharg7048 japan copied the design

  • @BruceK10032
    @BruceK10032 2 года назад +2

    Some nice detail visible there!

  • @GrumblingGrognard
    @GrumblingGrognard 2 года назад +1

    I suspect the pilot "helping" the allies was Mano Ziegler. His book "Rocket Fighter" is fantastic.

    • @SIXITHS
      @SIXITHS 5 месяцев назад +1

      It may be Rudolf Opitz

  • @thedoor5857
    @thedoor5857 3 года назад +10

    Wow. German Power!!!

    • @johnadams614
      @johnadams614 2 года назад

      and now it's in a museum

    • @johnbennett951
      @johnbennett951 2 года назад

      German technology is the finest in the world!

  • @qwerty_____146
    @qwerty_____146 2 года назад +2

    Thank you dear. nice.

  • @writerconsidered
    @writerconsidered 2 года назад +2

    As if the fuel mixture wasn't bad enough lets add compressed oxygen for a more dynamic explosion. Their technology advancement was impressive but if it wasn't for the desperation of the war they would never consider putting these flying bombs in the air. They would continue testing the engines and come up with a proper airframe for it.

  • @dragchute1
    @dragchute1 6 месяцев назад

    I have read two historical articles that mentioned "some" ME-163 pilots pierced their eardrums to avoid the difficult issue of pressure equalization during the rapid climb. It would be interesting to know if this was indeed true.

  • @pbxn-3rdx-85percent
    @pbxn-3rdx-85percent 2 года назад +1

    fuel in german: C-stoff
    fuel in english: CrAzY sTuFf!!!

  • @Strike_Raid
    @Strike_Raid 2 года назад +1

    He got it backwards. It's not the hydrazine hydrate (I'm not so sure there was any alcohol in it though) fuel that is decomposed to make steam, it's the 87% hydrogen peroxide oxidizer that decomposes to make the steam.

  • @brinsonharris9816
    @brinsonharris9816 2 года назад

    Quite a few of the pics in the old Ballantine Book Rocket Fighter are stills from this film. Read that thing cover to cover many times.

  • @williamhaynes4800
    @williamhaynes4800 2 года назад +1

    The Japanese developed their own version of the Komet based on plans purchased from the Luftwaffe. They named their model 'Shusui'. The prototype crashed and killed the test pilot. No more were built.

  • @hardpointidentified
    @hardpointidentified 10 месяцев назад

    2:27 10/10 transition

  • @b3j8
    @b3j8 5 месяцев назад

    Those pilots were pulling some serious G's on that near-vertical climb after takeoff!

  • @direktorpresident
    @direktorpresident 2 года назад +11

    40,000 ft in 3.5 minutes without a pressure cockpit or suit. Desperate times.

    • @KapitanPisoar1
      @KapitanPisoar1 2 года назад +1

      Still better than flying in unpressurized allied bombers in 30 000ft for several hours...

    • @direktorpresident
      @direktorpresident 2 года назад +4

      @@KapitanPisoar1 My surprise was in the rate of ascent, and the physiological changes which that would entail. The slow climb of the bomber gives plenty of time to adjust, albeit to very harsh conditions, but three minutes to the same height must have been gruelling. Apparently the pilots had to have special diets to avoid stomach gasses causing problems.

    • @fabianweber3494
      @fabianweber3494 2 года назад +1

      @@direktorpresident I have read books about the use of this aircraft. The pilots must have a special diet. Foods that caused bloating caused severe intestinal spasms. They actually ate things that were rare at the time, e.g. white bread, scrambled eggs, etc.

    • @amckittrick7951
      @amckittrick7951 2 года назад

      @@KapitanPisoar1 a lot better actually because one works and the other blows itself up sometimes.

  • @blockstacker5614
    @blockstacker5614 2 года назад +6

    the last thing some people ever did was pour C Stoff into the T Stoff tank

    • @None-zc5vg
      @None-zc5vg 2 года назад

      If the fuel leaked out of the tanks that were on either side of the cockpit, the pilots stood a good chance of being dissolved alive.

  • @outlet6989
    @outlet6989 2 года назад +1

    There is the only thing that is better than this. That German female test pilot Hanna Reitsch. She flew a modified V-1. She survived the flight and, believed it or not, the war.

  • @SatelliteYL
    @SatelliteYL Год назад

    Any idea who the pilot was for this film?

  • @guppyspop
    @guppyspop 2 года назад

    What a ballsy test pilot

  • @None-zc5vg
    @None-zc5vg 2 года назад +5

    Read about the coal-fuelled Lippisch P.13 project, a small ramjet-powered delta-wing fighter that would have gone supersonic had it been completed.
    Lippisch continued his delta-wing work in America where he was involved with the F102 and F106 fighters.

    • @thethirdman225
      @thethirdman225 2 года назад +2

      Woulda, coulda, shoulda… :facepalm:

    • @thethirdman225
      @thethirdman225 2 года назад

      There is no chance the Lippisch P.13 could have gone supersonic. It simply didn’t make enough power.

    • @None-zc5vg
      @None-zc5vg 2 года назад

      @@thethirdman225 That's what it said: I was sceptical but the proposed motive power was considered by people more expert than me to have been viable.

  • @pierredecine1936
    @pierredecine1936 2 года назад +1

    Never mind that T-Stof & C-Stof could melt you - it must have been a kick to fly the fastest fighter in history ...

  • @Allan_aka_RocKITEman
    @Allan_aka_RocKITEman 14 дней назад

    Still the ONLY _rocket-propelled interceptor aircraft_ to ever be used in combat.

  •  2 года назад +2

    "the oxidizer is Hydrogene Peroxyde".
    8bitGuy : let's have a trip to Germany !.

  • @frankposada4242
    @frankposada4242 2 года назад

    And there technology is still ahead of ours.

  • @TechWizard28
    @TechWizard28 2 года назад +4

    It's hilarious how they avoid mentioning operation paperclip.

  • @f804.de.ruyter
    @f804.de.ruyter 2 года назад +5

    this is basically rocket u can fly in.

  • @publiusking8004
    @publiusking8004 2 года назад +4

    Pure brass required to fly one of this things. Props.

  • @richardsawyer5428
    @richardsawyer5428 2 года назад +13

    Capt. Eric Brown was the only allied pilot to fly the Komet under power. I surprised that the cockpit was big enough for his gonads of steel.

    • @AxialFlux
      @AxialFlux 2 года назад

      I had no idea it was ever tested under power, at least in the US. Was this this tested elsewhere?

    • @codemy666
      @codemy666 2 года назад

      @@AxialFlux Eric Brown is a british pilot

    • @AxialFlux
      @AxialFlux 2 года назад +1

      @@codemy666 Ah, that makes sense then.

    • @codemy666
      @codemy666 2 года назад

      @@AxialFlux Look him up, he had a quite an impressive career

    • @AxialFlux
      @AxialFlux 2 года назад

      @@drott150 Eh, I am pretty sure he did.
      ruclips.net/video/eXLcUKB-jws/видео.html

  • @peterhorak7542
    @peterhorak7542 2 года назад

    Wir haben die schönsten Spielzeuge der Welt!

  • @plunkervillerr1529
    @plunkervillerr1529 2 года назад

    How was it armed?

  • @jeffdalrymple1634
    @jeffdalrymple1634 2 года назад +1

    Focke-Wulf majority was American owned as well as Standard Oil which supplied the synthetic fuel additives via The Netherlands .The Germans couldn't have pulled this off without the capital support of Wall Street.

  • @billinghamscuba
    @billinghamscuba 3 года назад +1

    AMC to the moon baby

  • @dysnomia-anarchia
    @dysnomia-anarchia 2 года назад

    The ME-163 would be a hot little number to fly in 2022.

  • @rexremedy1733
    @rexremedy1733 2 года назад

    Imagine they had used this ingenuity for the betterment of nation and mankind instead of wasting it on the futility of an unjust war.

  • @elebeu
    @elebeu 2 года назад +1

    How difficult is it to keep the aircraft centered in the frame while filming?
    Come on.

  • @aleccap5946
    @aleccap5946 2 года назад +1

    The connection between this technology and the ancient Roman are uncanny

    • @victorvisa10
      @victorvisa10 2 года назад

      I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re referring to?

  • @Homelessman80085
    @Homelessman80085 2 года назад

    2:30 Transition was clean

  • @peteruk8925
    @peteruk8925 2 года назад +5

    An amazing aircraft, produced few years earlier may have made a difference to the German Air force

    • @dougchew5193
      @dougchew5193 2 года назад +3

      200 mph takeoff on a grass field and 180 mph landing speed with a sled sounds like they would of been their own worst enemy but if they had enough time to make it safer, reliable could of been different but the fueling of the plane would have been dangerous too they probably were gonna use prisoners for that job too

    • @xj900uk
      @xj900uk 2 года назад +3

      WOuld have killed more unfortunate pilots and the even more unfortunate re-fuelers, you mean. The plane, alhtough fascinating from an aeronautical scientific advancement sort-of-way, was a dangerous death-trap waiting to happen.

    • @dougchew5193
      @dougchew5193 2 года назад +2

      xj900uk totally agree, I imagine the designers and developers had a nice pair of binoculars to watch it testing, they wouldn’t have been too close, it might of even sped up the end for Germany as it might of depleted the number of pilots sooner similar to the problem Japan ran into

  • @grabir01
    @grabir01 2 года назад +3

    Amazing. The Germans are amazing for sure. No wonder they are feared even today and still not allowed to build aircraft and rockets in Germany. They are free to engineer and build what they want here in USA for Lockheed, Boeing, Ball, Raytheon and Northrop.

    • @terry_willis
      @terry_willis 2 года назад +1

      How many American, British and other Allied military men died because of these "amazing" German engineers. And they were proud to work for der Fuehrer and the Reich.

    • @rolandschramm3662
      @rolandschramm3662 2 года назад

      @@terry_willis And the Americans where happy to have them at the conclusion of the war. Crazy world no doubt.

  • @jimseviltwin1
    @jimseviltwin1 2 года назад +1

    I didn’t see any brakes, i.e., wheels on this widowmaker; how do stop it once landed ?

    • @10pFreddos
      @10pFreddos 2 года назад +5

      it had a skid that was supposed to deploy when it landed but if it failed to deploy the pilot would suffer horrible spine injuries and would probably never walk again.

    • @jimseviltwin1
      @jimseviltwin1 2 года назад +1

      @@10pFreddos Right, I saw the skid; but what/how was used to ultimately bring it to a stop ? Unless they just relied on friction from the runway….nonetheless these pilots were damn ballsy…

    • @SanctuaryReintegrate
      @SanctuaryReintegrate 2 года назад +9

      @@jimseviltwin1 Friction and prayer.

    • @Test-pl7xc
      @Test-pl7xc 2 года назад +1

      @@jimseviltwin1 they wouldn't land back on the concrete runway, they prepared landing space in nearby fields, if the earth wasn't prepared properly though the skid would plough straight into the ground.

    • @MOOGSTINE
      @MOOGSTINE 2 года назад +7

      Shut down the engine and hope you don't run-out of feild

  • @eisenhertz
    @eisenhertz 2 года назад +1

    Unser Kraftei!

  • @bobybobster5813
    @bobybobster5813 2 года назад

    Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Kommentarbereich

  • @PartTimeLaowai
    @PartTimeLaowai 2 года назад +1

    Those test pilots either had brass ones, or were consuming volatile chemicals like their rides.

  • @sluzbazaorganizacijucentra4050
    @sluzbazaorganizacijucentra4050 2 года назад

    Im wondering ,what would happen if those wheels hit somebody after releasing.

  • @Gold-sf4qv
    @Gold-sf4qv 2 года назад

    SUPER....GRAND RESPEKT .

  • @Crazyuncle1
    @Crazyuncle1 2 года назад

    What a thrill ride!

  • @estebangadacz2919
    @estebangadacz2919 2 года назад

    impressive fighter plane, was one of the first.👍

  • @sweettoof9002
    @sweettoof9002 2 года назад +1

    Anyone who piloted one of those was a brave brave man. Yikes.

  • @Zardos7788
    @Zardos7788 2 года назад +2

    So, if it wasn't for the Luftwaffe there would be no Man on the Moon.

    • @saugeyes
      @saugeyes 2 года назад +1

      Not as soon as it happened anyway. The computer technology invented by England to break nazi codes also helped put a man on the moon. Ww2 definitely brought us into the space age.

  • @evilchaosboy
    @evilchaosboy 2 года назад

    The procedures and protocols ta fill this lil' monster was a long and meticulous process. I mean they hadda be so ridiculously careful and precise that I don't think it was worth it! Had this been during peacetime, it would be absolutely worth it, but this was going in the most unsafe environment possible! Desperation can lead to incredible things. \m/

  • @alaricbarber3680
    @alaricbarber3680 2 года назад

    is there a follow up video?
    did we ever make our own rocket planes?

    • @texaswunderkind
      @texaswunderkind 2 года назад

      American Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, a rocket plane not so different than this. The Bell X-1 rocket burned ethyl alcohol diluted with water with a liquid oxygen oxidizer.

    • @amckittrick7951
      @amckittrick7951 2 года назад

      America's first flew a jet (the xp59a) on October 1st 1942. The British meteor would fly 5 months later.

  • @Icantkeepout
    @Icantkeepout 2 года назад

    The superimposed counter blocks information on distances near the bottom at the 1 minute 39 second mark.

    • @PeriscopeFilm
      @PeriscopeFilm  2 года назад

      Here's the issue: Tens of thousands of films similar to this one have been lost forever -- destroyed -- and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. How do we afford to do that? By selling them as stock footage to documentary filmmakers and broadcasters. If we did not have a counter, we could not afford to post films like these online, and no films would be preserved. It's that simple. So we ask you to bear with the watermark and timecodes.
      In the past we tried many different systems including placing our timer at the bottom corner of our videos. What happened? Unscrupulous RUclips users downloaded our vids, blew them up so the timer was not visible, and re-posted them as their own content! We had to use content control to have the videos removed and shut down these channels. It's hard enough work preserving these films and posting them, without having to spend precious time dealing with policing thievery -- and not what we devoted ourselves to do.
      Love our channel and want to support what we do? You can help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

    • @Icantkeepout
      @Icantkeepout 2 года назад

      @@PeriscopeFilm Thank you for the reply. I can understand that. In these days when there are folks who will say the Sun is blue, and after being said enough folks who will believe it, I am all for preserving history as it was. If what you do prevents whitewashing and twisting history I am all for it.

    • @Icantkeepout
      @Icantkeepout 2 года назад

      @@PeriscopeFilm I am down with it, now. I included a longer response to your other reply.

  • @dgetzin
    @dgetzin 2 года назад +1

    Core part of operation paperclip here. Those German planes were pretty much flying bombs, and with only 25 min flying time. I wonder where Von Braun was in all this.

    • @Gentleman...Driver
      @Gentleman...Driver 2 года назад +1

      He had nothing to do with any of this. Hellmuth Walters engines and fuel were used on those planes.

  • @llennon73
    @llennon73 2 года назад

    maintenance free...what about the hydrazine corrosiveness

  • @johnziegelbauer4999
    @johnziegelbauer4999 2 года назад +1

    It's widely speculated that a me-163 broke the sound barrier well before the x-1 .

    • @PeriscopeFilm
      @PeriscopeFilm  2 года назад +2

      The only way that could possibly have happened, would have been in a dive, probably a death dive. In any case, it's not documented in any way. Yeager was first to do it and live.

    • @johnziegelbauer4999
      @johnziegelbauer4999 2 года назад

      Russians may have towed one to altitude in 46 .

    • @Gentleman...Driver
      @Gentleman...Driver 2 года назад

      @@johnziegelbauer4999 If they did they didnt test it under power. The only documented flight under power after the war was done by Captain Eric Brown, Royal Air Force. They did this only once, after many, many, many gliding test flights.
      The plane didnt come close to the sound barrier. Aerodynamics limited its high speed performance. Also you have to consider the structural weakness of the plane.
      Many pilots have claimed to have broke the sound barrier before the X-1, but none could get confirmed, and most of them claimed that it was in a dive.
      The X-1 did it on a straight line, and it was documented... so...