• November 9, 1935
Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain is granted a patent for his latest invention –
Germany’s first turbojet design.
• Early 1936 Dr
Herbert Wagner begins developing gas turbine engines for Junkers.
• April 15, 1936 Hans
von Ohain is hired by Dr Ernst Heinkel to create a working example of his jet
engine.
• Circa February 28, 1937 Von Ohain’s first working jet engine,
the HeS 1 is completed and installed in a test rig.
• Early 1938
Design work begins at Heinkel on an aircraft that can be powered by Von Ohain’s
new engine. At Junkers, Wagner begins construction of his own experimental
turbojet engine.
• Autumn 1938 German
aero engine manufacturers Daimler-Benz, BMW, Brandenburgische Motorenwerke
(Bramo) and Junkers are encouraged to look at turbojet development by the
Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM).
• December 1938
Messerschmitt receives a contract to carry out feasibility studies for the
design of a single-seat fighter with turbojet propulsion.
• Early 1939
Junkers’ Rückstoss-Turbinen-Strahltriebwerk (RTO) or ‘Reaction Turbojet Engine’
runs up to 6500rpm on a test stand. It is designed to reach 12,900rpm.
• January 2, 1939
Glider designer Alexander Lippisch is transferred from the Deutsche
Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS) to Messerschmitt, after completing the
ultimate civilian development of his work on tailless aircraft, Entwurf X or
‘Design 10’, his previous project for the DFS having been the Storch IX or
‘Stork 9’. This was later officially designated the DFS 194 by the RLM. He
immediately begins work on modifying the DFS 194 design, originally intended to
be driven by a propeller at the rear, to accommodate a Walter R I-203 rocket
engine.
• January 4, 1939
Heinkel and Messerschmitt each receive a contract to begin work on the design
of single-seat fighter aircraft with turbojet propulsion – ‘Jagdflugzeuge mit
Strahltriebwerk’.
• April 1, 1939
Following preliminary studies, Messerschmitt’s design team set to work in
earnest on their first draft of a single-seat jet fighter, project P.65 – later
referred to as P.1065.
• Circa June 1939
Heinkel begins work on two mock-ups of its projected twin-engine turbojet
fighter.
• June 7, 1939 The
Messerschmitt P.1065 design, intended to be powered by two wing-mounted BMW jet
engines, is submitted to the RLM. The RLM asks Messerschmitt to produce a
mock-up of the design.
• July 1939
Bramo is amalgamated into BMW. The jet engine it has been working on is renamed
P.3302. BMW’s own design, the P.3304, is ultimately abandoned.
• August 27, 1939
An aircraft powered by Von Ohain’s latest jet engine design, the HeS 3b, takes
flight. The Heinkel He 178 V1 is the first jet-powered aircraft to fly anywhere
in the world.
• September 1, 1939
The Second World War begins.
• September 26, 1939
RLM representatives inspect the two completed mock-ups of Heinkel’s jet fighter
design. The aircraft receives an official RLM designation – He 280.
• October 16, 1939
Work on fitting Lippisch’s DFS 194 with a Walter rocket motor is completed and
ground tests begin. It is found that making the engine an integral part of the
airframe is a fundamentally bad idea – making it difficult and dangerous to service
and repair.
• November 1, 1939
The Heinkel He 178 is demonstrated in front of RLM representatives.
• December 1939
Junkers begins work on a development of Wagner’s design, the Jumo T1 jet engine
design, later known as the Jumo 004.
• December 19, 1939
Messerschmitt’s P.1065 mock-up is examined by the RLM.
• Circa 1940
Messerschmitt’s designers begin work on a parallel project to the P.1065 – the
smaller P.1070 – which has a tricycle undercarriage and its engines mounted in
its wings.
• Circa spring 1940
The RLM asks Arado to design a bomber/photo reconnaissance aircraft that can be
powered by either Junkers or BMW jet engines.
• March 1940 It is
proposed that 20 prototypes of the P.1065 should be built, to be powered by the
BMW P.3302.
• August 1940
Alexander Lippisch’s DFS 194 flies under rocket power for the first time.
• September 22, 1940
Glide tests are begun on the first completed airframe of Heinkel’s He 280
design.
• December 1940
The prototype BMW P.3302 V1 jet engine is run for the first time.
• Winter 1940 Work
on the first prototype of the rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163, a
development of Lippisch’s DFS 194, is completed.
• February 1941
Construction of the first prototype Messerschmitt P.1065 begins.
• March 30, 1941
The Heinkel He 280 V2 flies under its own power for the first time.
• April 8, 1941
Messerschmitt’s P.1065 is given an official RLM designation – Me 262.
• April 18, 1941 The
Me 262 V1, PC+UA, makes its first flight, albeit powered by a Jumo 210G piston
engine.
• Spring 1941
Unpowered flight testing of the Me 163A V1 prototype begins.
• July 14, 1941
Following the invasion of the Soviet Union, Hitler issues Führer Directive No.
32 (Supplement), restricting the allocation of non-war-essential military
equipment development contracts. Work on new jet fighter types for the
Luftwaffe comes to a halt. It is anticipated that victory in the East will be
swift.
• August 13, 1941
First rocket-powered flight of Me 163A V1.
• October 24, 1941
Arado has finally come up with a concrete proposal for the RLM’s
bomber/reconnaissance jet requirement – the E.370/IVa. It is examined by the
RLM and an initial batch of 50 aircraft are ordered.
• November 1941
Two BMW P.3302 prototype engines are delivered to Messerschmitt for
installation in the Messerschmitt Me 262 V1 prototype.
• December 1941
Design work starts on a production version of the Me 163A, which is deemed too
complicated for series production. This will be designated the Me 163B.
• February 1942
Arado’s E.370 design is allocated the official RLM designation Ar 234.
• March 25, 1942
A first jet-powered flight of the Me 262 V1 is attempted but ends in failure
after both its BMW engines fail.
• April 1942
The RLM orders six Ar 234 prototypes. Work on the first prototype Me 163B is
completed.
• May 26, 1942 First
glider flight of the Me 163B V1.
• May 29, 1942 The
RLM reduces its Me 262 prototype order to just five examples.
• July 5, 1942
Flight testing of the He 280 V3, using two of Von Ohain’s HeS 8A jet engines,
begins.
• July 18, 1942 Me
262 V3 flies for the first time with Jumo 004 engines. It completes 25 minutes
of trouble-free flying.
• September 1942
Although Me 262 V3 has been wrecked in an accident, its reliable performance
convinces the RLM to reinstate the type’s formerly cancelled additional
prototypes.
• November 5, 1942
Focke-Wulf produces drawings for a jet-engined Fw 190, using a powerplant of
its own design.
• November 18, 1942
The RLM reduces its He 280 prototype order to just six examples plus one
unpowered aircraft for high speed testing.
• December 10, 1942
With the tide of battle in the East turning against Germany, and with no
imminent victory in sight, Erhard Milch orders into effect “an urgent
development and production programme under the code word Vulkan. The programme
encompasses jet-propelled aircraft and guided missiles, including associated
equipment and the ground organisation necessary to support these activities”.
The aircraft given top priority for procurement of equipment are the Me 163, Me
262, He 280, Me 328 and Ar 234.
• December 28, 1942
The RLM increases its order for Ar 234 prototypes from six to 20.
• January 4, 1943
Focke-Wulf designer Julius Rotta sets out how the company will approach future
jet design and suggests an aircraft layout similar to what will eventually be
produced as the Heinkel He 162.
• January 22, 1943
At an RLM conference, Willy Messerschmitt proposes a jet-propelled version of
the Bf 109, the Bf 109TL – which would bring together the fuselage of the Me
155 high-altitude fighter and the wing and undercarriage of the Me 309, both
projected successors to the Bf 109 itself.
• March 9, 1943
The RLM decides against series production of the Heinkel He 280 – primarily due
to the minimal ground clearance of its low slung engine pods. This is officially
confirmed in a letter to Heinkel dated March 27, 1943.
• May 22, 1943
General of Fighters Adolf Galland flies the Me 262 at Lechfeld.
• May 25, 1943
Galland convinces Hermann Göring to have Messerschmitt drop its latest proposed
Bf 109 replacement, the Me 209, in favour of all-out production of the Me 262.
• June 22, 1943
Messerschmitt’s plan for series production of the Me 262 is approved.
• Early summer 1943
The first Ar 234 prototype is completed and taxiing trials begin.
• June 24, 1943 First
rocket-powered flight of the Me 163B V1 prototype.
• July 30, 1943 The
Ar 234 V1 is successfully flown for the first time.
• August 17, 1943
Me 262 production is delayed when a US bombing raid destroys fuselage
construction jigs at Messerschmitt’s Regensburg plant, prompting the firm to
move key departments to Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps.
• January 1944 The
first production batches of Me 163B-0 and B-1 airframes are completed but no
engines are available.
• March 1, 1944
The Jägerstab (Fighter Staff), a committee of industrialists and RLM officials
is established with the goal of reinvigorating Germany’s flagging aviation
industry. This effectively ends the RLM’s direct involvement in aircraft
production, allowing it to focus on research and development.
• Spring 1944 A
requirement is issued by the RLM for a simple, quick and cheap to mass produce
interceptor that is easy to fly and can be launched in large numbers to protect
key targets from bombing raids, under the designation ‘Verschleissjäger’ or
‘Attrition Fighter’, as in swarms of these machines ‘wearing down’ the enemy’s
bombers.
• June 1944
The first 20 pre-production Arado Ar 234B-0 aircraft are delivered.
• Early July 1944
The Jägerstab issues a requirement for a new fighter aircraft, a ‘1-TL-Jäger’.
It must be powered by a single jet engine and four firms, Blohm & Voss,
Focke-Wulf, Heinkel and Messerschmitt, are invited to submit tenders. The
design must be ready to present within eight weeks – by early September
– with a mock-up ready a month later, a prototype ready to fly by December 1,
1944, and series production commencing on January 1, 1945.
• September 8-10, 1944
A meeting is held at the Messerschmitt facility in Oberammergau where the four
firms invited to tender for the ‘1-TL-Jäger’ requirement of July are supposed
to present their initial designs for assessment. The Blohm & Voss
submission is deferred since it is not yet ready. Focke-Wulf’s design is
largely rejected and Junkers is invited to submit designs for the requirement,
bringing the number of firms now involved to five.
• September 10, 1944
Just as the ‘1-TL-Jäger’ meeting draws to a close, the RLM invites Arado, Blohm
& Voss, Fieseler, Focke-Wulf, Heinkel, Junkers, Messerschmitt and Siebel to
tender submissions for a new requirement designated ‘Volksjäger’ or ‘People’s
Fighter’. This calls for a lightweight fighter built from existing components
and powered by a single BMW 003 jet engine.
• September 14-15, 1944
A meeting is held at the RLM’s offices in Berlin and five of the firms invited
to tender for the ‘Volksjäger’ requirement present their designs – Arado, Blohm
& Voss, Focke-Wulf, Heinkel and Junkers. Messerschmitt refuses to offer any
designs while Fieseler and Siebel are unable to come up with anything suitable
in the four days allowed. The Arado, Focke-Wulf and Junkers designs are quickly
rejected.
• September 15, 1944
A new main development committee, the Entwicklungs Hauptkommission (EHK), led
by Luftwaffe chief engineer Roluf Lucht, is established by Germany’s minister
for war production, Albert Speer, to oversee work on new aircraft types. Among
its members are Focke-Wulf chief designer Kurt Tank, Willy Messerschmitt,
Walter Blume of Arado and Heinrich Hertel from Junkers.
• September 17, 1944
Another meeting is held to discuss the two ‘Volksjäger’ finalists – Heinkel’s
P.1073 and Blohm & Voss’s P.211. No decision is reached.
• September 19, 1944
Yet another meeting is held to discuss the ‘Volksjäger’ finalists is held and
all the original entries are reviewed – along with new entries from Fieseler,
Focke-Wulf, Junkers and Siebel.
• September 23, 1944
Hitler orders Heinkel’s P.1073 design into mass production.
• October 3, 1944
Heinkel’s P.1073 is given the official RLM designation He 162.
• October 25, 1944
Work begins on the first He 162 prototypes.
• November 28-29, 1944
Submitted designs for the ‘Verschleissjäger’ requirement are reviewed. None of
the four finalists are rejected but they are ranked in the following order:
Messerschmitt’s rocket-enhanced Me 262, Heinkel’s ‘Julia’, the
Junkers/Messerschmitt 8-263 and Bachem’s Natter.
• December 1, 1944
The He 162 M1 (V1) is finished and ready to fly.
• December 6, 1944
He 162 M1 flies for the first time.
• Early December, 1944
Junkers submits a new design for the ‘Verschleissjäger’ requirement, the EF.127
‘Walli’.
• December 10, 1944
The He 162 M1 is destroyed during testing, killing its pilot.
• December 15, 1944
Discussions take place at the RLM in Berlin regarding the five companies’
submissions to the ‘1-TL-Jäger’ requirement. The companies present their
updated designs – Junkers presents its EF.128 for the first time – but no
agreement can be reached on the system of calculation that will be used to
compare their projected performances.
• December 19-20, 1944
During a meeting of the main design and development commission Willy
Messerschmitt states that his company will henceforth no longer be involved in
the development of Otto engine fighter except developments of the Bf 109.
• December 22, 1944
The He 162 M2 is flown for the first time. At a meeting, the ‘Verschleissjäger’
designs are reviewed again and the Messerschmitt/ Junkers 8-263 is chosen for
further development. Development of the rocket-enhanced Me 262 is to continue,
work on Junkers’ EF.127 ‘Walli’ is to be suspended and both Bachem’s Natter and
Heinkel’s ‘Julia’ are to be cancelled.
• January 12-15, 1945
Further discussions take place at the RLM in Berlin regarding the five
companies’ submissions to the ‘1-TL-Jäger’ requirement. A mathematical formula
for comparing the submitted designs has now been agreed but none of the
submitted designs now comes close to meeting the amended requirements.
• January 27, 1945
Technical specifications are issued for the new ‘Schlechtwetter– Tag– und
Nachtjäger’ or ‘Bad Weather Day- and Night-fighter’ requirement.
• February 9, 1945
The first five production He 162s are completed.
• February 22, 1945
Hermann Göring rules that no further piston engined fighters are to be
developed.
• February 26, 1945
Further discussions take place regarding the Arado, Blohm & Voss, Dornier,
Focke-Wulf and Gothaer submissions to the ‘Schlechtwetter– Tag– und Nachtjäger’
requirement.
• February 27, 1945
Technical specifications for the ‘Schlechtwetter– Tag– und Nachtjäger’
requirement are altered, making the designs submitted so far inadequate. On the
same day, the Luftwaffe pilots fly a He 162 for the first time – He 162 M19.
• February 27-28, 1945
Further discussions take place at the RLM in Berlin regarding the five
companies’ submissions to the ‘1-TL-Jäger’ requirement. No decision is reached.
• March 20-21, 1945
A final discussion takes place at Focke-Wulf’s Bad Eilsen facility regarding
the submissions to the ‘Schlechtwetter– Tag– und Nachtjäger’ requirement. The
designs submitted by Dornier and Focke-Wulf are apparently rejected.
• March 22-23, 1945
A final discussion takes place at Focke-Wulf’s Bad Eilsen facility regarding
the five companies’ submissions to the ‘1-TL-Jäger’ requirement. Junkers
apparently receives a development contract for its EF.128 design.
• March 31, 1945
Heinkel’s technical design department is evacuated from Vienna, ending work on
all projects. On the same day, deliveries of production He 162s to JG 1 finally
begin.
• April 8, 1945
British forces overrun Focke-Wulf’s Bad Eilsen design facilities, ending work
on all projects.
• April 29, 1945
American forces overrun Messerschmitt’s Oberammergau design facilities, ending
work on all projects.
• May 1, 1945 JG1
ferry pilots try and fail to free the last two He 162s from their construction
jigs at Rostock before the Heinkel facility is overrun by Soviet troops.
• May 3, 1945
British forces overrun Blohm & Voss’s headquarters in Hamburg. It is likely
that work on all projects ended some time in mid-April.
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