A Partner for the Me 262: The 1 TL Fighter

After the war took an even less favourable turn for Germany at the end of 1944, the Riistungsstab made greater efforts to design an aircraft for Reich air defence which could be turned out faster, and in greater numbers. The development of the He 162, based on revised plans for a more costly jet fighter, was seen as the solution. In the medium term better equipped and armed fighters, if possible with an HeS Oil A-l turbine, would take their place alongside the Me 262. All known aircraft manufacturers now became involved in the various attempts to produce stopgap designs for a powerful, single-turbine jet aircraft. As might have been expected the engines could not be supplied. The ambitious project came to grief before the first prototypes were available, and only models and a full-scale mock-up in wood served Chief-TLR and the Riistungsstab for inspection purposes. The 1 TL Fighter was never actually thought of as a replacement for the Me 262 A-la, but rather as a way to stretch the available resources as far as possible. It would consume considerably less fuel than the twin Jumo 004 В engines of the Me 262 A-la, and therefore economise on the
restricted fuel supplies: the same applied to the raw materials required for series production. As there was a limit to aluminium availability, a hard look was taken at easily manufactured steel plating and possibly wooden parts for various sections of the aircraft structure. In submitting their suggestions, firms had to take this into account.