New Projects for Victory

On the basis of experience gained with the local-defence fighter the idea was pursued from July 1944. Although the production of special fuel for the Me 163 lagged because of heavy air raids day and night on the chemical industries, thought was given to even smaller rocket-powered local fighters. The Luftwaffe, and Waffen-SS in particular, set great store by the deployment of such aircraft in huge numbers in order to break down Allied air superiority, since industry could produce ten of these small fighters for every Bf 109 K-4 or Fw 190 D-9.

The lightweight machine would be truly mass – produced. In various modifications it became increasingly simplified, so that in the end the Chief-TLR and the Development Commission were looking at a miniature rocket-propelled fighter which was a cross between a manned flak rocket, a midget rocket aircraft and the Heimatschutzer (or ‘Protector of the Homeland’ as the Me 262 was sometimes known). One of the most promising designs was Heinkel s Julia, the rival to Bachem’s Natter. As another alternative solution, the further development of the Me 262 C design was pursued until near the war’s end.