The Junkers EF 128 was a project for a single-engine

jet fighter Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the air ...

, developed for the

Emergency Fighter Program The Emergency Fighter Program () was the program that resulted from a decision taken on July 3, 1944 by the Luftwaffe regarding the German aircraft manufacturing companies during the last year of the Third Reich. This project was one of the ...

Luftwaffe design competition during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The EF 128 was a tailless swept-wing design and was to have been powered by a

Heinkel HeS 011 The Heinkel HeS 011 or Heinkel-Hirth 109-011 ''(HeS - Heinkel Strahltriebwerke)'' was an advanced World War II jet engine built by Heinkel-Hirth. It featured a unique compressor arrangement, starting with a low-compression impeller in the intak ...

turbojet and armed with four

MK 108 cannon The MK 108 (German: ''Maschinenkanone''—"machine cannon") is a 30 mm caliber autocannon manufactured in Germany during World War II by Rheinmetall‑Borsig for use in aircraft. Development The weapon was developed as a private venture by the c ...

s, reaching a speed of 1000 km/h at an altitude of 7000 m. A development contract was received in March 1945 but no progress could be made before the war ended.

History

As part of the

(), at the beginning of 1945 a programme was launched by the OKL to replace the

He 162 He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

"Volksjäger" (people's fighter). The new aircraft was intended to have superior performance in order to deal with high altitude threats such as the

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined Propeller (aeronautics), propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to ...

. To meet this requirement, power was to be a single

turbojet. Junkers submitted their initial proposal in December 1944. Designated the EF 128, it was of tailless configuration, with a high-mounted swept wing and twin fins set approximately mid-span on each wing. Side intakes for the engine were located underneath the wing and almost flush with the fuselage. Construction was to be of mixed wood and metal, using non-strategic materials wherever possible.J.R. Smith & Antony Kay; ''German Aircraft of the second World War'', Putnam, 1972. pp. 626–628. By January design refinements included boundary layer suction, to help alleviate fears of transonic stagnation around the unusually positioned engine intakes. The final design was submitted in February 1945. Competing designs put forward at this time by other German aircraft makers were the Messerschmitt P.1110, Heinkel P.1078,

Focke-Wulf Ta 183 The Focke-Wulf Ta 183 ''Huckebein'' was a design for a jet-powered fighter aircraft intended as the successor to the Messerschmitt Me 262 and other day fighters in Luftwaffe service during World War II. It had been developed only to the extent ...

and

Blohm & Voss P 212 The Blohm & Voss P 212 was a proposed jet fighter designed by Blohm & Voss for the Emergency Fighter Program Luftwaffe design competition during the Second World War. History In early 1945, a replacement was sought for the Heinkel He 162 ''Volksj ...

. In March 1945 it was decided that the EF 128 and the more conventional Focke-Wulf Ta 183 should go into production as urgent interim solutions to the single-engine jet fighter requirement. Shortly afterwards a development contract was placed with Junkers, however the Junkers factory was overrun by Allied troops only a month later.Sharp 2020, pp.19-21, 166 At some stage a wind tunnel model of the final design was tested.Sharp 2017

References

Notes

Bibliography

*Dan Sharp; ''Luftwaffe: Secret Wings of the Third Reich'', bookazine, Mortons, 2017. pp.78-81. *Dan Sharp; ''Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe: Jet Fighters 1939-1945'', hardback, Mortons, 2020.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Junkers Ef 128 EF 128 World War II jet aircraft of Germany

History

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links