The ''Fliegende Panzerfaust'', meaning 'flying tank fist' (literally 'Flying Armor Fist') in the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

, was a project for a Third Reich very-short-range

interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Interceptor'', a British drama series on BBC One * Interceptor (game show), ''Interceptor'' (game show), a British television game show that ran during 1989 * Interc ...

Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturing company. It is perhaps best known for its leading role in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, commonly referred to as ''Zeppelin, Zeppelins'' due to the company's prominence ...

. The ''Fliegende Panzerfaust'' project was part of the

Nazi propaganda Propaganda was a tool of the Nazi Party in Germany from its earliest days to the end of the regime in May 1945 at the end of World War II. As the party gained power, the scope and efficacy of its propaganda grew and permeated an increasing amou ...

-based ''

Wunderwaffe ''Wunderwaffe'' () is a German word that roughly translates to "wonder-weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by Nazi Germany's propaganda ministry to some revolutionary "superweapons". Most of these weapons however remained pr ...

'' ('wonder weapon') concept. It was proposed to the Emergency Fighter Program against the allied bombing raids over

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in the last years of

World War II 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 ...

Description

The ''Fliegende Panzerfaust'' was a rocket-powered design meeting the demand for a low-cost aircraft in a very-short-range interceptor role. It was a

parasite aircraft A parasite aircraft is a component of a composite aircraft which is carried aloft and air launched by a larger carrier aircraft or mother ship to support the primary mission of the carrier. The carrier craft may or may not be able to later recove ...

meant to be towed behind a

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...

G for which it had a special long, "up-turned" nose for towing. Powered by six Schmidding SG 34

solid-fuel rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses Rocket propellant#Solid chemical propellants, solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder. The incepti ...

engines, three on each side on the rear half of the fuselage, the ''Fliegende Panzerfaust'' was a small aircraft with an armored nose, a

v-tail The V-tail or ''vee-tail'' (sometimes called a butterfly tail or Rudlicki's V-tailGudmundsson S. (2013). "General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures" (Reprint). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 489. , 9780123973290) of an aircraf ...

, a wingspan of 4.5 m and a length of 6.0 m. This Zeppelin-built aircraft would have been released upon reaching combat altitude above the enemy bomber fleet. Shortly before contact with the

combat box The combat box was a tactical formation used by heavy (strategic) bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. The combat box was also referred to as a "staggered formation". Its defensive purpose was in massing the firepower of the b ...

below it would ignite its engines, attacking the target bomber by firing two 73 mm RZ 65

air-to-air rocket An air-to-air rocket or air interception rocket is an unguided projectile fired from aircraft to engage other flying targets. They were used briefly in World War I to engage enemy observation balloons and in and after World War II to engage enem ...

s at extremely close range. Since after expending the fuel the

center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the barycenter or balance point) is the unique point at any given time where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. For ...

would have shifted substantially, making the aircraft too difficult to handle, the front half of the ''Fliegende Panzerfaust'', which had the pilot lying in a prone position, would then separate from the other half. Both parts would land separately using parachutes, being later retrieved and reused. Owing to the extreme risks for the pilot inherent in its operation this aircraft is sometimes referred to as a suicide weapon.

Specifications

Replicas

There is a Fliegende Panzerfaust replica on display at the

Military Aviation Museum The Military Aviation Museum is located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and houses one of the world's largest private collections of warbirds in flying condition. It includes examples from Germany, France, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the ...

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the List of cities in Virginia, most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeaster ...

, Virginia.

Bibliography

* Manfred Griehl & Joachim Dressel, ''Die Deutschen Raketenflugzeuge 1935-1945: Die Entwicklung einer umwalzenden Technik'', Weltbild,

References

External links