If it did not need a tow-plane to get it into the air nor was it catapult launched, then the Shinryu had an almost identical take-off/landing profile as the Mitsubishi J8M Shusui which was the Japanese variant of the German Messerschmitt Me 163 in that it took off under its own rocket engine, expended its fuel, then glided back to its base for landing which would, in some eyes, take it out of the glider category.
Messerschmitt Bf 109 | Messerschmitt | Messerschmitt Bf 110 | Messerschmitt Me 262 | Messerschmitt Me 163 | BR-163 | Willy Messerschmitt | :Messerschmitt Bf 109 | Messerschmitt Bf 108 | Me 163 ''Komet'' | Messerschmitt Me 209 | Messerschmitt M 18 |
The Sondergerät SG 500 Jagdfaust was an experimental airborne anti-bomber recoilless rifle designed for use in the Me 163 Komet rocket plane by the German Luftwaffe during World War II.
JG 400 was formed on 1 February 1944 in Brandis with Stab only for the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter, as the only military aviation unit of any size in history, to actively use rocket-powered combat aircraft in wartime.
Josef Pöhs was killed on 30 December 1943 when the ME 163 that he was flying was shot down over Bad Zwischenahn.
During the late 1930s, German scientists, such as Wernher von Braun and Hellmuth Walter, investigated installing liquid-fueled rockets in military aircraft (Heinkel He 112, He 111, He 176 and Messerschmitt Me 163).
During the Second World War, Lippisch worked for the German designer Willy Messerschmitt on the first tailless aircraft to go into production, the Me 163 Komet.
Major Wolfgang Späte, of JG 54 was transferred into the experimental flying unit Erprobungskommando 16 at Bad Zwischenahn in Northern Germany, where the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet was under development and tactical testing.