Some Luftwaffe Lunacy from Lindberg, three 1/72 scale models

 

        One can almost feel the hand of Divine Guidance when one contemplates pattern of the decisions of the Nazi High Command during World War Two. The aircraft development process comes to mind, a few different decisions could have changed the course of the war. Most folks are familiar with the mania for dive bombing that lead to the regrettable HE-177 (a four engine heavy DIVE bomber) or the conversion of the ME-262 from a fighter into a fast bomber (never mind the Arado 234 fast bomber already in development at the same time). These decisions deprived the Luftwaffe of crucial, potentially war-winning, aircraft at critical junctures during the war.

       Then there are some far less well known missed opportunities. The Heinkel HE-100 is a perfect example; a replacement for the far less successful HE-112 the HE-100 lost out to the Messerschmidt Bf-109 despite significantly better performance, easier ground-handling and nearly twice the range. Mostly because some Armani-suit wearing Nazi drug addict had decided that Messerschmidt made fighters while Heinkel made bombers, and it was just too confusing if things changed. Imagine (to your horror) how the Battle of Britain would have ended if the Luftwaffe had fighters with an extra hour of loiter-time over England, and that those fighters (lazily circling the R.A.F. bases) were better than the Spitfires they had come to hunt.

 

the Lindberg model of the HE-100 captures the shape and diminutive size of this bird rather well

 

this is a simple, almost primitive, model like all the kits from the 1960's

 

but as a wargaming model it does just fine

 

a good-looking model of a good-looking aircraft

       In another bout of irrational behavior the Luftwaffe decided that building rocket powered gliders was the way to stop the Allied bombing of Germany. The Messerschmidt ME-163 looks like a cross between a bat and a bullet. It proved to be an incredibly complicated (and dangerous to its pilots) way of getting a couple of cannon into the air for a pass or two of shooting at our bombers. The fuel was so dangerous that one of the pilots was dissolved because of a leak and more were blown up or burned due to explosions and fires during landing the plane (which had to be dead-sticked because the rocket had burned out). Unironically named the Komet this little number was almost impossible to intercept but fell victim to wide-ranging Allied fighters that would shoot it down as it glided in for a landing, or simply shot them up on the ground after they had landed. 

 

shaped more like a manta-ray than a normal fighter 

the ME-163 was as surprisingly agile aircraft

 

the Lindberg kit captures the lines rather well even though it is rather light on detail

 

perhaps the Luftwaffe would have been better served with batteries of unguided rockets

 

incredibly fast the ME-163 could get to altitude very quickly

 but pilots complained about trying to aim while traveling so fast

       An example of the Luftwaffe finally getting their thinking straight, thankfully far too late in the war to make a difference, the  HE-162  was a light, simple to manufacture, inexpensive fast jet fighter of a very advanced design. Faster than any piston-driven fighter, armed with two 20mm cannon and considered a sweetheart of an aircraft by both the German pilots that flew them and the Allied test pilots after the war this "Volksjager" could have made a real difference in the air-war over Germany if only the Germans hadn't spent so much time and energy on the complicated and balky ME-262. Fortunately it took until September of 1944 for the Nazis to figure out that they needed an aircraft like this and the first example didn't take to the air until December 6th 1944.

 

looking sleek and modern even by today's standards the HE-162 was far ahead of its time

 

this small model captures the look of the original very well

 

like most Lindberg kits of the 60's it is very simple and has no pretense of interior details

 

but the parts fit and overall outline are very good

 

 now I use the magic color-changing backdrop

 

and the camera is fooled 

 

a simple finishing nail super-glued inside the fuselage

 is enough to provide a strong magnetic hold on the model

 

it sort of reminds me of a discount version of the A-10

 

       I have a couple of even crazier aircraft that are in the queue, stay tuned for more incredibly bad ideas in aircraft history.