Me 163 Komet

The Me 163 Komet is the only rocket-powered fighter to ever enter operational service. The short-range German interceptor was the fastest and one of the most radical aircraft of World War II.

Despite its record-setting speed, the fighters were in as much danger of blowing up from their volatile engine fuel as they were of being shot down by Allied fire. Their rocket propellant mixture was so flammable that the aircraft sometimes combusted out of thin air.

And regardless of several state-of-the-art weapons installed on their fuselage, the Komets were so fast that shooters could not aim properly at their much-slower enemies.

But Luftwaffe pilots were still impressed by the Komets’ technological superiority and even more excited about being able to fly a rocket, even at the cost of their own lives...

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