He-162 in Flypast

I recently read the book “Die Faehrte des Jägers” by Adolf Dickfeld.
Oberst Dickfeld claims one victory with a “Salamander” over a Thunderbolt.
He reported, they were dangerous to fly and most of them were not servicable or went broken after the first landing.
Regards,
Herbert

I’m still looking for the original reference, but from memory the French concluded that the He162 was a pleasant enough aircraft to fly, in the hands of an expert, but uncompetitive as a fighter. Can anyone produce chapter and verse on this one?

William

I have only ever read one detailed account of flying the He162, written by Eric Brown in his book Wings of the Luftwaffe and rather surprisingly his conclussions about this aircraft are quite positive. Yes he it had problems which from memory included not being able to open the engine up again to go around! but overall he seemed to enjoy flying this aircraft.

Steve.

Funnily enough I was reading the bit about the 162 in Brown’s ‘Wings on My Sleeve’ last night. He suggested the controls were very nice but extremely sensitive, particularly the rudders, and it took a very experienced pilot to fly it safely. A less experienced pilot took the 162 up after Brown had flown it and despite advice from the test pilot, used too much rudder in a roll whereupon the aircraft lost control, the tail broke off and the aircraft cartwheeled into Aldershot barracks killing the pilot and a soldier. The prototype also crashed when being demonstrated to Goering during the war. I understand the French also tested some of these, but at least one crashed.

Brown thought that with a lot of development and possibly a swept wing, the Volksjager could have made a decent fighter, but it seems that the aircraft had a lot of problems. Which is not to say that a modern recreation could not do well.

The Museé de l’Air 162 is currently being restored by the Memorial Flight at Dugny. That could easily be made to fly and is almost complete. A guy came to boroscope the engine and was happy to have signed it off as flightworthy!

Wikipedia has a blurb about the ‘162 – dunno how accurate it is, however, but it seems pretty good, anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_162

I have only ever read one detailed account of flying the He162, written by Eric Brown in his book Wings of the Luftwaffe and rather surprisingly his conclussions about this aircraft are quite positive. Yes he it had problems which from memory included not being able to open the engine up again to go around! but overall he seemed to enjoy flying this aircraft.

Steve.

My understanding is that he is looking at fiting modern avionics, engine and other systems in the original airframe.

My main query centres on the fact that the design was never fully operational and probably poses something of an unknown quality from a flight worthiness perspective.

162

http://www.historicaircraftcollection.ltd.uk/news/index.html#Aero_Vintage_acquires_a_Heinkel_162
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Problems with prilosec

I had the privilege of spending sometime with Harold Bauer this past fall during a tour stop in Oxford, CT. He was an HE 162 pilot with JG 72. He had the misfortune of being shot down by a B-17. During our stay he went for for a ride in “Nine O Nine” to see what it was like from our side of the guns. It was quite an emotional moment for him and he spent the weekend alongside American Vets swapping stories and sharing his story with the public. It would be fantastic to see one of these fly.

Jim Harley
collings foundation

I am always amazed by the Vets of WWII regardless from what countries they served from. No wonder they are refer to as the Greatest Generation!

I had the privilege of spending sometime with Harold Bauer this past fall during a tour stop in Oxford, CT. He was an HE 162 pilot with JG 72. He had the misfortune of being shot down by a B-17. During our stay he went for for a ride in “Nine O Nine” to see what it was like from our side of the guns. It was quite an emotional moment for him and he spent the weekend alongside American Vets swapping stories and sharing his story with the public. It would be fantastic to see one of these fly.

Jim Harley
collings foundation

From numerous bits I’d read (from German pilots) over the last fifteen (or so) years – they were supposed to be dangerous (to Germans;) , not our lot) and considered absolute PIGS to fly.

If (in the unlikely event) it does come to fruition:rolleyes: make sure you’re armed with camera…….. the results could be spectacular……..

Plenty of 1930’s Gee-Bee racer style ‘stack’ action awaits:dev2:

I take that it did indeed fly and was very unstable………..:eek:

I wonder if the plan for the Japanese Kikka excist? Now that would be interesting……………:diablo:

He 162

Apologies if this has been posted and I’ve missed it, but is that guy in this month’s Flypast REALLY going to restore the Salamander to fly!!?

From numerous bits I’d read (from German pilots) over the last fifteen (or so) years – they were supposed to be dangerous (to Germans;) , not our lot) and considered absolute PIGS to fly.

If (in the unlikely event) it does come to fruition:rolleyes: make sure you’re armed with camera…….. the results could be spectacular……..

Plenty of 1930’s Gee-Bee racer style ‘stack’ action awaits:dev2:

Did the He-162 every fly? I can’t remember………..hey if they built Me-262 from scratch why not He-162’s??? I wonder if the plans even excist??? Regardless, great idea………:D

doubt it’ll fly on an original BMW…..will have to be converted for similar.

How come its soo hard to fabricate in wood these days? are all the old glues/bonder’s/shaper chemicals outlawed with no suitable replacement?

The He-162 skins were ply/plasticky-type-stuff/ply I think, so I wouldn’t know how they’d get around that….aircraft grade balsa for the core?

Call me a rank amateur; I’ve never even picked up a restorers tea pot – but wasn’t the HE162 the volkswagen of the skies … the essence of simplicity and ease of build? Would that suggest a “relatively” feasible restoration project?

Not having my books at hand…but if I recall correctly, the 162 had a lot of wood in its structure. Not the easiest to preserve, restore or fabricate
(How many Mosquitos have you seen flying lately:D ).

Airframe issues combined with the engine parts availabity (not to mention a low TBO and any inherent design issues) might be the reason why the even a “simple” aircraft like the 162 doesn’t darken the skies.

easy as?

Call me a rank amateur; I’ve never even picked up a restorers tea pot – but wasn’t the HE162 the volkswagen of the skies … the essence of simplicity and ease of build? Would that suggest a “relatively” feasible restoration project?

Never say never!!!;)