Meant for England by bmac62
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Description
An extremely rare aircraft.
Fiesler Fi 103R Reichenberg. I have only seen these in books until visiting Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection at Paine Field in Everett, Washington last Saturday.
The Nazis built thousands of Feiseler Fi 103 V-1 unmanned flying bombs to terrorize England, but as things looked more and more bleak for the Nazi cause during World War II, the idea of a manned flying bomb bore fruit.
The Fiesler Fi 103R Reichenberg was proposed and test flown by Germany's top woman pilot. It was designed to be carried by an aircraft near its target, the pilot would direct the plane into a dive and bail out. Any pilot doing such a thing would most likely have met his death by being sucked into the engine or taken as a prisoner of war after improbably parachuting safely to the ground.
No German pilot ever flew one of these into combat.
Bill:)
Facts for those interested: Click Here
"On the Beach #1"
Comments (31)
lyron
Cool image!!
Madbat
You notice that it's always a great idea when someone ELSE gets to fly the suicide mission?
Meisiekind
Very interesting facts Bill and what a cool image! I just love the subtle light! Bravo Sir!!! :))
beachzz
Not a very good job to have, but a great shot, the light is superb!! Gives it the very menacing look it certainly was meant to have.
blinkings
Wow. Now that sounded like one tough job. Thanks for showing us this great shot.
cfulton
Basically a winged torpedo. Scary. Great info, Clive
M2A
Historical and very interesting plane.
durleybeachbum
It is so much like a group of dogfish!!
drace68
Did not know they built a piloted version. Good write up in the link. Thanks Bill.
helanker
But you must admit it is beautiful. I think so. Thanks for the info. It is an excellent shot.
kenmo
Outstanding photo and history... You outta write a book about aviation history... Great stuff my friend....
flavia49
fantastic photo! The woman pilot was Hanna Reitsch. She tested also the Stuka and was the first female helicopter pilot.
Foto-Arte
Looks super!
elfin14doaks
Cool shot and info.
Rainastorm
Just curious...was there a reason for using a top woman pilot? Excellent shot Bill...the room and atmosphere kinda set a somber mood here.
RodS
Doesn't seem like the best assignment one could get. Great photo and most interesting narrative. I'd heard or read somewhere that the Nazis came up with this 'brilliant' idea, but had never seen a photo of one. I know the Nazis were working on some pretty innovative things, but I don't think this one was one of their best.
dbrv6
Cool capture and very interesting. I have only heard referance did not know any where actualy built.
Osper
Little know, little flown, little too late!
Chipka
WOW! What an intriguing aircraft; it kind of illustrates Nazi desperation as well...bombs with pilots on board? How crazy/desperate is that? Well...those particular people weren't exactly paradigms of sanity. As for the plane/bomb itself, it looks oddly like something you'd find in the Star Trek universe; a small one-crew vehicle with a single warp nacelle on top and wings for atmospheric flight. I rather like that, but then it's a Star Trek related thought so yeah, I'd like that. I love the light and the colors and the cammo-pattern on the vehicle too. That kind of adds to the science fictional vibe of this whole piece, not to mention that display stand with information on it...I can definitely see tweaking that in a future render as a kind of high-tech control panel. In short you've taken a great picture here and have revealed all sorts of alternate world potential as well. THAT is never a bad thing. Great work!
goodoleboy
Cool lighting effects in this shot, Bill. Good fortune for you to find one. I remember these dudes. They would crash randomly onto British soil and were strictly for the purpose of terrorism. British pilots used to maneuver their Spitfire or Hurricane wing under a wing of the V-1s, and flipping the flying bomb, resulting in them to crash prematurely.
bazza
Nice shot Bill yes I had heard the British Pilots would fly along sid and use their aircraft wing to flip these under the wing so became a less effective weapon. Hence the V2 rockets. Well done!!
danapommet
WOW!!! I don't think that I even knew of this aircraft. Great shot and info. The Collings Foundation is restoring a Messerchmitt Me-262 and I have a link to the runway test of the engines if you are interested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD6LWwY82-4&feature=player_embedded# Dana
wjames
Fantastic image. I am old enough to remember the sound of the flying bombs as they headed towards London and the dreadful feeling when the sound of it's engine stopped.
neiwil
Well now!! I never knew there where any of these left.Great shot looks to have a longer nose than the standard doodlebug.A few of these where built as a test programme.There were plenty of volunteers to fly them but it was the German High Command that forbade "suicide missions" as an addmission of impending defeat.Hannah Reitsch was supposed to bail out during her test flight as this was never intended to be re-used.However the canopy tilts forward and she was unable to open it against the airflow and so she made the only recorded controlled landing of an Fi 103R.
auntietk
The light on this really is exceptional. What a great capture! It never ceases to amaze me how much people know about these things.
jendellas
I see it is camoflaged, great shot, glad it didn't succeed!!!!
debbielove
Hanna was the Germans best test pilot.. She flew this on several occasions.. BUT, and hers the catch landed it on sandy beaches in Northern Germany.. I'm sure on the second landing she broke her arm... Thus they went to unmanned! As Neil says The German High Command banned suicide missions.. There WAS a special unit (they flew Fw190's) who were to ram B-17's and the like after being escorted to their targets by 'normal' fighters! BUT, they were to bail out just before impact... They DID commit to combat once... I'm going on Bill... Stop me! Great and interesting picture! Thanks for showing it... Rob
sandra46
WONDERFUL
tennesseecowgirl
Nice image.. I just went to click on one of your new uploads from an ebot and it said it was removed, not sure why that would be. Anyways I tried to view it . Have a great night.
Buffalo1
I alwyas thought that the V-1 was one of the nastiest weapons, both in looks and use, of WWII. Your photo proves it! Neil is right about Hann Reitsch, she was a great pilot and a convinced Nazi. The Luftwaffe did have "ramming" squadrons that went against the bomber streams, but they weren't effective.