Throughout the history of military aviation, there have been many examples of warbirds that were every bit as deadly, if not more so in some cases, to the crews flying them as they were to the enemies they were targeting.  

For example, though the Sopwith Camel was Britain’s most effective fighter in WWI, not to mention the warplane that enabled Snoopy to shoot down the Red Baron, she had a reputation for being unforgiving to fly. 

Fast-forward to the next World War, and the U.S,-made Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber was nicknamed the “Widowmaker” and “the airplane that separated the men from the boys.” Speaking of “Widowmaker,” that label, along with “Flying Coffin,” was bestowed upon the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, whilst the Republic F-105 Thunderchief earned the nickname of “Thud” during the Vietnam War due to her rather distressing penchant for blowing up in midair.  

But crashing or blowing up in midair is one thing. Melting the flesh & bone of the pilots flying the plane takes things to a whole ‘nother level. Therefore, the Nazi German Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket plane arguably takes the cake as the most fratricidal fighter plane of all time.  

Though this isn’t my first time penning an article on the Komet, see my previous National Interest article, I was compelled to revisit this topic after stumbling upon a YouTube video titled “Not a Toy: World's Scariest Aircraft | Last Moments,” and featured the blurb “The Acid Fighter” on the thumbnail preview.

Messerschmitt Me 163 “Komet” Initial History and Specifications 

The Me 163 Komet made her maiden flight on September 1, 1941, but didn’t enter into operational service until 1944. 

One of Hitler’s Wunderwaffen ("Wonder Weapons"), the Me 163 made history as the world’s first rocket-powered fighter plane. True to her Komet moniker, she hit an official  top speed of Mach 0.81 (623.8 mph; 1,000 kilometers/h); and unofficially in July 1944, German test pilot Heini Dittmar attained a world flight airspeed record of Mach 0.91 (700 mph; 1,130 kilometers/h) whilst flying a Komet, an accomplishment which wasn't exceeded until Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in his Bell X-1 in October 1947. 

In addition to speed, the Me 163 wielded a fearsome arsenal of two Rheinmetall-Borsig MK 108 30mm cannon which had a rate of fire of 650 rounds per minute and were nicknamed the "pneumatic hammer" due to their distinctive firing sound. 

Some Komets were also retrofitted with the Sondergerät 500 Jägerfaust experimental airborne anti-bomber recoilless rifle. All of which goes to prove the paradoxical twin truths of combat aviation that “Speed Is Life” and “Speed Kills.” 

Additional specifications and vital stats of the Komet: 

· Fuselage Length: 5.7 meters (eighteen feet, eight inches) 

· Wingspan: 9.3 meters (thirty feet, six inches) 

· Height: 2.5 meters (eight feet, two inches) 

· Empty Weight: 1,905 kilograms (4,200 pounds) 

· Max Takeoff Weight: 4,309 kilograms (9,500 pounds) 

· Endurance: 7.5 minutes powered 

· Rate of Climb: eighty-one meters/s (16,000 feet/minute) 

The Komet’s Deadly Horror Stories  

Alas, as already indicated, the “Speed Kills” adage applied every bit as much to the Komet’s crews as it did to the Allied warplanes she was designed to fight. In exchange for 16 claimed air-to-air kills (including three P-51 Mustangs shot down in a single engagement in August 1944), anywhere from six to nine Me 163s were shot down by Allied fighter pilots…but more distressingly from the standpoint of the Luftwaffe personnel,  at least nine Me 163 drivers were killed in accidents. 

The chief culprit behind the Komet’s flying coffin status was its extremely volatile fuel mixture, a deadly duo of T-Stoff and C-Stoff, which was not only explosive but also highly corrosive and toxic. As stated by aeronautical engineer Dr. Alexander Lippisch, "If you stick your finger in it, then you get only the bone."  

To drive home the point of just how deadly the plane’s fuel type truly was, the narrator of the aforementioned YouTube video tells the story of Josef Pöhs a thirty-one-year-old Luftwaffe ace and   

recipient of the Knight's Cross, the highest award in the military forces of Nazi Germany, “[H]e was transferred to a test unit for the Messerschmitt Komet in 1943. During takeoff, the dolly was jettisoned [sic] much too early. Bouncing off the runway, it struck the aircraft and ruptured a T-Stoff line. This caused the engine to shut down and Pöhs was forced to glide into an emergency landing. Pilots at the airbase watched on as their friend crashed his Komet. Rushing to his aid, they encountered a horrific site. In the cockpit, Josef Pöhs was drenched in the corrosive T-Stoff. His right arm had been dissolved to nothing, the other arm, as well as his head were little more than a mass of soft jelly. Pöhs' best friend, Major Wolfgang Späte ordered everyone not directly involved with the recovery operation to leave the scene immediately, as he silently hoped the crash had instantaneously killed Pöhs, or at least knocked him unconscious.” 

Egad.  

Where Are They Now? 

Out of the 370 Me 163s built, a total of ten survive today as museum static displays spread out across Australia, Canada, Deutschland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. I can personally vouch for Werk-Nummer 191301, an Me 163 B-1a on display at the Smithsonian National Air & Space’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.  

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch , The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). 

Image Credit: Creative Commons and/or Shutterstock.