DFS 228
{{Short description|German reconnaissance aircraft prototype}}
{{Infobox aircraft
|name = DFS 228
|image = DFS 228 two-view silhouette.png
|caption =
|type = High-altitude aerial reconnaissance
|manufacturer = Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug
|designer = Felix Kracht
|first_flight = August 1944
|introduction =
|retired = June 1945
|produced =
|number_built = 2
|unit cost =
|primary_user = Luftwaffe
|more_users =
|developed_from = DFS 54
|variants = DFS 346
}}
The DFS 228 was a rocket-powered, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft designed by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS - "German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight") during World War II. By the end of the war, the aircraft had only flown in the form of two unpowered prototypes.
Design and development
Initial design of the DFS 228 was undertaken before the outbreak of war as a research aircraft, the DFS 54, aimed at developing a high-altitude escape system for sailplanes. The project was suspended by the commencement of hostilities, but was revived in 1940 when the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM - "Reich Aviation Ministry") delivered the DFS with a requirement for a rocket-powered reconnaissance aircraft.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}
The advantages of a sailplane for aerial reconnaissance included its silence, its low speed relative to the ground (allowing for higher-quality photography), and its potential ability to loiter above an area of interest. The project gave the DFS the opportunity to investigate two additional areas that it was interested in: the effects of wing sweep on sailplane design, and supersonic flight.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}
The DFS 228 was designed by Felix Kracht and a first prototype was completed in March 1944; it was undergoing gliding tests by that August, carried aloft piggyback and strut-mounted atop a Dornier Do 217. The aircraft was of conventional sailplane arrangement with long, slender wings and designed to land on a retractable skid mounted on its belly. The nose of the aircraft could be separated in an emergency and formed a self-contained, pressurized escape capsule for the pilot.{{cite book|last1=Ford|first1=Roger|title=Germany's Secret Weapons of World War II|date=2013|publisher=Amber Books|location=London, United Kingdom|isbn=9781909160569|pages=224}} Because of problems with the cabin pressurization system, the second prototype accommodated the pilot in a prone position.
Forty flights were made with the prototypes, and installation of a rocket was to have taken place in February 1945, but the project fell by the wayside as the war situation became more desperate. The second prototype was destroyed in an air raid in May 1945, and the first prototype was captured by U.S. troops in June. In 1946 it was sent to the United Kingdom for study where it was apparently scrapped in 1947, although its exact fate is unknown.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}
Variants
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2021}}
;DFS 54
:Experimental glider with a pressure cabin, oxygen, cabin heating and insulation for high altitude flying.
;DFS 228
:Powered variant of the DFS 54 with a Walter HWK 509D rocket propulsion unit.
Specifications (DFS 228 estimated)
{{Aircraft specs
|prime units?=met
|crew=1
|length m=10.58
|span m=17.56
|wing area sqm=30
|empty weight kg=1,650
|gross weight kg=4,200
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Walter HWK 509D
|eng1 type=liquid-fuelled rocket motor
|eng1 kn=14.71
|eng1 note=at sea level
:::::{{convert|16.18|kN|lbf|abbr=on|0}} at operational altitude
|max speed kmh=900
|max speed note=at sea level
|range km=1,050
|range note=maximum with intermittent powered flight
- Launch altitude: {{convert|10,000|m|ft|abbr=on}}
- Glide descent altitude: {{convert|12,000|m|ft|abbr=on}}
|ceiling m=22,860
|ceiling note=
- Absolute ceiling: {{convert|25,000|m|ft|abbr=on}}
}}
See also
{{aircontent
|related=
|similar aircraft=
|sequence=
|lists=
- List of military aircraft of Germany
- List of World War II military aircraft of Germany
- List of World War II Luftwaffe aircraft prototype projects
- List of rocket planes
|see also=
}}
References
{{Commons category|DFS 346}}
=Notes=
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
{{Refbegin}}
- {{cite book|last=Green|first=William|title=Aircraft of the Third Reich|publisher=Aerospace Publishing Limited|location=London|year=2010|edition=1st|pages=187–188|isbn=978-1-900732-06-2}}
- Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1970 (fourth impression 1979). {{ISBN|0-356-02382-6}}.
- Myhra, David. DFS 228. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7643-1203-0}}.
- Smith, J.Richard and Kay, Anthony. German Aircraft of the Second World War. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1972 (third impression 1978). {{ISBN|0-370-00024-2}}.
- Wood, Tony and Gunston, Bill. Hitler's Luftwaffe: A pictorial history and technical encyclopedia of Hitler's air power in World War II. London: Salamander Books Ltd., 1977. {{ISBN|0-86101-005-1}}.
{{Refend}}
{{DFS aircraft}}
{{RLM aircraft designations}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Abandoned military aircraft projects of Germany
Category:1940s German military reconnaissance aircraft