Rocket-powered aircraft

A rocket-powered aircraft or rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket engine for propulsion, sometimes with airbreathing jet engines. These special planes can fly much faster than regular jets, but they can only use their rocket power for a few minutes before gliding.

Because they do not need oxygen from the atmosphere, rocket planes can fly very high up. They can also speed up quickly and take off from short distances.

Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft

Rockets have sometimes helped regular jet planes take off, known as jet assisted take off or rocket-assisted takeoff. Not all rocket planes take off like normal airplanes. Some are dropped from other planes, and others can stand straight up and launch straight into the air, called "tail-sitters".

Most rocket planes were made for testing new ideas, for use as fast interceptor fighters, or as special space aircraft. Because rockets need a lot of heavy fuel and are hard to use, they are usually not made for everyday flying.

History

Background

Peruvian polymath Pedro Paulet thought of the Avión Torpedo in 1902. This was a liquid-propellant rocket-powered aircraft with a special wing shape. Paulet spent many years looking for support while working as a diplomat in Europe and Latin America. His idea to use liquid propellant was ahead of its time, as others used black powder.

Reports about Paulet's idea appeared in 1927 after Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic Ocean. Paulet criticized another engineer's plan, saying his older liquid-propellant design would be better.

Paulet later visited a German rocket group. In 1928, they praised his design. He met with German rocket enthusiasts, and they began to think black powder was not good for rockets. Paulet refused to help Nazi Germany and did not share his secret formula.

On June 11, 1928, the Lippisch Ente became the first aircraft to fly using rocket power. The following year, the Opel RAK.1 was the first rocket plane built just for flying, with Fritz von Opel as the pilot.

On June 28, 1931, Ettore Cattaneo, an Italian pilot and inventor, flew another rocket plane he built himself. The flight went well, and Cattaneo was made count of Taliedo by the King of Italy. His picture is in museums in Saint Petersburg and Milan.

Pedro Paulet's Avión Torpedo of 1902, featuring a canopy fixed to a delta tiltwing for horizontal or vertical flight.

World War II

The Heinkel He 176 was the first aircraft to use only a liquid-propellant rocket engine. It flew for the first time on June 20, 1939, with Erich Warsitz flying it. The He 176 was shown to the German government but did not get much support. The plane was later destroyed during a bombing raid in 1943.

The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet was the first rocket plane made in large numbers. Germany built it near the end of the war to protect factories making fuel. Plans were to use more of these planes around important cities.

The Me 163 would fly up quickly, then dive through groups of bombers. It was hard to keep the rocket fuel supplied. Later, Germany used a different plane, the Messerschmitt Me 262, which used jet propulsion.

Germany also worked on other rocket planes, like the Bachem Ba 349 "Natter". Japan made copies of the Me 163 called the Mitsubishi J8M, but they were never used in battle. Japan also built about 850 Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka planes for attacks, but they did not succeed.

Opel RAK.1 - World's first public manned flight of a rocket plane on September 30, 1929.

Other test planes included the Soviet Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 and the Northrop XP-79, which at first was meant to use rockets but later used jet engines. A rocket-powered P-51D Mustang was tested in 1945.

Cold War era

In 1946, the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270 was built to defend against aircraft, using ideas from earlier rocket work.

In 1947, the rocket-powered Bell X-1 became the first plane to break the speed of sound. This led to other fast planes like the North American X-15.

In the 1950s, Britain tried mixing rocket and jet engines for better performance. The Avro 720 used a rocket engine with kerosene and liquid oxygen, but the project was stopped because of concerns about safety.

Another British plane, the Saunders-Roe SR.53, used hydrogen peroxide as fuel. It flew test flights and reached high speeds. A later version, the SR.177, was planned but never built because of changes in military strategy.

France also worked on rocket planes. The SNCASE SE.212 Durandal used both rocket and jet engines. It flew test flights but the project was stopped.

The SNCASO Trident was another French plane that used both engines. It had some test flights but the project ended after accidents.

The development of better jet engines and missiles made mixed-power planes unnecessary.

The U.S. space program grew from Soviet rocket advances. Plans for space planes like the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar were cancelled, but helped with the Space Shuttle. Other ideas, like ISINGLASS, were never built.