Thanks folks! Now, spinning off from Greg's 'The Death or Glory Boys' storyline:
http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=2852.msg42147#msg42147The urgency with with the Me 163K was produced allowed Klemm little opportunity to refine the design. An ongoing concern was diminishing rudder control while on approach to hook the ship's '
Fangleine' cable. To address this problem, Me 163K V47 was fitted with a twin V tail to increase rudder effectiveness.
Trials with V47 were successful but neither the
Luftwaffe nor the
Kriegsmarine was willing to see
Katapultjäger production interrupted to introduce the new tail on the assembly line. Instead, Klemm began studying variations on the then-current
Katapultjäger approach.
Two projects dovetailed. The first was tentative exploration of the use of near-vertical take-off ramps for the Me 163K. This more compact arrangement would mean that a greater
variety of merchant ships could be adapted as
Katapultschiff für Raketenjäger.
The exploration of near-vertical take-off ramps led directly to an October 1944 proposal for a semi-disposable rocket fighter to rival Erich Bachem's BP-20 concept. Unlike '
Projekt
Natter', the Klemm
raketenjäger was to be based at sea in the flightpath of Allied bombers. Launched from anchored barges (or flak ships), the so-called '
hlojäger' would attack the
Terror Flieger with podded R4M rocket projectiles.
Acknowledging the difficulties encountered with hooked landings by relatively experienced
Katapultjäger pilots, Klemm abandoned hooks for the '
hlojäger'. Instead, the semi-trained pilot would jettison the main body of the fighter (for recovery by parachute) before exiting his prone-position armoured cockpit capsule to hit the silk. The
Technisches Amt der Luftwaffe saw the benefits of basing rocket interceptors at sea but Klemm's Me 163-based '
hlojäger' was judged too expensive in both time and materials to be considered semi-disposable.
Undeterred, Klemm design staff turned their attention back to improving their
Katapultjäger. For this new approach, the
hlojäger's prone pilot position was retained but a smoothly aerodynamic perspex nose cap replaced the earlier concept's faceted panzerglas. The goal was to reduce the
Katapultjäger's frontal area, reduce the strain on pilots during violent launch and recovery, while providing pilots with a clear view of the
Fangleine while attempting to 'hook on'. This
Katapultjäger development the
Technisches Amt approved of.
Klemm received instructions to transition production from the Me 163K-2 to their revised design which was to be designated the Kl 151B (in an attempt to convice Allied intelligence
that Klemm was reviving an earlier light touring aircraft concept). With Me 163K V47 being considered an aerodynamic prototype, the first true
Neue Katapultjäger was a pre-production Kl 151B-0. Unfortunately for the
Katapultflieger, only a handful of Kl 151B-0s were delivered before the Klemm factory was destroyed by Allied bombing. Full production Kl 151B-1s featured additional armament options and lengthed ventral fins but all were destroyed on the line.