Did the Luftwaffe ever experiment with JATO?

[RodM]

Hello One & All,

In trying to reconcile eyewitness accounts by RAF aircrew over the night skies of Europe during late-1944/1945, I am wondering if the Luftwaffe ever experimented with Jet-Assisted-Take-Off (JATO)?

A number of seperate accounts concern night-time occurrances were an airfield was seen to be lit up as bombers passed nearby, and an object, visible by either a light or glowing exhaust plume, was seen to take-off and climb at high speed. Most of the crews prescribed these phenomena as 'Me163s', but were (rightly) scoffed at by the Intelligence officers upon return (note - the RAF Bomber Command HQ did not officially accept any night-time air combat claims against a jet- or rocket-propelled aircraft).

For the most part, I would explain many of the phenomena reported by RAF Bomber Command crews as jet- and rocket-propelled aircraft during late-1944/1945 period as either ground- or air-launched signals munitions, but the occurances reported as take-offs from lit-up airfields are a bit harder to explain.

Cheers

Rod