17 year old Me163 pilot

[Jukka Juutinen]

Why not? I just read the memoirs of Augustus Agar, who joined the Royal Navy as a midshipsman at 15.

[Stig Jarlevik]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

Why not? I just read the memoirs of Augustus Agar, who joined the Royal Navy as a midshipsman at 15.

Not quite the same thing.

The rookies out of flight school could just barely fly the regular combat aircraft within Luftwaffe by 1945.

To put someone with such low flight hours in an aircraft such as the Me 163, which indeed was quite a handful, would in my mind be closer to suicide than anything else. Certainly a complete waste of assets.

B Rgds
Stig

[VtwinVince]

Many did glides in the Komet, far fewer did powered flights. An old friend of my dad's, Gerhard Class, told me that due to the shortage of fuel and the inherent danger of getting blown up, sharp starts were strictly limited. I am not surprised that teenagers were gliding in the Komet, as the tradition of glider training pre-Luftwaffe was very old and strong in Germany.

[Stig Jarlevik]

Originally Posted by VtwinVince

Many did glides in the Komet, far fewer did powered flights. An old friend of my dad's, Gerhard Class, told me that due to the shortage of fuel and the inherent danger of getting blown up, sharp starts were strictly limited. I am not surprised that teenagers were gliding in the Komet, as the tradition of glider training pre-Luftwaffe was very old and strong in Germany.

Yes, you have to start somewhere.

However gliding the Me 163 was also quite a handful, especially for 17 year old kids. In my opinion you needed experience to handle the Me 163 regardless if it was used sharp or "only" as a glider. No way you took on the Me 163 coming out of some kind of prep gliding school or even A/B Schulen.

I need far better proof to believe that. Feel free to talk me through one such youngster's training. How many flight hours etc on each type. How man solo flights/hours made and not least how many hours gliding around in the 163.

Cheers
Stig

[VtwinVince]

You're quite right, no doubt this thing was difficult under all circumstances. If you read Hanna Reitsch's memoirs, she talks about how difficult it was, and she was a very experienced glider pilot.