Messerschmitt Me328A "Pulse Jet Fighter"

The aircraft was designed as Messerschmitt project P.1073 in 1941, and was originally conceived as a cheap and simple escort fighter, to either be towed aloft by a Heinkel He 177 heavy bomber or Junkers Ju 388 using a semi-rigid bar (the Deichselschlepp, which was also considered for towing auxiliary fuel tanks), or carried on a Me 264 in a Mistel type fashion. 

Three versions were proposed: an unpowered glider, a version powered by Argus pulsejets, and a version powered by a Jumo 004 turbojet^] Its construction was to be mainly of wood. It was subsequently handed over to the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS - "German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight") for development. Two versions were proposed, the Me 328A (fighter) and the Me 328B (bomber); it was estimated that four Me 328s could be built for the cost of a Focke Wulf Fw 190 or Bf 109 fighter. It was also suggested at one point that it be towed behind the Me 264 heavy bomber for protection

Prototypes

Test pilot Hanna Reitsch carried out a test program on the two prototypes of the glider version, releasing from tow aircraft at altitudes of 3,000-6,000 m (9,800-19,700 ft). Ground launches, using both cable-type catapults and rocket-assisted carriages on rails were also successful. Even with a reduced wingspan the aircraft had a very satisfactory performance, and it was planned to build up to 1,000 for use as disposable bombers to be flown by volunteers from 5/KG200, the so-called Leonidas Squadron.

Seven prototypes powered by two Argus As 014 pulsejets, as used on the V-1 flying bomb were built by glider manufacturer, Jacobs Schweyer of Darmstadt. It was intended for use as a fighter aircraft, to be armed with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons. However, during static testing it soon became apparent that the same problems which were to plague the early development of the V-1 flying bomb - namely, excessive vibration - would make the project difficult to bring to a successful conclusion, and the manned flight program was suspended in mid-1944, after only a few test flights had been made. Some sources say two prototypes were indeed destroyed by in-flight structural failure caused by vibration.

Despite this, planning continued, and a version was projected, which would use four Argus pulsejets, two mounted below the wings in addition to the original pair mounted above the rear fuselage. Bomber versions of both types were proposed, and work continued on them at the insistence of Adolf Hitler long after the point when anything other than token use could have been made of them.

Moves were made to revive the Me 328 again in 1944 as a piloted flying bomb based on the Me 328B, fitted with a 900 kg (2,000 lb) bomb, but it was dropped in favor of the Fieseler Fi 103R (Reichenberg). A revised version, the Me 328C, was proposed, to be fitted with a Jumo 004 turbojet, but this came to nothing.