Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger

what is it?

The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger (German, "People's Fighter") is a German single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft used by the Luftwaffe late in World War II. Developed under the Emergency Fighter Program, it was designed and built quickly and made primarily of wood as metals were in very short supply and prioritised for other aircraft. Volksjäger was the Reich Air Ministry's official name for the government design program competition which was won by the He 162 design. Other names include Salamander, which was the codename of its wing-construction program, and Spatz ("Sparrow"), which was the name given to the aircraft by Heinkel.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · 7.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 840 km/htop speed
• range 975 kmwithout refuelling
• size 2,800 kgmax take-off weight
• built 320made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 82 years ago, in 1944.
• 🏎️Top speed is 6.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🏔️Can fly 1.4× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1944-12-06

introduced

1945

retired

1945

status

retired

number built

320

role

jet fighter

origin

Nazi Germany

makers

Heinkel

engines

1× BMW 109-003E-1 or BMW 109-003E-2 / BMW 003

crew

1

length

9.1 m

wingspan

7.2 m

height

2.6 m

max take-off weight

2,800 kg

top speed

840 km/h

range

975 km

ceiling

12,000 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.