A rocket-powered aircraft or rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket engine for propulsion, sometimes in addition to airbreathing jet engines. Rocket planes can achieve much higher speeds than similarly sized jet aircraft, but typically for at most a few minutes of powered operation, followed by a gliding flight. Unhindered by the need for oxygen from the atmosphere, they are suitable for very high-altitude flight. They are also capable of delivering much higher acceleration and shorter takeoffs.
| Type | Country | Class | Role | Date | Status | No. | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arado E.381 Kleinstjäger | Germany | Air launch | Fighter | 1944 | Project | 0 | Carried by an Arado Ar 234. |
| Avro 720 | UK | 1956 | Project | 0 | Mixed power. | ||
| Bachem Ba 349 "Natter" | Germany | VTOL | Fighter | 1945 | Production | Point defence interceptor. Never saw action.[1] | |
| Bell X-1 | USA | Air launch | Research | 1947 | Prototype | First aircraft to break the sound barrier in level flight. | |
| Bell X-2 | USA | Air launch | Research | 1955 | Prototype | Supersonic. | |
| Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 | USSR | CTOL | Fighter | 1942 | |||
| Bisnovat 5 | USSR | CTOL | 1948 | Project | Based on captured DFS 346. Never flew under power. | ||
| Cattaneo Magni RR | Italy | CTOL | Research | 1931 | Prototype | ||
| Cheranovsky RP-1 | USSR | CTOL | Research | 1932 | Prototype | Test in 1933 ended in engine failure. | |
| DFS 194 | Germany | CTOL | Experimental | 1940 | Operational | Tailless, direct predecessor of Me 163 series. | |
| Douglas D-588-II Skyrocket | USA | Air launch | Research | 1953 | Operational | Supersonic. | |
| EZ-Rocket | USA | CTOL | Experimental | 2001 | Prototype | Rocket-powered variant of Rutan Long-EZ. | |
| Focke-Wulf Volksjäger | Germany | CTOL | Fighter | 1944 | Project | 0 | Three rocket-powered variants under construction at the end of hostilities.[2] |
| Hawker P.1072 | UK | 1949 | Prototype | 1 | Mixed power. | ||
| Heinkel He 112R | Germany | Experimental | 1937 | Operational | Rocket and piston engines. | ||
| Heinkel He 176 | Germany | CTOL | Research | 1939 | Prototype | 1 | Pioneering liquid-fueled rocket propulsion aircraft. |
| He P.1077 Julia | Germany | CTOL | Fighter | 1944 | Project | 0 | |
| Ju EF.127 Walli | Germany | CTOL | Fighter | 1944 | Project | 0 | |
| Korolyov RP-318 | USSR | CTOL | Research | 1940 | |||
| Lavochkin La-7R | USSR | 1945 | Rocket and piston engines. | ||||
| Lippisch Ente | Germany | CTOL | Research | 1928 | Prototype | First rocket-powered aircraft. | |
| Lockheed NF-104A | USA | Trainer | 1963 | Rocket and jet engines. | |||
| Martin Marietta X-24A | USA | Air launch | Research | 1969 | Prototype | Lifting body. | |
| Martin Marietta X-24B | USA | Air launch | Research | 1973 | Prototype | Lifting body. | |
| Messerschmitt Me 163 | Germany | CTOL | Fighter | 1941 | Production | 10 A-subtype ~360 B-subtype | Tailless, B-version saw combat May 1944-May 1945. |
| Messerschmitt Me 263 | Germany | CTOL | Fighter | 1944 | Also known as Ju 248, development of Me 163. | ||
| Messerschmitt P.1104 | Germany | Air launch | Fighter | 1944 | Project | ||
| Mitsubishi J8M | Japan | CTOL | Fighter | 1945 | Was to have been a licensed Messerschmitt Me 163 but the plans were lost so was only similar. | ||
| Mizuno Shinryu II | Japan | CTOL | 1945 | Project | Second aircraft developed in Japan to use a canard design after the J7W1. | ||
| North American X-15 | USA | Air launch | Research | 1959 | Operational | Hypersonic. Later variants capable of sub-orbital space flight. | |
| Northrop XP-79 | USA | CTOL | Fighter | 1944 | Prototype | Flying wing. Converted to jet power for first and only flight. | |
| Opel RAK.1 | Germany | CTOL | Research | 1929 | Operational | 1 | First purpose-built rocket-powered aircraft. |
| Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor | USA | 1949 | Rocket and jet engines. | ||||
| Rikugun Ki-202 | Japan | CTOL | Fighter | 1945 | Improved J8M/Ki-200 with the elongated fuselage. | ||
| RRL Mark-III X-racer | USA | CTOL | Racer | 2010 | [3] | ||
| RRL Mark I X-racer | USA | CTOL | Racer | 2006 | Customized Velocity SE, prototype for Rocket Racing League.[4][5] | ||
| Saunders-Roe SR.53 | UK | Fighter | 1957 | Prototype | Jet and rocket power. | ||
| Saunders-Roe SR.177 | UK | Fighter | 1958 | Project | Jet and rocket power. Development of SR.53. | ||
| SNCASO Trident | France | Experimental | 1953 | Prototype | Jet and rocket power. | ||
| SNCASE SE-212 Durandal | France | Fighter | 1956 | Prototype | Mixed power. | ||
| Sombold So 344 | Germany | Air launch | 1944 | Project | bomber box buster with a detachable explosive nose. | ||
| Sukhoi Su-7 | USSR | 1944 | Sukhoi Su-6 with rocket and piston engines. | ||||
| Yakovlev Yak-3RD | USSR | 1945 | Prototype | Modified Yakovlev Yak-3 with rocket and piston engines. | |||
| Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka | Japan | Air launch | Attack | 1945 | Production | Kamikaze aircraft. | |
| Zeppelin Fliegende Panzerfaust | Germany | Air launch | 1944 | Project | 0 | Towed behind a Messerschmitt Me 109G. | |
| Zeppelin Rammer | Germany | Air launch | Fighter | 1944 | Project | 0 | Designed to use the aerial ramming technique against Allied bombers. |
See also
References
- ^ Sharp, D.; Luftwaffe: Secret Jets of the Third Reich, Morton's, 2015.
- ^ Luft'46 - Focke-Wulf Volksjäger
- ^ Flying inside the groove: the latest rocket-powered test aircraft take just four seconds to get into the air from ignition. The brink of take-off for the RRL, Aerospace Testing International, June 2010, pp. 50-54, accessed 2010-09-06.
- ^ X-Racers, Start Your Rockets! : The creators of the X prize offer a sensational vision of rocket-powered airplanes speeding through the sky. But can their new racing league steal a bit of Nascar's thunder?, Michael Belfiore, Popular Science (feature cover story), 2006-02-15, accessed 2010-09-02.
- ^ XCOR X-Racer, by Nancy Atkinson, Universe Today, 2009-08-06, accessed 2010-12-11.