List of rocket-powered aircraft

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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. Many rocket aircraft may be drop launched from transport planes, as take-off from ground may leave them with insufficient time to reach high altitudes.
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 CTOL 1956 Project 0 Mixed power.
Bachem Ba 349 "Natter" Germany VTOL Fighter 1945 Production 36 Point defence interceptor. Never saw action (debatable footage, seems to show a Ba 349 in combat. [1]).[2]
Bell X-1 USA Air launch Research 1947 Prototype 7 First aircraft to break the sound barrier in level flight.
Bell X-2 USA Air launch Research 1955 Prototype 2 Supersonic.
Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 USSR CTOL Fighter 1942 9
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 1 Tailless, direct predecessor of Me 163 series.
Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket USA Air launch Research 1953 Operational 3 Supersonic.
EZ-Rocket USA CTOL Experimental 2001 Prototype 1 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.
Hawker P.1072 UK CTOL 1949 Prototype 1 Mixed power.
Heinkel He 112R Germany CTOL Experimental 1937 Operational 1 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 1
Lavochkin La-7R USSR CTOL 1945 1 Rocket and piston engines.
Lippisch Ente Germany CTOL Research 1928 Prototype Opel-RAK program 1 First rocket-powered aircraft, part of Opel-RAK program.
Lockheed NF-104A USA CTOL Trainer 1963 3 Rocket and jet engines.
Martin Marietta X-24A USA Air launch Research 1969 Prototype 1 Lifting body.
Martin Marietta X-24B USA Air launch Research 1973 Prototype 1 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 3 Also known as Ju 248, development of Me 163.
Messerschmitt P.1104 Germany Air launch Fighter 1944 Project 0
Mitsubishi J8M Japan CTOL Fighter 1945 7 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 0 Second aircraft developed in Japan to use a canard design after the J7W1.
North American X-15 USA Air launch Research 1959 Operational 3 Hypersonic. Later variants capable of sub-orbital space flight.
Northrop XP-79 USA CTOL Fighter 1944 Prototype 1 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, Opel-RAK program.
Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor USA CTOL 1949 2 Rocket and jet engines.
Rikugun Ki-202 Japan CTOL Fighter 1945 0 Improved J8M/Ki-200 with the elongated fuselage.
RRL Mark-III X-racer USA CTOL Racer 2010 1 [3]
RRL Mark I X-racer USA CTOL Racer 2006 1 Customized Velocity SE, prototype for Rocket Racing League.[4][5]
Saunders-Roe SR.53 UK CTOL Fighter 1957 Prototype 2 Jet and rocket power.
Saunders-Roe SR.177 UK CTOL Fighter 1958 Project 0 Jet and rocket power. Development of SR.53.
SNCASO Trident France CTOL Experimental 1953 Prototype 8 Jet and rocket power.
SNCASE SE.212 Durandal France CTOL Fighter 1956 Prototype 2 Mixed power.
Sombold So 344 Germany Air launch 1944 Project 0 bomber box buster with a detachable explosive nose.
Sukhoi Su-7 USSR CTOL 1944 1 Sukhoi Su-6 with rocket and piston engines.
Yakovlev Yak-3RD USSR CTOL 1945 Prototype 1 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 Bf 109G.
Zeppelin Rammer Germany Air launch Fighter 1944 Project 0 Designed to use the aerial ramming technique against Allied bombers.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Projekt Natter, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1996333/
  2. ^ Sharp, D.; Luftwaffe: Secret Jets of the Third Reich, Morton's, 2015.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ XCOR X-Racer, by Nancy Atkinson, Universe Today, 2009-08-06, accessed 2010-12-11.