The Messerschmitt Me 328 was originally designed as a parasite fighter to protect Luftwaffe bomber formations during World War II. During its protracted development, a wide variety of other roles were suggested for it. Late in the war, the design was resurrected for consideration as a selbstopfer aircraft, but was judged unsuitable even for this purpose. The tiny fighter was to have been propelled by pulsejets, but the unsuitability of these engines doomed the Me 328 from the start. Messerschmitt is a famous German aircraft manufacturer, known primarily for their World War II fighter aircraft, notably the Bf 109 and Me 262. ... The XF-85 Goblin was designed to be a parasite fighter for the Convair B-36 bombers. ... The Luftwaffe â–¶(?) (German: air force, IPA: [luftvafÉ™]) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ... A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... Selbstopfer (selbst+opfer, German for self-sacrifice) was a late-World War II German project to develop a smart weapon for attacking high-value targets such as bridges and command centers. ... A pulse jet engine is a very simple form of internal combustion engine wherein the combustion occurs in pulses and the propulsive effort is a reaction to the rearward flow of hot gasses. ...

The aircraft was designed as Messerschmitt project P.1073 in 1941 and handed over to the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS - German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight) for development. In late 1943, gliding tests were undertaken, with the Me 328 carried aloft by a Dornier Do 217E or launched from a catapult on the ground. These were followed by powered tests with two Argus As 014 pulsejets, as used on the V1 flying bomb. The extreme vibration created by the pulsejets proved highly detrimental to the Me 328's light wooden airframe, and two prototypes were destroyed by this alone. 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug, or DFS (German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight) was formed in 1933 to centralise all gliding activity in Germany. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... The Dornier Do 217 was a World War II medium bomber designed from scratch as a replacement for the venerable Dornier Do 17. ... Replica catapult at Château des Baux, France Catapults are siege engines using an arm to hurl a projectile a great distance. ... The Vergeltungswaffe 1 Fi 103 / FZG-76 (V-1), known as the Flying bomb, Buzz bomb or Doodlebug, was the first modern guided missile used in wartime and the first cruise missile. ...

Nevertheless, a wide variety of roles were suggested for the aircraft, ranging from a point-defence interceptor, to a U-Boat defence system, to a ground-attack machine. Various modifications to the prototypes were made to evaluate their suitability for these missions, and different engine configurations were trialled. Despite all this, the vibration problem simply could not be overcome and the program was abandoned in early 1944, even as production facilities were being readied to construct the aircraft at the Jacob Schweyer sailplane factory. Royal Navy Vanguard class submarine A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate underwater. ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

External links

• Warbirds Resource Group
• Jets 45